Depth Psychology in the Digital Age: New title, more great content
Thanks to all my subscribers who participated in the recent poll to re-title this newsletter.
If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter, I welcome you! If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll notice that the title of this newsletter has changed from Applied Psychodynamics with Aaron Balick to Depth Psychology in the Digital Age. I appreciate those of you who took part in the poll to help me find my way to a new title. As you’ll see, the current title came in second place (I guess my newsletter is not a true democracy), so let me just take a moment to share my logic with you.
Though “Applied Psychodynamics” is what I do, in a competitive environment like this it wasn’t doing me any favours. The top vote went to The Digital Unconscious, and I agree it’s pretty snappy. However, the pedant in me couldn’t quite accept it because it implies that we’re talking about the unconscious of the digital infrastructure itself, rather than the people who mediate their lives across it. I really loved a suggestion for “Meditations on Mind and Machine” - but I didn’t want to lose the psychodynamic angle, which is why I ultimately landed on Depth Psychology in the Digital Age.
Though I appreciated the thoughtful comments suggesting that I lose the word “depth” - again for reasons of accessibility, but again the pedant in me (one who seems impervious to perfectly good marketing strategies) didn’t want to lose the “depth” angle that “psychology” alone doesn’t convey. Like “psychodynamics”, “depth psychology” specifically refers to the insight-oriented psychotherapies that, in the tradition of Freud and Jung, prioritise unconscious dynamics, inference from the surface to the interior, and the meaning we make of our experiences. So thanks again for all your support and suggestions, and welcome to Depth Psychology in the Digital Age.
What’s been keeping me busy in the meantime:
A new name feels like a good moment to take stock. This newsletter has always been about one thing: what happens to the human psyche in the context of our rapidly changing world: namely technology. Below are a few recent pieces and conversations that capture where my thinking currently sits with regard to both social media and AI.
On AI and young people
Last week I spoke to BBC World about the growing use of AI for emotional support — and why I have particular concerns about young people. You can watch the clip below.
On doomscrolling, hopescrolling, and why we can’t stop:
Why do we keep scrolling even when we know it’s making us feel worse? It’s less a problem of discipline than it is a question for depth psychology. I explored this topic with you for the first time in my long-form piece right here on Substack: Why Doomscrolling is Really a Search for Hope. I really enjoy the opportunity to develop my thoughts here with my Substack community. Drawing on the ideas I developed a further version for GQ, As a psychotherapist, this is how I managed to finally stop doomscrolling where I explore by way of my own experience how we find ourselves searching for hope in all the wrong places.
On AI, the Algorithmic Self, and digital harms
I recently joined The Cyber Show podcast to talk about what I call the “Algorithmic Self” — how the systems we interact with daily are quietly reshaping who we are. We covered hopescrolling, digital harms, and what depth psychology has to say about all of it. Listen right here or pop over to their episodes page.
And there's more coming soon — I have a new piece in the works that I think will generate some conversation. So stay tuned!
Dr. Aaron Balick, PhD, is a psychotherapist, author, and psyche columnist at GQ exploring the crossroads of depth psychology, culture, and technology. He is giving a keynote speech on "The Age of AI in Counselling and Psychotherapy" at PCI College's National Counselling and Psychotherapy Conference in Dublin this Friday, March 21st, 2026. His book The Psychodynamics of Social Networking remains the defining text on the psychology of social media. Depth Psychology in the Digital Age is a newsletter for people who want to understand not just what technology does to us, but why — and what it means.