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Psychodynamic Foundations of Bioenergetic Analysis

Experiencing, Understanding and Healing the Body and the Mind
2-2-4 The Fourth Blow / Die vierte Kränkung
Volume 2 Part 2: Bioenergetic Analysis in the Postmodern Age Chapter 2.4

The Fourth Blow

Changes in Experiencing, Understanding and Healing as a Result of the Fourth Technological Revolution
Martin Herberhold

The essay examines the effects of digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on human experience, understanding and healing. It compares the associated developments with the three major historical blows to humanity caused by scientific discoveries: the Copernican revolution, Darwin's theory of evolution, and Freud’s discovery of the unconscious. The changes in our sense of self and identity under the influence of digital technologies are discussed, as are the resulting challenges for psychotherapy. In this context, the current trend towards self-construction and the increasing desensualization are critically examined. The author shows how this trend is changing human coexistence and the relationship between people and their environment. In particular, he traces the current developments surrounding AI and their impact on education, ethical issues and, last but not least, psychotherapy. For example, emotional robotics and virtual reality are presented with regard to their possible use in a psychotherapeutic setting, and the associated opportunities and risks for Bioenergetic Analysis are explained.

Link to the original publication at Routledge

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  • After the three blows described by Freud (earth is not the center of the universe; man has evolved from the animal kingdom; man is not guided by reason alone), we are approaching a fourth technological blow: There is an intelligence that is superior to man.
  • The first wave of digitalization facilitated the creation of ego-objects and led to a previously unknown social network that generates social meanings, but also opens up new forms of social contact. Both have consequences for the formation of identity: Is my (body) cell or the pixel of my WhatsApp profile picture the basis of my sense of self?
  • This also has consequences for the organization of attachment, e.g., new challenges in terms of individuation, separation/autonomy or coping with feelings of loneliness or boredom.
  • The new technical possibilities mean that self-perception is being replaced by self-measurement. In addition, an increasing imperative of self-construction is emerging in the digital world.
  • It is not only interesting for Bioenergetic Analysis what significance we will give bodily presence in the future. Human resonance experiences are in danger of becoming impoverished. The »total sensory organ of the body« competes with data analysis.
  • Computer-body interfaces (cyborgs) are developing at breathtaking speed. It is already possible to create avatars from the words imagined by brain-damaged patients who are unable to speak, which then speak the imagined words.
  • AI-based techniques are also increasingly being used in psychotherapy research to draw conclusions about the mental state of clients. The question always arises as to what extent an AI can »sense« or »understand« the client better than a human being. Are we entering an age of transhumanism, or do we need a new Humanism of Embodiment, as called for by Thomas Fuchs?

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Martin Herberhold
Martin Herberhold

Martin Herberhold, Dr. med. M.A., former Chief Physician at the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at...

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