Current Events – C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago

Host Patricia Martin explores with guest Peter Demuth, a Jungian analyst, how psychopaths and narcissists construct false selves, their emotional deficits, and why society often rewards their pathology—until individual disorders spiral into collective crises that breach even legal boundaries. Rather than rehashing tired tropes, Demuth strikes original notes on the severest personality disorders, making room for genuine optimism that we can reclaim empathy as our shared human virtue.

Books by Peter Demuth:

Dr. Peter Demuth is a Clinical Forensic Psychologist & Jungian Psychoanalyst in private practice. He is an international lecturer, as well as an instructor at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and has published numerous papers on such subjects as ego strength, the individuation process, and psychopathy. He is a singer-songwriter with 8 full length albums of original introspective folk-pop music and performs regularly in the greater Chicago area. In December of 2023 he released his first book entitled Monsters in Life and Literature. He lives with his wife Karen, 2 cats, and a Golden Retriever in Evanston, Illinois.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

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This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2025-2026 Season Intern: Zoe Kalaw
Music: Peter Demuth

Register for Patricia’s In-Person Writing Workshop “The Inner Prompt”

Bestselling author and practicing Buddhist Natalie Goldberg joins Patricia Martin in a discussion about the healing properties of writing and how it helped her heal from cancer.

Natalie Goldberg is the author of fifteen books, including Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home. For the last forty years she has practiced Zen and taught seminars in writing as a spiritual practice. She lives in northern New Mexico. For more information, please visit nataliegoldberg.com.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Two Jungian analysts discuss fundamentalism, shadow, and a new way forward. George Didier and Vlado Šolc, authors of the book Dark Religion: Fundamentalism from the Perspective of Jungian Psychology, join Patricia Martin for a conversation about the psychology of religion as a destructive force and why it is important to understand the shadow side of fundamentalism.

Dr. George Didier, III is a clinical psychologist, pastoral psychotherapist and a diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Rockford, Crystal Lake, and Chicago, IL. After graduate studies he was ordained a catholic priest and served the Diocese of Rockford for 10 years. During this time, he also went back to school and earned a doctorate in pastoral psychotherapy. He left the priesthood after 10 years, married and changed careers, going back to school again to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology. After graduation he worked as a psychologist and teacher at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Rockford, while developing his private practice. Dr. Didier was a founding member of the Center for Wholistic Counseling at Resurrection, in Woodstock, IL, serving as clinical director of the Center from 1995 to 2007.

Vladislav (Vlado) Šolc (pronounced “Schultz”) is a professional psychotherapist and Jungian analyst practicing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Vlado received training from the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and Charles University in Prague. He is the author of five depth-psychology-oriented books: Psyche, Matrix, Reality; The Father Archetype; In the Name of God—Fanaticism from the Perspective of Depth Psychology; Dark Religion: Fundamentalism from the Perspective of Jungian Psychology and most recently Democracy and Individuation in the Times of Conspiracy Theories. 

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Patricia Martin talks with Jungian analyst Gus Cwik, PsyD, Jungian analyst, about the upside of virtual therapy and what we need to know about its strengths and limitations.

August Cwik, PsyD is a clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and senior diplomate Jungian analyst in private practice in the Chicago area. After studying Chemistry as an undergraduate, he entered military service and then changed his career path to psychology. After studying with Rosiland Cartwright in the Dream and Sleep Lab at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle, he was in the first class at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. He interned at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry where he trained in hypnotherapy and psychoanalytic psychotherapy and returned to Chicago to begin private practice. He is on the teaching faculty of the Chicago Institute and the Florida and Minnesota Seminars for the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts. He is an Assistant Editor for the Journal of Analytical Psychology. He is former: Co-Director of Training of the Analyst Training Program in Clinical Supervision and Curriculum and Co-Director of Clinical Training Program in Analytical Psychotherapy (now the JPP/JSP) at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago, and Senior Adjunct Faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. He provides videoconferencing supervision and analysis. He has published on analytic structure, supervision, alchemical imagery, active imagination, dreams, and numerous reviews.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Transcript

Bestselling author Jean Twenge reveals the effects of technology on the collective, based on her research on generational differences. Twenge’s interview with Patricia Martin answers the question, “Is the digital age breaking us down or building us up?”.

Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 180 scientific publications and seven books, including Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future and iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Learn more at jeantwenge.com.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Video Available on YouTube

University of Chicago Professor and online game designer Patrick Jagoda, PhD talks with Patricia Martin about ways that online games and new media apply Jungian theory to create emotional bonds with users.

Patrick Jagoda, PhD is a digital media theorist and game designer. He is Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Chicago. Patrick is also the co-founder (with Melissa Gilliam) of the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab and the Transmedia Story Lab, as well as Executive Editor of the interdisciplinary journal Critical Inquiry and the faculty director of the Weston Game Lab. Patrick’s books include Network Aesthetics (2016), The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer (2016, with Michael Maizels), and Experimental Games: Critique, Play, and Design in the Age of Gamification (2020), and Transmedia Stories (2022). Patrick has co-directed several alternate reality games, including Speculation (2012), the parasite (2017), and Terrarium (2019). Information about his books, essays, and collaborative game projects appears on his website.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
Music: Michael Chapman

Video Available on YouTube

Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson, PhD joins Patricia Martin for a lively conversation about the value of Jungian thought in our tech-centric times. Nelson is on the faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she is a scholar on dreams, technology, and cultural studies. In this episode, she brings a wealth of insight to our contemporary moment, exploring what it means to pursue personal growth in a digital culture.

Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson, PhD has served on the faculty of Pacifica Graduate Institute since 2003. Dr. Nelson’s own research interests have long been addressed to the issues of gender, shadow, and power, with a particular devotion to dangerous women in fiction and fact. She has published several papers and chapters in edited collections and regularly presents at scholarly conferences around the world. Dr. Nelson’s books include Psyche’s Knife: Archetypal Explorations of Love and Power (Chiron, 2012) and The Art of Inquiry: A Depth Psychological Perspective (Spring Publications, 2017), coauthored with Joseph Coppin, which is now in its third edition. She has been a professional writer and editor for more than 30 years, coaching aspiring authors across a variety of genres and styles through her consultancy Wingedfeat.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
Music: Michael Chapman

Video

What is the impact of technology on the psyche? Author and Wired Magazine columnist Meghan O’Gieblyn talks with host Patricia Martin about consciousness and the self in the machine age, and the implications for living a meaningful life.

Meghan O’Gieblyn writes about spirituality and technology and is the author of God, Human, Animal, Machine (2021) and Interior States (2018), which won the 2018 Believer Book Award for nonfiction. Her essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Wired, The Guardian, The New York Times, Bookforum, n+1, The Believer, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of three Pushcart Prizes and her work has been anthologized in The Best American Essays 2017 and The Contemporary American Essay (2021). She also writes the “Cloud Support” advice column for Wired. 

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
Music: Michael Chapman

We are sharing the webinar “Jung & the Environment” in full. The video version is available on YouTube.

Many believe we are in the Anthropocene Era, an era marked by the planet-wide influence of our species. The field of ecopsychology emerged in the early 1990s as a belated response from the psychological community to address the cascading effects of human-created environmental damage. Jungian ecopsychology offers one of the best frameworks for analyzing our dysfunctional relationship with the environment—and with each other—through an archetypal analysis of the layers of the collective unconscious. Jung was deeply connected with his native Swiss soil that was reflected in the ecological aspects of his conceptual system and his interest in alchemy as his main symbol system. Ecology begins with our relationship with “the little people” in our dreams and dreams can be used to help us connect deeply to the land using Hillman’s concept of Aphrodite as the Soul of the World. In 1940 Jung foretold a paradigm shift that he labeled a “new age” and “Aquarian Age”. The new paradigm will be based on ecological concepts and reflected in the economic system being developed by the sustainable economists. We must think in these terms as a species if there is any hope of averting a planetary nightmare. 

It was recorded on October 1, 2021.

Dennis Merritt, PhD, LCSW grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin where he established a deep connection with the land as reflected in his four volumes of The Dairy Farmer’s Guide to the Universe: Jung, Hermes, and Ecopsychology. He obtained a Ph.D. from Berkeley in insect pathology, microbial control of insect pests, before training at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. He practices as a Jungian analyst and ecopsychologist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a senior analyst in the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts. More at JungianEcopsychology.com.

Dr. Merritt is the author of Jung, Hermes, and Ecopsychology: The Dairy Farmer’s Guide to the Universe Volumes 1 – 4.

Links
Dennis Merritt’s Blog
Dennis Merritt’s Practice Website
Dennis Merritt at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago
Dennis Merrit on Jungianthology

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast! No need to share any identifying information. This information will not be used for any other purpose.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

© 2021 Dennis Merritt. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Mark Saban joins us to talk about the complexity of C. G. Jung’s own personality, and how that has shaped the way Analysts are trained today. They discuss:

• Jung’s life
• Training
• Individuation
• Inner and outer worlds
• Engagement with the world
• The archetypal vs the personal
• Jungian analysis
• The individuation of society

Mark Saban is a psychotherapist, analytical psychologist, and Jungian analyst in the UK. He is a senior analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists and registered as a Jungian Analyst with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and the International Association for Analytical Psychology. He gained an M.A. at Oxford University and worked for twenty years as a performer/writer in theatre, TV, and film before training as an analytical psychologist. He completed his PhD at the University of Essex, where he also works as a lecturer in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic studies. He sees clients in Oxford. He is author of Two Souls Alas: Carl Jung’s Two Personalities and the Making of Analytical Psychology.

Patricia Martin is a cultural analyst, consultant, and the author of three books on cultural trends. As a consultant, Martin has worked on teams at Discovery Communications, Dannon, Microsoft, Ms. Foundation for Women, Oracle, Unisys, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the New York Philharmonic, to name a few. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, and Advertising Age. A blogger since 2002, Martin was a regular contributor to Huffington Post during its start-up years. She earned a B.A. in English and sociology from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Irish literature and culture from the University College Dublin. Later, she built a foundation for her cultural analysis by studying Jungian theory and depth psychology at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, where she is currently a Professional Affiliate and member of the program committee. In 2017, she harnessed artificial intelligence to uncover the effects of the internet on our sense of self. A book on her findings entitled Will the Future Like You? is due out later in 2021. Martin speaks worldwide about cultural changes that are shaping the future and the impact of the digital culture on the collective. A native of Detroit, Martin works in Chicago and lives in an ancient forest near the shores of Lake Michigan with her husband and countless deer.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!

Operating revenue from combined program tuitions covers only 55% of total expenses; membership dues, store purchases, and donations help bring us closer to covering the financial gap, but are not sufficient to close it. Please help us reach our $25,000 goal by joining our community of generous donors on our donor wall and podcast credits, and become a member of the Institute if you aren’t already!

Links
Mark Saban’s Website
Two Souls Alas: Carl Jung’s Two Personalities and the Making of Analytical Psychology

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

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