Applied Psychodynamics with Aaron Balick

Help me with my new newsletter title!

Applied Psychodynamics is what I do best, but I'm told the title is too broad and somewhat off-putting! I'm game to try something new, care to pitch in?

Feb 6 • Aaron Balick

4

27

2

January 2026

The Algorithmic Self: How AI is shaping identity and inner life

We tend to think of our egos as coming independently from deep inside ourselves, but psychologically, it’s always been formed in relationship to others.

Jan 20 • Aaron Balick

11

2

4

Reader Poll

Now you've had a chance to get acquainted with Applied Psychodynamics perhaps you could tell me a bit more about what you'd like to more (or less…

Jan 14 • Aaron Balick

3

2

1

Why Doomscrolling is Secretly a Search for Hope

After finding myself in a doomscroll-spiral, I realised I wasn’t chasing disaster but reassurance – I was hopescrolling.

Jan 13 • Aaron Balick

12

8

6

December 2025

This is Your Brain. This is Your Brain on AI.

How AI is reshaping your psyche by directly embedding itself into your psyche. Here is what’s happening psychologically — whether we like it or not.

Dec 20, 2025 • Aaron Balick

6

5

November 2025

Are Therapists Sizzled in the Age of AI? My AI dopplegänger seems to think so.

Because psychotherapy is among the most human centred of the professions, many of us believe that jobs will be among the last to be taken away by the…

Nov 16, 2025 • Aaron Balick

5

2

October 2025

Therapy in the Age of AI: How to Stay Human

Taking a short break from our regularly scheduled newsletter programming, I'd like to share with you this wide-ranging and fun interview I had with…

Oct 15, 2025 • Aaron Balick

2

2

1

AI and Mental Health, Part III: The Hotel California Effect

Chatbots are designed to keep you talking. But what happens when the conversation never really ends? The psychology of AI's dark patterns that hook us…

Oct 4, 2025 • Aaron Balick

6

1

2

September 2025

AI and Mental Health, Part Two: AI Companions or Dangerous Liaisons?

In the midst of a loneliness epidemic, young people are seeking AI companionship more than ever. How worried should we be?

Sep 22, 2025 • Aaron Balick

7

1

3

AI and Mental Health, Part One: What We Know, What We Fear

We’ve seen the headlines and felt the winds of a moral panic – but what is the real state of play of AI therapy and mental health today? Make sense of…

Sep 8, 2025 • Aaron Balick

16

2

5

The Hidden Mystical Life of Carl Jung:

Carl Jung wasn’t just a psychologist—he was a mystic. From séances and occult experiments to his fascination with Eastern spirituality, Jung’s hidden…

Sep 2, 2025 • Aaron Balick

11

2

2

August 2025

Why You Still Feel 25 Even Though You're Actually *mumble* SOMETHING

Your actual age and your subjective age are only in sync for the briefest of periods around your mid-twenties. Here's why we spend most of our lives in…

Aug 23, 2025 • Aaron Balick

6

6

3