Sanity Management: What Drains It and What Restores It

Sanity is the resource that decides when a Phasmophobia ghost is allowed to hunt. The lower your team’s average sanity, the more often the hunt roll fires — and several ghosts can hunt well above the standard 50% line (see the hunt threshold page). Managing sanity is therefore not optional; it is the core loop of survival. This page covers what drains it and what brings it back.

What drains sanity

• Darkness and time — being in dark rooms and simply spending time in the investigation slowly erodes sanity.
• Ghost abilities — the Moroi curses a player (via Spirit Box or Parabolic Microphone) to double their passive drain, and light or fire cannot defend against that curse. The Phantom drains sanity when you look at its manifestation up close. The Poltergeist drains it when it throws objects at you.
• Player death — whenever a player dies, all players (including the dead) lose 15% sanity instantly.
• Cursed possessions — each has its own cost; the cursed possessions thresholds page lists them precisely, from the Music Box’s 2.6% per second to the Ouija’s 5/20/50% per question.

What restores sanity

• Sanity Pills — restore a percentage that scales with difficulty; you cannot drink above 95%, so dose earlier than the 50% mark rather than waiting for the roll.
• Light and fire — turning on the main lights or using fire sources (Firelight, lit candles) slows or reverses passive drain.
• Tarot Cards — the Sun sets sanity to 100%; the Moon sets it to 0%, so drawing is a gamble.

The practical discipline

Keep the average high by running lights where safe, using pills before the threshold, and avoiding unnecessary cursed-item use. A low-sanity player who also triggers a cursed hunt has no grace period to recover. The crucifix and incense page covers the items that buy you time when sanity inevitably drops, and the ghost count page is unrelated to sanity but is where many players start their Phasmophobia reading.