Exploring loss, love and meaning with psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz

In this profound episode of Conversations, host Sarah Konosky engages psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz in a deep exploration of loss, love, and the human quest for self-understanding. Drawing from decades of clinical practice and his two best-selling books, The Examined Life and Love's Labour, Grosz reveals how psychoanalysis offers a unique space for patients to confront their inner worlds through silence, dreams, and storytelling. He emphasizes that every stage of life involves necessary losses—moving from the womb to the breast, from home to school, and from childhood to adulthood—and that true intimacy requires the courage to face these separations. Through poignant case studies, including a woman paralyzed by the symbolic 'death' of her family in marriage and a man whose repressed anger shaped his secret life, Grosz illustrates how unresolved childhood dynamics echo into adult relationships. He also reflects on the transformative power of pain, arguing that it is not a flaw to be avoided but the very instrument through which we discover our deepest desires. As modern therapy increasingly turns to medication and AI, Grosz defends the irreplaceable value of two human beings thinking together in a quiet room, where vulnerability, curiosity, and the shared awareness of mortality become the foundation of authentic connection and growth.