Technology and Psychoanalysis: two perspectives on the relationship between psychoanalysis and technology
Dawn Farber asserts that “cyber culture” challenges the value psychoanalysis places on a human relationship that unfolds in-person and slowly over time. She raises concerns about whether our “tetheredness” to cyber-devices alters us neuro-chemically and may have deleterious effects on attention, empathy, memory, and attachment styles, and whether it may bias “cyber natives” away from talk therapy. Drew Tillotson starts from the vantage point that technology is a vital part of our lives and will only increasingly impact all forms of psycho-social engagement. He discusses the frame and our concept of psychoanalysis in using technology for treatment; how we need to develop our current theories to encompass the clinical phenomena arising in ‘tele-treatments.’ His paper is clinical in focus and discusses both patients’ use of technology as well as tele-treatments he conducts using online camera technology. PINC Symposium focuses on psychoanalytic ideas: presenting papers or lectures while aiming to open dialogue and to engage with one another in a way that promotes vibrant thinking.
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