Neue Beziehungsformen im Internet

Abstract

Communication in the internet by e-mail is gaining in significance in counseling and psychotherapy of suicidal patients as well as an additional communication in face-to-face psychotherapy. E-Mail contacts during psychodynamic psychotherapy are defined as a transference offer of a virtual object relation. In two case descriptions of suicidal patients, examples of making contact with psychotherapy on the internet are presented. The concept of the virtual object is explained and its application for understanding these initial scenes and phenomena is discussed.

Parasuicide online: Can suicide websites trigger suicidal behaviour in predisposed adolescents?

“…Benefits include help with illness and crisis management, disease definition, as well as information on self-help groups and tips for further reading. E-mails offer a low-threshold, informal, self-designed and modified way to contact therapists (21,22). Unfortunately, it is hard for laypersons to judge information on diagnoses and the level of professionalism on the Web.…”

Selbsthilfe und Beratung im Internet

“…Die Problematik der sich verändern-den Übertragungs-und Gegenübertra-gungsprozesse darf auch in der virtuellen Welt nicht verkannt werden [18]: Verschiedene Autoren unterscheiden heute schon zwischen den Übertragun-gen des Patienten auf den Computer (z.B. Wunsch nach einem allzeit erreichbaren und verfügbaren Objekt, das aber nicht zu nahe kommt) und den Übertragungen auf die Person des Therapeuten [10,31].…”