Persona – C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago

This episode is part of a new series, Jung in the World B-Sides, where we go off-road to explore the rugged psychological terrain of our current culture.

This episode is part 2 of our interview with Hilde Lynn Helphenstein. Part 1

“Know thyself”—from Socrates to Shakespeare, this wisdom echoed across centuries. But the digital age is turning it inside out. As online influencers rise to fame, persona is overtaking the self. The obsession with self-representation has eclipsed the drive to be true to oneself.

What does it mean to live your life as someone else? In this two-part interview, host Patricia Martin talks with the infamous Jerry Gogosian—real name Hilde Helphenstein—about the hidden psychological costs of her seven-year experiment living as her persona and how she clawed her identity back.

Watch the video of this interview:

Hilde Lynn Helphenstein is a visual artist, digital storyteller, and the creative mind behind @jerrygogosian, a popular satirical Instagram meme account that critiques and comments on the global art world through viral images, videos and text pieces. It has since transformed into a community and platform.

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.

Be informed of new programs and content by joining our mailing list!

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
2025-2026 Season Intern: Zoe Kalaw
Music: Peter Demuth

This episode is part of a new series, Jung in the World B-Sides, where we go off-road to explore the rugged psychological terrain of our current culture.

Part 2 is now up. Listen to Part 2

“Know thyself”—from Socrates to Shakespeare, this wisdom echoed across centuries. But the digital age is turning it inside out. As online influencers rise to fame, persona is overtaking the self. The obsession with self-representation has eclipsed the drive to be true to oneself.

What does it mean to live your life as someone else? In this two-part interview, host Patricia Martin talks with the infamous Jerry Gogosian—real name Hilde Helphenstein—about the hidden psychological costs of her seven-year experiment living as her persona and how she clawed her identity back.

Watch the video of this interview:

Hilde Lynn Helphenstein is a visual artist, digital storyteller, and the creative mind behind @jerrygogosian, a popular satirical Instagram meme account that critiques and comments on the global art world through viral images, videos and text pieces. It has since transformed into a community and platform.

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.

Be informed of new programs and content by joining our mailing list!

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
2025-2026 Season Intern: Zoe Kalaw
Music: Peter Demuth

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

Jungian Analysts Judith Cooper and Daniel Ross discuss Elegy, the 2008 film directed by Isabel Coixet. Its screenplay is adapted by Nicholas Meyer from the 2001 novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth. They discuss:

In the intro Ben mentions the episode The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche and our new Self-Study CE Courses.

Judith Cooper, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is a graduate and member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She was adjunct faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (1999-2000), teaching projective testing. She was clinical supervisor (1991-2002) and director of training (1998-2002) of an APA-accredited psychology internship program at a community mental health center in northwest Indiana. She has taught in the Analyst Training Program and lectured on the anima/animus, and the clinical use of film.

Daniel Ross, RN, PMHNP, MSN, MBA has been a nurse for 40 years and in hospice for over 30.  As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Jungian Analyst, he brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care.  He first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program (now the JPP/JSP) at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program.  He is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking psychotherapy and continues to see hospice and palliative care patients at the end of life.  He is Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of 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.

Links
Judith Cooper’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website
Daniel Ross’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website

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

Please join our Holiday Giving Drive by making a donation online. Your support allows us to provide free and low-cost education to students and listeners around the world. Donate: https://jungchicago.org/support-us/

Rumpelstiltskin is a character the we love from the show Once Upon a Time, but the original story isn’t commonly consumed. We have split our analysis once more into two parts. This first one covers narcissism and persona while part 2 will focus solely on the Trickster archetype.

The story is read from 6:20 – 13:15

Trigger warning for sexual abuse from 49:50 – 52:10

We’ll be reading from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm

Adina also recommends:

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale And Folklore Library). If attempting to purchase this, be sure it says, “with Padraic Colum (intro) and Joseph Campbell (commentary) and James Scharl (illustr)”. Amazon considers all versions to be the same book, so you could accidentally buy a copy without those key elements.

Our intro/outro music is from Antoni Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, performed by John Harrison with the Wichita State University Chamber Players. You can find the original at freemusicarchive.org

Banner Image: Blue Fairy Book-Rumpelstiltskin.png – Wikimedia Commons

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @JEA_Podcast

Discord: https://discord.gg/GEdn4TPgHR

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