John Suler

• Hello! A Few Observations by Doug William, Ph.D., 3/23/98
  • re: Hello! A Few Observations by Phil Farber, 3/27/98
    
    

>>In terms of our response and the ability to (consciously or unconsciously) process online communication -- I don't think the amount of such subtle information is any less, it just comes at you in a different way."

I agree: there ARE many subtleties in typed text. but I think you might be stretching the argument a bit. Surely, in f2f meetings there is far more interpersonal sensory information than in text-only cyberspace meetings - especially visual and auditory (voice) cues. This is one of the reasons why there is such controversy about doing online psychotherapy (see NETPSY). Although email and chat therapy is possible, and people are doing it, almost everyone agrees that it can't be nearly as effective as in-person therapy, due to the ambiguities resulting from the lack of f2f cues.

What is interesting about the ambiguity of online encounters,though, is that it does open the door for more marked transference and countertransference reactions. As analysts who sit behind their couched clients have known for a century: when you reduce the other person's interpersonal sensory input, transference intensifies.

• Subtleties by Phil F., 3/29/98
• re:subtleties by John Suler, 3/30/98
  • subtle preferences by Phil F., 3/30/98
  • cyberspace dreams by John, 3/30/98