A través de un estudio de caso, este trabajo aborda la complejidad para un adolescente de manejar simultáneamente un trabajo de « adolescencia » y un trabajo sobre la enfermedad. Dimitri sufre de una enfermedad somática grave desde la infancia y desde hace poco es hemodializado. Su dependencia a la maquina (el riñón artificial) al personal medical y a su madre de alguna manera va contra el trabajo de la adolescencia. Las diferentes transformaciones corporales del joven han sido vistas como un signo de enfermedad y de muerte. Por medio de otra maquina que constituye la computadora y partir de su implicación en un juego de video, la trata de elaborar esta experiencia creando su propio avatar. Un personaje en medio de los dos mundos. El joven crea una narración en la cual la realidad y lo virtual se confunden para hacer mas soportable la enfermedad y la idea misma de que su vida esta condicionada a la maquina. El espacio propuesto por el juego de video constituye un espacio de juego controlado por el y que comparte a lo largo de su psicoterapia sirviendo de espacio transicional.
Proponemos tres representaciones imaginarias, el exilio, el combate y la mascarada como la ilustración de fuerzas inconcientes a la base los comportamientos numéricos de los adolescentes.
A menudo lo virtual se denuncia como un nuevo objeto de adicción para los adolescentes. Aquí abordaremos el punto de vista según el cual este útil favorecería la elaboración de la capacidad depresiva antes de constituirse el « Yo » en lo real. La pantalla entre el cuerpo y el sujeto, la computadora, seria el primer lugar de simbolización a fin de acceder a una verdadera subjetivación. Transportando a un otro espacio y a un otro tiempo, lo virtual permitiría de abordar de otra manera la temática de la temporalidad relativa a la problemática de la perdida. La perdida del objeto engendra el advenimiento del « Yo ». ¿ De que manera lo virtual puede constituir un nuevo lugar de apropiación de la ausencia ? ¿ Como es que el puede permitir el paso de una intemporalidad a una atemporalidad ? Esta idea será aclarada a través del caso de un joven autista como arquetipo de la perdida pero también del paso de lo imaginario a lo real.
Virtual spaces are particularly well-suited to auto-therapeutic uses, especially for suffering personalities. At the same time, these spaces foster the construction of a new culture in which youngsters attempt to construct the landmarks that are missing in their daily lives
The pubertaire Virtual (with a capital “ V ”) would be a formulation of the Lacanian real, at the moment of the metamorphosis of puberty. The virtual conducts of adolescents could avoid it, with certain risks, while at the same time aiming for this deep aspiration. Distractions, they reflect an alienation through the image and its techniques, but one from which a work of subjectivation may nevertheless be expected. The false may prove helpful in the quest for what is true.
When working with teenagers, the association “ en-Jeux ” (its name plays on the two meanings “ game on ” and “ at stake ”) gives priority to virtual reality games. For these constantly evolving subjects the world of video games encourages a journey of self-discovery and the discovery of others. The young players move from a solitary use of the games to a more collective use, in a more social setting. However, achieving this aim involves an adult contribution to the adolescents, and technical supports are essential. Thus, video games become tools of understanding the way the psyche works and, used on line, they are an excellent way to acquire new technical an inter-personal skills. At en-Jeux, virtual reality games bring out the hidden potential in adolescents.
The “ virtual ” image does not exist, any more than the worlds it is supposed to generate. The orthodoxy – and some“ learned ” voices – are doing their best to smudge the lines between the real, the imaginary and what belongs to visual representation. To what purpose ? Here, high school students, when asked about the notion of the “ virtual ” compare their experience with the creation of digital images with representations they are elaborating and with values circulation in the social imagination. A meditation on what has become a “ passion for ignorance ”.
The word “ virtual ” has at least three possible definitions : that which is potential and in the process of becoming, that which is present but not actualized at a given moment, and that which excludes the body and its turmoil. In all these cases, the virtual establishes itself as a fantasy wherein the desire to be contained in the image, to interact with it, and finally to swap skins with it are all mobilized at the same time. But sometimes, virtual encounters are also used by adolescents as transitional spaces for the purposes of personal symbolization.
Starting from the interest for new technologies and for what they bring to the new practice of teenagers on the Internet, we will question the implication of blogs in friendly exchanges. Teenagers from 12 to 17 years old attest to their use of skyblogs and show how these take part in “ real ” friendship. The conundrum of forming lasting bonds of friendship will be investigated from the “ blogosphère ”. The body’s issues and the litmus test of ideal by virtual show the difficulties that new Internet technologies give rise to. Far from being a pathological haven, the blog can be a transitional space where the inner is shared with friends. Thus, according to the subjects, the teenager can find narcissistic solutions or make use of a new tool that will help him to grasp the modernity that forms a part of him. These tools will enable him to experiment and bring life to his friendly links
The universe of the popular network game World of Warcraft is characterized by the originality of cultural references it uses and recomposes, but also by the virtual use of animist thought. These anthropological components like mana, totem animal, or demons were once vectors of fear and social distance as Freud analyzed in Totem and taboo. They are now commonly used objects for the player’s avatar in virtual reality. In a similar way, science and technology occupy a special status which is in many ways similar to the ancient Presocratic metaphysics.
The analysis of these symbolic dimensions and the ethical considerations involved are keys to a better understanding of what holds the player’s interest in his avatar, and may be tools for adults and therapists.
Adolescence, 2009, T. 27, n°3, pp. 601-609.
Revue semestrielle de psychanalyse, psychopathologie et sciences humaines, indexée AERES au listing PsycINFO publiée avec le concours du Centre National du Livre et de l’Université de Paris Diderot Paris 7