The Body We Are Leaving Behind - AI, the Machine Gaze, and the Foreclosure of Mourning : Episode 18

🎧 Episode 18: The Body We Are Leaving Behind - AI, the Machine Gaze, and the Foreclosure of MourningWhat happens when technology begins to shape not only how we think, but how we experience our bodies?In this episode of Mind the Body, I explore how AI and algorithmic environments are transforming our relationship with embodiment, identity, and emotional life. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, contemporary reflections on artificial intelligence, and my work as a psychotherapist, I examine how the machine gaze is reshaping self-perception, how AI-generated ideals can distance us from lived experience, and why mourning remains central to psychological growth.As technology increasingly promises optimisation, certainty, and escape from discomfort, I ask what may be lost when we become disconnected from the realities of being human: vulnerability, dependency, and mortality.In This Episode:How AI is changing our relationship with the bodyThe impact of the machine gaze on self-imageWhy digital ideals can distance us from lived experienceMourning and psychological developmentWhat therapy offers that AI cannotWhy healing remains an embodied processA Question to Sit With:What aspects of being fully human - vulnerable, embodied, and mortal - am I being encouraged to move away from, and what might it mean to return to them?References:Ammaniti, M. (2018). Implicit Knowledge from Infancy to the Psychotherapeutic Relationship. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38(2).Levy, A. (2026). The New Other: Alien Intelligence and the Innovation Drive. Karnac.Lemma, A. (2017). The Digital Age on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Practice and New Media. Routledge.Lemma, A. (2026). Psychotechnical Becomings: Psychoanalysis, Identity, Desire, and Mourning in the Age of AI and Digital Mediation. Routledge.Vuaran, Y. (2025). The Future of Therapy: Human Connection in the Age of AI.https://www.yvettevuaran.com/blog/the-future-of-therapy-human-connection-in-the-age-of-aiWinnicott, D. W. (1960). Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False Self. In The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment. Hogarth Press.Take a breath, stay curious, and explore what it truly means to Mind The Body.Join the CommunitySubscribe or follow the show so you never miss an episode.Share this episode with a friend who’s exploring body image healing, the mind–body connection, emotional healing, and the patterns that shape how we see ourselves.Connect or learn more: www.yvettevuaran.com Sign up for my Mind The Body NewsletterFollow @mindthebodypodcast @yvettevuaran