Psychoanalysis has begun discussing the powerful meanings that computers and related technology have for some patients, but little has been said about making patients' technology a part of treatment. Fundamental qualities of technologically altered reality that make it compelling for some patients include integrating the internal and external worlds; disembodiment; and divestment of speech. Allowing patients' technology into the office can make these qualities come alive in the therapeutic process. To illustrate, I discuss an adolescent girl who frequently texted during sessions, and an adolescent boy who was so centered on the World of Warcraft computer game that I let him play during sessions and also let him know about my playing World of Warcraft in order to engage with his experience meaningfully. These two different technologically altered realities shared the aforementioned fundamental qualities, but also allowed expression and exploration of very different personal meanings.
Free association is therapeutically helpful in the regulation of states of consciousness. A person who free-associates enters a particular state of consciousness characterized by increased subjective self-awareness and disregard for reality, together with implicit pulls for objective self-awareness and reality adherence. Free association facilitates the patient's learning to integrate and to shift flexibly among points on these dimensions. Tensions existing in the free-associative state are embedded in a similar tension between free associating and reacting to the analyst's interventions, so interplay between free association and intervention also facilitates regulation of states of consciousness.
The enormous popularity of the Harry Potter books points to the deep resonance readers feel with the psychological issues they bring to life. Three developmental issues provide central themes: the necessity for partial disenchantment and increasing attunement to reality, while retaining a capacity for wonder; repudiation or endorsement of the narcissistic solution to life's difficulties; and aggression and castration fantasies while growing into adult power. These developmental issues are particularly acute during adolescence but start earlier and continue to be reworked throughout the life span, accounting for the books' appeal to a wide age-range of readers despite their apparent focus on adolescence. These developmental themes are explored in order to better understand the Harry Potter books, as, conversely, the books are explored in order to better understand these themes.
Holzman Inkblots were administered under standard instructions and under instructions to respond imaginatively. Protocols were scored according to Holt's system for scoring primary process. Subcategories of primary process proved to be reliable and to differ in prominence. A stable pattern of primary process, characterizing college students' inkblot responses, appears to represent students' intuition of what it means to be imaginative.
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