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The state of psychoanalysis today

·58 min·3 clips

Mark says psychoanalysis today has been “taken over by woke leftists” and calls the model “defunct.”

1. America Out Loud News’ Self-Improvement episode “The state of psychoanalysis today” centers on Cece Evans Pugliese’s work and Mark McDonald’s critique of the field. 2. Cece Evans Pugliese is introduced as a psychoanalyst and concierge mindset coach, and Mark McDonald is identified as a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who joins the discussion. 3. The episode asks what psychoanalysis is for today and whether unconscious material can still be brought into awareness outside traditional analytic institutions. 4. Cece defines psychoanalysis as attention to the unconscious mind, and she repeats Carl Jung’s line that if the unconscious is not made conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. 5. She says people run on repeat narratives, and that careful listening can reveal an inner dialogue the speaker may not notice. 6. Cece says self-reflection, solitude, discipline, and attention are needed to connect the unconscious and conscious mind. 7. She argues that smartphones and modern culture “trick us out of discipline” and slow down the work of examining one’s life. 8. Cece describes a shift in 2016 when she stopped wanting to be identified mainly as a therapist and instead wanted to be associated with people’s potential. 9. She says her current work focuses on helping people with mission, purpose, and self-sabotage rather than on their problems alone. 10. Cece says her practice grew through referrals, that she charges a lot of money, and that her work is now predominantly with men. 11. Mark says he completed about 12 years of psychoanalytic work, including eight years of psychoanalysis and several years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. 12. He says he left his Los Angeles institute in 2020 after concluding that the traditional analytic community lacked courage and had shut down its in-person practices. 13. Mark argues that modern therapy often focuses on conscious problem-solving instead of long-term embedded difficulties rooted in childhood. 14. He says many therapists now work from a behavioral or social-services model that treats people as clients rather than patients. 15. He calls that shift “an abomination” and says it has destroyed the profession from psychiatry through therapy. 16. Cece says her own practice stayed open during COVID, that she insisted on seeing patients in person unless they were actually sick, and that remote care filtered out patients who refused to come in. 17. Mark says video can still show facial expressions, but it misses motion, shared space, and other cues that matter in analysis. 18. The tone is argumentative and conversational, with frequent interruptions, jokes, and repeated back-and-forth between the hosts and guest. 19. Best for listeners interested in psychoanalysis, therapy, and narcissism. 20. Skip if you want a neutral clinical overview without strong opinions.

As heard by us

A calm, practical look at therapy, with a clear case for both remote and in-person care.

Dr. Jeff Markey keeps the focus on the plain work of therapy: listening closely, watching how the work changes, and treating purpose as something that can matter alongside symptom relief.

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A calm, real-world interview about therapy, listening, and purpose.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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