Introduction

This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concerns how the external world impacts on the subjective experience of embodiment and more specifically on sexual development during adolescence. It examines how the 'work' of desire is being shaped by new technologies and illustrates this through the use of Spike Jonze's film Her. The book primarily concerns the way new media have impacted on psychoanalytic practice. New media offer opportunities for increasing accessibility to mental health care including psychoanalytic interventions. The book makes a clear distinction between the potential constructive use of technology in the context of a therapeutic process where both patient and therapist are physically present and the use of new media to deliver psychotherapy. Technological developments are 'developments' in the sense that they have created opportunities for extending learning and creativity and they may be used by some individuals to assist developmental processes.