Aaron Balick 🍉
@aaronbalick.com
Psychotherapist & keynote speaker applying depth psychology to tech, AI & modern culture. Author of The Psychodynamics of Social Networking. aaronbalick.com
“It still strikes me as strange that the case histories I write should read like short stories and that … they lack the serious stamp of science. I must console myself with the reflection that the nature of the subject is evidently responsible for this, rather than any preference of my own.” - Freud
“It still strikes me as strange that the case histories I write should read like short stories and that … they lack the serious stamp of science. I must console myself with the reflection that the nature of the subject is evidently responsible for this, rather than any preference of my own.” - Freud
The Self has a big “S”. The ego has a small “e”. But the ego thinks it’s got the capital letter. It’s wrong. It also thinks it’s the whole show: it’s not. Get better acquainted with your Self - there’s so much more room there. Only the Self speaks more quietly than the noisy ego, so listen in.
The Self has a big “S”. The ego has a small “e”. But the ego thinks it’s got the capital letter. It’s wrong. It also thinks it’s the whole show: it’s not. Get better acquainted with your Self - there’s so much more room there. Only the Self speaks more quietly than the noisy ego, so listen in.
Gotta love a good news story. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s Press Secretary, to Depart White House www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/u...
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s White House Press Secretary, Is Leaving the Role
President Trump said that Ms. Leavitt, who recently gave birth to her second child, would be leaving to spend time with her family.
nytimes.com
The structure of the digitally mediated landscape leans us into the paranoid/schizoid. In order to reclaim the sovereign psyche, we need to retain the depressive position. 1/2
The structure of the digitally mediated landscape leans us into the paranoid/schizoid. In order to reclaim the sovereign psyche, we need to retain the depressive position. 1/2
Way back in 1885 Freud noticed something in his patients that would form the bedrock of psychotherapy, “Hysterics suffer mainly from reminiscences”. It’s our memories from the past that haven’t quite caught up to the present that compel us to repeat patterns that don’t work for us. 1/3
How sovereign is your psyche under the influence of AI? open.substack.com/pub/appliedp...
The Sovereign Psyche: How AI erodes a mind of your own
Your data should be sovereign. So should what you let inside your mind.
open.substack.com
How sovereign is your psyche under the influence of AI? open.substack.com/pub/appliedp...
The Sovereign Psyche: How AI erodes a mind of your own
Your data should be sovereign. So should what you let inside your mind.
open.substack.com
People need structure. We crave not having it, but in the end we need it. At least some.
Perhaps I lowered the sycophancy setting too low. Claude sends me to bed after a slightly drunken rant, insults my beard, and then unequivocally “rolls over” in bed performing of the universal human tactic of avoidance we call sleep.
Can we have a “sovereign psyche” in a world of ubiquitous AI engagement? Join my discussion with Graeme Scott where we explore the influence of Artificial Intelligence on the human psyche. youtube.com/watch?v=CL6Y...
GAEA Talks - The Sovereign Psyche: AI Chatbots & The Currency of Fear with Dr Aaron Balick
YouTube video by GAEA Talks
youtube.com
Can we have a “sovereign psyche” in a world of ubiquitous AI engagement? Join my discussion with Graeme Scott where we explore the influence of Artificial Intelligence on the human psyche. youtube.com/watch?v=CL6Y...
GAEA Talks - The Sovereign Psyche: AI Chatbots & The Currency of Fear with Dr Aaron Balick
YouTube video by GAEA Talks
youtube.com
“Rational argument can be conducted with some prospect of success only so long as the emotionality of a given situation does not exceed a certain critical degree… 1/2
Highlighting on my kindle and exporting to Readwise is super convenient and keeps all my notes and highlights on one place. I still prefer analogue underlining my books and writing in the margins - even though the only way to keep track of my notes is to go back and take the book off the shelf.
“Good enough” and “false self” are two Winnicottian concepts that are as excellent in conception as they are misunderstood in practice.
“Good enough” and “false self” are two Winnicottian concepts that are as excellent in conception as they are misunderstood in practice.
Last month it was “the quiet part said out loud” now everything is “quietly doing something.” The AI phrasing that quietly becomes omnipresent is quietly driving me crazy. Am I the only one?
Lacan said that the unconscious was structured like a language. No doubt were he around to see an LLM he’d have a spontaneous jouissance.
AI may be a repository of knowledge, but wisdom is altogether different.
Lacan said that the unconscious was structured like a language. No doubt were he around to see an LLM he’d have a spontaneous jouissance.
The terror of the empty page… The paralysis that ensues… Overcoming it is part of the process. Don’t short circuit your creative process. You know what I’m saying. “It’s about self-expression, not just expressing something.“ (See what I did there?😉)
The terror of the empty page… The paralysis that ensues… Overcoming it is part of the process. Don’t short circuit your creative process. You know what I’m saying. “It’s about self-expression, not just expressing something.“ (See what I did there?😉)
The unconscious isn’t a problem to be solved. It’s a part of you yet to be discovered. After all, isn’t it amazing that despite being closer to yourself than anything else in the entire universe, there is still a mystery within you?
The unconscious isn’t a problem to be solved. It’s a part of you yet to be discovered. After all, isn’t it amazing that despite being closer to yourself than anything else in the entire universe, there is still a mystery within you?
The thing about dogs is that they have no ego. Without an ego they don’t defend themselves from loving or being loved. Without a sense of episodic time, they don’t fear future loss. Their hearts are open and they love completely. Ergo, a dog’s love lacks the very neurosis that dogs human love.
The thing about dogs is that they have no ego. Without an ego they don’t defend themselves from loving or being loved. Without a sense of episodic time, they don’t fear future loss. Their hearts are open and they love completely. Ergo, a dog’s love lacks the very neurosis that dogs human love.