Left to Our Own Devices

This paper considers the challenges and opportunities presented by computer-mediated treatments made possible by emerging technoculture. Clinical complexities arising from the introduction of screen relations into treatment has changed fundamental assumptions of the analytic situation; these complexities were observed in 26 in-depth interviews conducted with psychoanalytic clinicians on the topic of technology and professional practice. Selected excerpts from these interviews are presented within the context of a broader literature review alongside the authors’ theorizing about our current, rapidly changing technological climate. The authors highlight various dimensions of our newfound screen-based analytic relationships such as what the analyst can now “see” through the screen, the realistic and illusory elements of digital space, the “digital third,” and the experience of straddling digital and nondigital realities. A case example is used to illustrate these dimensions and explore implications for analytic process.