Boys and young men spend hours daily focusing on screens. We will explore how media in cyberspace become alternate containers for many of them in distress. We will talk about what this means for their psyche in terms of relationships and fantasies, especially their becoming fascinated with apocalyptic fantasies.
We will look at some contemporary difficulties in clinical work with male adolescents and young men. What brings them into therapy? How willing are they to engage with us?
We will discuss the role of alienation, in particular, how it shuts down access to their inner worlds. This situation leads to clinical encounters in which boys and men feel unable to even describe what is happening inside them. Ideas about psychic containment will help us to appreciate many of the therapeutic challenges that we encounter.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The participants will be able to:
- Define of the main characteristics of alienation in boys and young men.
- List at least three clinical manifestations of alienation that show up in initial presentations for therapy or analysis.
- Describe two strategies for dealing with relational avoidance in psychotherapy.
- Explain how activities online can become addictive.
