Show Notes
Why do conspiracy theories take hold and what do they reveal about the world we're living in?
In this episode of Psychocultural, Candida Yates is joined by psychotherapist and digital culture scholar Dr Aaron Balick and doctoral researcher Callum Blades, who applies Kleinian psychoanalysis to understandings of the anti-vax movement, to explore one of the defining phenomena of our times. Moving beyond the familiar dismissal of conspiracy theorists as simply irrational or deluded, the conversation asks what psychological and social needs these narratives fulfil and why in an age of algorithmic echo chambers and mass loneliness, they are proving so extraordinarily hard to resist. The guests explore how conspiracy thinking offers something deeply seductive: a coherent story, moral certainty, a sense of belonging, and the thrilling feeling of seeing what others cannot — all at the cost of genuine complexity, ambivalence, and the capacity to be changed by another person. The discussion ranges widely from Callum's fascinating fieldwork among anti-vax communities on Telegram, to Aaron's concept of ""conspiracy light"" — the way identity categories and online rabbit holes can quietly colonise the self with the same self-reinforcing certainty as full-blown conspiracism. The guests draw striking parallels between the pleasures of conspiracy theories and those of AI, arguing that the sycophantic, validation-maximising design of commercial AI risks enhancing exactly the kind of narcissistic echo-chamber dynamics that fuel conspiratorial thinking. The antidote, both guests suggest, lies not online but in the unpredictable, uncomfortable, genuinely other-encountering world of real human community and the willingness, as Aaron puts it, to be ready to be hurt by reality. Timely, and highly insightful, this episode will appeal to anyone trying to make sense of an increasingly fractured public sphere. Guest Biographies: Callum Blades is a researcher, writer, and filmmaker working at the intersection of psychoanalysis, politics, and digital culture. His work explores conspiracy theories, nationalism, affect, and online communities through psychosocial and psychoanalytic approaches, drawing on Kleinian theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. He is completing a PhD at Bournemouth University examining conspiracy discourse across Telegram communities and visual media, with a focus on paranoia, projection, and collective identity. Alongside his academic work, he has delivered public talks at the Freud Museum London and contributed to projects exploring political emotion, social fragmentation, and contemporary culture. His wider interests include media, ideology, nostalgia, and the emotional dimensions of public life. He is currently developing a book expanding on his doctoral research, exploring conspiracy culture as a response to anxiety, displacement, and the search for psychic certainty in contemporary society. Dr. Aaron Balick is a psychotherapist, author, and keynote speaker whose framework of 'Applied Psychodynamics' uncovers the hidden forces shaping contemporary culture — with a particular focus on how technology reshapes identity and relationships. His book The Psychodynamics of Social Networking is widely regarded as a seminal text in its field. Aaron is committed to making depth psychology accessible beyond the consulting room. A regular contributor to GQ and an international keynote speaker, he brings psychological insight to bear on culture, leadership, and everyday life. He is also the author of two popular self-help books: Keep Your Cool for teens and The Little Book of Calm for adults. Aaron is an Associate Supervisor at the Department for Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex and a clinical member of the Balint Consultancy. He is based in Shoreditch, East London. Host and Executive Producer: Candida Yates, Professor Emerita in Psychosocial and Cultural Studies: www.thepsychoculturalagency.com Audio Produ
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What does it really mean to be complicit? In this episode, Candida Yates is joined by psychosocial scholar Dr Lita Crociani-Windland and psychoanalytic psychotherapist Dr Noreen Giffney to explore complicity as a concept which is far richer and nuanced than its current usage often suggests. Tracing the word's roots from the Latin complicari - to fold together - through to its modern deployment as a tool of public judgment, the guests argue that complicity is often flattened into an instrument of shame and accusation, stripping away the genuine ethical complexity of knowing, not knowing, and choosing not to know. Drawing on psychoanalytic ideas around disavowal, paranoia, and other defence mechanisms, they examine why our minds work so hard to protect us from feeling implicated and what happens when that protection fails us. The conversation ranges widely from the temporality of being called out even before wrongdoing has ended, to the double bind of being told not to be complicit while being pressured to comply; from Vincent Delacroix's 2023 Booker-shortlisted novel Small Boat - a devastating meditation on a real Channel drowning disaster, to institutional complicity in universities, tabloid media, and political populism. The guests are candid about the difficulty of the topic, reflecting in the podcast postscript on how their own defences shaped the conversation itself. Ultimately, they offer not easy answers but a thoughtful invitation to sit with ambivalence and to consider whether honest association with others, rather than accusation, might be a preferable response to the moral challenges of our time. Guest Biographies: Dr Lita Crociani-Windland is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Psychosocial Studies at the University of the West of England in Bristol and a faculty member of the National Institute for Organisational Dynamics Australia. She is a founding member of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and a current board member of the Association for Psychosocial Studies. She is a director of the Centre for Social Dreaming, she is editorial board member for Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society and Organisational and Social Dynamics journals. She has written on affective dynamics in relation to different topics, including disabilities, politics and group dynamics. She is currently co-lead in a transdisciplinary team based psychosocial and artistic research project titled Psychostructures: exploring architecture and buildings as subjective assemblages and in idle moments likes to play around with art materials. Dr Noreen Giffney is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist based in Ireland, and a lecturer and researcher at Ulster University, Belfast. She is the author of the book, The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic, and the author and/or editor of additional articles and books on psychoanalysis, psychosocial studies, and the arts, culture and mental health. She is the joint editor-in-chief, with Emmanuelle Smith, of New Associations psychoanalytic magazine. Noreen is the co-director, with Allen Fatimaharan, of Cultural Encounters, an animated short film about the nourishment and protection provided by our experiences with the arts and culture. She is a member of the creative team, led by Jill Bennett, for World Comes Alive, the first VR experience underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking. Noreen is an associate member of the performance arts organisation, Bbeyond, and takes opera singing lessons in her spare time. Host and Executive Producer: Candida Yates, Professor Emerita in Psychosocial and Cultural Studies: www.thepsychoculturalagency.com Audio Producer and Theme Music Composer: Callum Blades This podcast is co-sponsored by the British Psychoanalytic Council, Bournemouth University and The Psychocultural Agency.
Why has "manifesting" captured the imagination of millions and what does it really reveal about us? In this episode of Psychocultural, host Candida Yates is joined by psychoanalytic psychotherapist and attachment specialist Dr Nicola Diamond to examine one of contemporary culture's most talked-about ideas. Rooted in the belief that focused thought and positive intention can shape reality, manifesting has exploded in popularity with a huge spike in Google searches during the pandemic and today garners billions of TikTok views. But is it empowering self-belief, or a form of magical thinking that papers over deeper anxieties? Drawing on psychoanalytic ideas alongside a broader cultural critique, the conversation unpacks manifesting as a symptom of our times: a hyper-individualised, post-truth world in which the collapse of traditional anchors such as religion, science and community has left many reaching for a sense of personal omnipotence as a way to shore up the self at a time of crisis and insecurity. The discussion moves between the seductive appeal of manifesting and its significant blind spots including its roots in neoliberal ideology and the American Dream, its tendency to pathologise negativity rather than learn from it, and its neglect of the relational foundations of genuine self-worth. Nicola Diamond draws on Winnicott, Klein, Bowlby and attachment theory to argue that real self-belief is not conjured alone but built through being loved and understood by others and that tolerating uncertainty, vulnerability, and even failure is not a weakness to be manifested away, but the very ground on which authentic growth occurs. This thought-provoking episode offers a rich psychosocial alternative to the quick fix — and asks whether learning to be "good enough" might be more transformative than the search for perfection. Guest Biography: Dr Nicola Diamond is as former Senior Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies, University of East London, and visiting lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic. She is a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with over thirty years’ experience, works in private practice and provides supervision for therapists. Previously, she worked as a psychotherapist for The Helen Bamber Foundation for survivors of torture and trauma and at the Women’s Therapy Centre in London. Her specialisation is in attachment, psychoanalysis, and the body, but has a broader background in contemporary philosophy, neuroscience, visual forms of representation and cultural, psychosocial studies. She presents public lectures and podcasts and conducts doctorate and post doctorate supervision. She is the author of Between Skins: The Body in Psychoanalysis and co-author of Attachment and Intersubjectivity. She has published numerous chapters and articles in the field. www.drnicoladiamond.com/ Host and Executive Producer: Candida Yates, Professor Emerita in Psychosocial and Cultural Studies: www.thepsychoculturalagency.com Audio Producer and Theme Music Composer: Callum Blades This podcast is co-sponsored by the British Psychoanalytic Council, Bournemouth University and The Psychocultural Agency.
Are chatbots a threat to meaningful human connection — or something more complex and interesting? In this episode of Psychocultural, Candida Yates is joined by Emerita Professor Lynn Froggett and Dr Jacob Johanssen to explore one of the most urgent and fascinating questions of our digital age. With a billion users worldwide and growing, AI chatbots are no longer a niche curiosity but instead are companions, confidants, and for some, even romantic partners. Rather than dismissing this phenomenon with alarm, the guests bring psychosocial, psychoanalytic and media studies expertise and thinking to bear on what these relationships are, and what human needs they are meeting. From the isolated older person calling their mental health nurse multiple times a day, to the bereaved individual struggling to find words for unspeakable grief, the speakers argue that the real question is not whether chatbots are fake humans (they are not) but what kind of ""machinic other"" they are, and what their distinctive possibilities might be. Central to the discussion are the concepts of containment, narcissism, and alterity. The guests debate whether chatbots offer genuine containment or merely its aesthetic simulation and why that distinction matters. Lynn Froggett introduces the idea of the chatbot as an aesthetic container: not a therapist, but as an entity with access to the vast cultural sediment of human language, capable of producing resonance rather than mere mirroring, and generating new imagery and feeling in the user. Jacob Johanssen raises important concerns about the sycophantic, user-affirming design of commercial chatbots and the narcissistic dynamics that are reinforced when interacting with AI and chatbots. Both guests note that the technology is evolving and discriminating, and that informed use does holds real promise as an adjunct to human encounters in therapy and in relational and community settings. The discussion is refreshingly free of either techno-utopianism or technophobia and is essential listening for anyone navigating life alongside AI. Guest Biographies: Jacob Johanssen is Associate Professor in Communications at St Mary’s University in London. His research interests revolve around digital media and psychoanalysis. His most recent books are Media and Psychoanalysis: A Critical Introduction with Steffen Krüger and Fantasy, Online Misogyny and the Manosphere: Male Bodies of Dis/Inhibition. Jacob is editor of the Counterspace section of the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, sits on the executive committee of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. Lynn Froggett is Professor Emerita of Psychosocial Studies at the University of Lancashire. Over the last twenty years she has led a succession of research programmes concerned with the ‘uses’ of art and the nature of aesthetic experience in settings as diverse as health, social care, criminal justice, education, communities, and museums. Her research trajectory has led her to develop methodologies which respond to sensory, affective and discursive registers of experience. Her current work focuses on the interface between art and technology, the nature and value of immersive experience and the Future of Ageing. A forthcoming book Ageing and the Machine will consider design of relational technologies with older people, with Jill Bennett and Gail Kenning. She is commissioning co-editor for a Policy Press series: Advances in Biographical Methods. Lynn is one of the founders of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and continues to develop the field as Chair. She is also a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council and of the International Research Group for Psycho-Societal Analysis. She is Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster and Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales. Her Research Gate profile documents many of he