Introduction - In-Session Use of Digital Material in Child Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Abstract

This section on digital media in child psychoanalysis and psychotherapy is intended to help fill in a gap in the psychoanalytic literature where much more has been written about the cultural and developmental impact of the digital revolution compared to conceptualization and intervention in clinical work with children and adolescents who wish to access digital media within sessions. In this introductory article, I provide a preview of the section’s articles by four experienced psychoanalytic child clinicians. Each author-clinician offers multiple case illustrations and commentaries on the formulations that undergird their inventions with child and adolescent patients who sought to bring digital devices and media directly into treatment sessions. The hope is that this section will inspire other child analysts and therapists to write about their experiences on treatment’s digital frontier and thus expand our literature on this topic that is of vital importance in contemporary practice.