AI, Therapy, and the Digitally Extended Self With Aaron Balick

AI is already shaping how people seek comfort, reassurance, and even intimacy. So what happens when more and more turn to machines for therapy? In this live-recorded conversation, Johanne sits down with psychodynamic psychotherapist Aaron Balick, author of The Psychodynamics of Social Networking and an early voice on the digitally extended self, to talk about what hyper-validation and frictionless companionship do to our capacity for real relating.What is covered: The algorithmic self, relational complexity, sycophancy and the tolerance of otherness, what psychodynamic thinking brings to a debate dominated by measurables, and advice for therapists whose clients are using ChatGPT.Show links: Aaron Balick's Substack Newsletter Depth Psychology in the Digital AgeThe unedited video recording of the live-streamed conversationDetails for the Rupture & Repair Conference, Berlin, June 6–7, where AI in the Therapy Space, will be one of the presentations