Michael Ermann Prof.

Bio: Michael Ermann Prof. is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Identity formation. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 8 citations.

On Medial Identity

Abstract: Ermann M. On Medial Identity. Int Forum Psychoanal 2004;13:275–83. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-706X. An important change is taking place in the identity forming processes in human development, caused by the increasing medialisation of communication, through television, video and Internet. In this regard, the medial mode of communication seems to be more important than the overwhelming variety of the transmitted contents. It represents the prototype of a narcissistic relation structure by arousing needs but not answering them. The identification with this mode of communication creates what the author calls medial identity in this paper. It is described as an adaptation to non‐contingent experiences. An interaction consists between the medialisation of the adult world and an estrangement in the identity forming developmental conditions in childhood, which gets more influential from generation to generation. The increasing usualness of the described phenomena indicates that a new normality is heralded here.

Feasibility study of a psychodynamic online group intervention for depression

Abstract: Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) was originally developed as a brief psychodynamic intervention for the treatment of depression and anxiety. More recently it has become the psychodynamic protocol for depression specifically within Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services across the U.K. The aim of the present study was to pilot and evaluate the feasibility of a group online version of DIT—Online Group Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy—and the perceived helpfulness of psychodynamically informed self-help materials. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to three groups. Participants in Condition A (n = 8) took part in an online DIT group, with self-help materials, facilitated by a therapist. Participants in Condition B (n = 8) were given access to a closed virtual group space where they could interact with each other and were supplied with the same self-help materials used by participants in Condition A, but without online therapist facilitation. Participants in Condition C (n = 8) received no instructions or facilitation, but had access to an online mental well-being site where they could meet virtually in a large, open, moderated virtual group space to discuss their psychological difficulties. This feasibility study was underpowered to detect significant differences in rates of change between facilitated and unfacilitated provision of material, but decline in symptoms appeared to be superior to control only for the facilitated group when the groups were considered separately. The response of the combined treated groups against control suggests that the DIT self-help materials may be helpful and appear to support the process of change. Further work is required.

Psychoanalysis in times of technoculture: Some reflections on the fate of the body in virtual space†

Abstract: This article discusses psychoanalysis in times of technoculture. We cannot escape that this generation is growing up in a network culture where communication is mediated and digital connectivity along with different strands of virtuality are now an integral part of our quotidian practices. Global networks impact on identity formation: groups of individuals now organize and validate their experience as a community virtually. Cyberspace is not a homogenous space. We need to consider the contingent relations that exist between this space and what it affords in terms of representation and interaction. And as we do so we need to keep firmly in mind that what transcends the online and offline spaces is the individual. In thinking about the world of cyberspace as a potential space for experimentation that may facilitate psychic elaboration we need to consider not whether this is right or wrong, good or bad, but whether psychically the individual can cope with what is being presented or enacted within a given virtual space. This is why generalities are of limited value. This is why we need a psychoanalytic lens to focus on how technology can interact for better or for worse with particular psychic economies.

Feasibility Study of a Psychodynamic Online Group Intervention for Depression and Anxiety

Abstract: Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) was originally developed as a brief psychodynamic intervention for the treatment of depression and anxiety. More recently it has become the psychodynamic protocol for depression specifically within Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services across the U.K. The aim of the present study was to pilot and evaluate the feasibility of a group online version of DIT—Online Group Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy—and the perceived helpfulness of psychodynamically informed self-help materials. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to three groups. Participants in Condition A (n = 8) took part in an online DIT group, with self-help materials, facilitated by a therapist. Participants in Condition B (n = 8) were given access to a closed virtual group space where they could interact with each other and were supplied with the same self-help materials used by participants in Condition A, but without online therapist facilitation. Participants in Condition C (n = 8) received no instructions or facilitation, but had access to an online mental well-being site where they could meet virtually in a large, open, moderated virtual group space to discuss their psychological difficulties. This feasibility study was underpowered to detect significant differences in rates of change between facilitated and unfacilitated provision of material, but decline in symptoms appeared to be superior to control only for the facilitated group when the groups were considered separately. The response of the combined treated groups against control suggests that the DIT self-help materials may be helpful and appear to support the process of change. Further work is required.