AI was supposed to replace what humans make. Instead, it's revealing what only humans can. In this episode, Dr. Greg sits down with Mike Marshall, Director of Design at the CatholicPsych Institute, to explore the irony at the heart of the AI age: the closer machines get to perfection, the more clearly we see that imperfection isn't a flaw to engineer away: it's the signature of being human.

Key Topics:

• What it means to be human in an age that can imitate almost everything
• Why the closer AI gets to "perfect," the more obvious it becomes that something's missing
• Why signing your work is becoming a quiet act of resistance in an age of imitation
• What it actually takes to stay human in a world that's getting very good at faking it

Learn More:

• Letter to Artists by Pope St. John Paul II – The letter referenced throughout the conversation
• mikemarshalldesign.com – The hand behind every piece of CatholicPsych branding, and available for freelance work
• The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton – The meditation Mike draws from on man as "maker," not Creator
• The Mindful Catholic by Dr. Greg Bottaro – The book with the "keys in a blender" story Dr. Greg never expected readers to remember
• Watch other Being Human episodes on YouTube – Watch the full video archive of the Being Human podcast
• Sam Altman on AI Images – The referenced video clip on why the value of perfection is going to zero
• The Integrated Life Journal – Quarterly journal on disintegrated care in the modern world, and what integration looks like in practice
• Summit of Integration 2026 – Sign up to learn more about this year's event!
• Need help? Schedule a free CatholicPsych consultation
• Want to help? Learn more about our Certification in Professional Accompaniment

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$20 billion in research. Suicide rates 32% higher than the year 2000. Something is deeply wrong — and it isn't a lack of effort.

In this episode, Dr. Greg makes the case that the mental health crisis isn't a funding problem or an awareness problem. It's a standard problem. Without a vision of what a healthy human person actually looks like, the best we can do is manage symptoms. And he introduces something new: a Mental Health Litany and Novena beginning May 15th — nine days of prayer leading into Pentecost, naming the specific fears and lies beneath our patterns and bringing them before Christ.

Key Topics:

• Why decades of funding and awareness haven't moved mental health in the right direction
• Why the absence of symptoms is not the same thing as health
• What Catholic anthropology offers that the mental health industry doesn't have
• Why the Church has been slow to speak into mental suffering — and what that silence has cost
• How a litany does something that silence and symptom-management can't
• What it looks like to bring anxiety, depression, and trauma into Catholic prayer — by name

Learn More:

• Download the Mental Health Litany and join the Novena: catholicpsych.com/litany
• Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier: The book Dr. Greg references that argues our current mental health treatments may be making the problems worse
• Start of the Being Human series on the Histrionic Defense Patterns:
  • Ep. #274: To Be Loved Is to Perform: Inside the Histrionic Compulsion for Attention and Validation
• Start of the Being Human series on the Borderline Defense Patterns:
  • Ep. #269: BORDERLINE: The Push-Pull Between a Fear of Abandonment and Annihilation
• Start of the Being Human series on the Dependent Defense Patterns:
  • Ep. #265: Jerry Maguire, Gollum, and the Fear of Not Existing
• Start of the Being Human series on the Narcissistic Defense Patterns:
  • Ep. #261: Narcissism and the Terror of Being Ordinary
• Need help? Schedule a free CatholicPsych consultation
• Want to help? Learn more about our Certification in Professional Accompaniment

Follow Us on Socials: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter (X) | LinkedIn