In this respect, Jungian analyst James Hillman goes as far as holding psychotherapy responsible for the tawdriness of American politics since the 1950s. In his reckoning, all the smart people are sitting in therapy incapacitated, their therapists having convinved them that the source of their misery is to be found within themselves. The net result is a state of near oblivion as regards the political debacles that have unfolded around them for the last half-a-century.

This will not surprise cognitive psychologists, of course, who have known for years that knowledge does not translate into action. Psychotherapists, too, regard it as fairly unremarkable that the self can be so damaged as to be incapable of acting in its own interests.

There is a logic behind human conduct, although it does not reveal itself through conventional reasoning skills.

This brings me to the psychoanalytic perspective and its major advantage over other approaches, namely, its ready acceptance that humans are motivated, for the most part, by factors far beyond their conscious awareness.

In the jargon of psychotherapy, canines seem to possess limitless reserves of unconditional positive regard: no matter the quality of human interaction, they always come back for more. With dogs there is no need to keep up appearances, one does not have to be mindful of their mental states, in contrast to those exhausting everyday engagements with humans. One is free to be oneself, like the patient who freely unburdens herself to herself to her therapist, without regard for the latter’s feelings (assuming said patient is not a pathological accommodator). And in return, dogs - with their documented sensitivity to the latter’s feelings - invariably deliver the suitably empathetic reflection, demonstrating an almost implicit ‘theory of mind’.

This point signals the important difference between idealism - when we maintain our values despite the odds - and idealisation - when we deny the odds altogether. To be a good citizen requires that we hold fast to what psychotherapists call ‘the frame’ - the set of conscious routines (for example, the time, duration and confidentiality of sessions) that make therapeutic work possible. In the context of conscious citizenship, it means showing up consistently and tolerating the frequently disabling anxiety that comes with living in this country. Sometimes we are the ones who bring the storm, at other times we are the ones who have to weather it, but we are always involved, implicated. There is not a moment in which something is not being asked of us, whether we are required to give a part of ourselves or receive a part of someone else.