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Technology not only includes the hardware of the Computer Age, but also the myriad new forms of communication that are made possible by it. These new forms represent fundamentally different ways of communicating with others. They have changed the ways children interact with one another, so it is inevitable that they would manifest themselves inside the therapy room. Technology has changed the playing field for child therapy.
These “instant” forms of interaction blur all the lines to which we are accustomed and raise a host of issues for the therapist—issues including technique, boundaries, limit setting, and effects on the relationship between therapist and patient. These new media of communication represent a fundamental shift in the basic assumptions and paradigms that underlie our society and our theories and techniques of psychotherapy.
The case presented in this article explores some of the issues that arise when the “new technology” interacts with the “old technology” of child therapy. Specifically, the child and therapist began to interact via computer-based messaging. The quandaries raised for the therapist involved communicating clearly in the absence of usual feedback; the anxiety of being in uncharted territory; managing this medium of communication with its mix of verbal and nonverbal elements; and the struggle to understand changes in boundaries and expectations of privacy.