Psychoanalysis Online, edited by Jill Savege Scharff,  Karnac Books, London, 2013,  239 pp.

I was quite fortunate to be referred to a new collection of essays regarding the use of technology in a new text, Psychoanalysis Online, edited by Jill Savege Scharff. Psychoanalysis Online should really be required reading for anyone practicing psychoanalysis or psychodynamic psychotherapy in our contemporary society. The book is a series of essays that thoughtfully considers the impact technology has had on the patients we treat and carefully explores the use of various technologies in the treatment of these clients. Jill Savege Scharff, editor of this timely text, is the co-founder, board member, and supervising analyst of the International Psychotherapy Institute and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University. She has thoughtfully divided this work into three sections of original essays, all revolving around the impact that technology has on practitioners of a dynamic psychotherapy. The first section explores various influences that the world of technology with all of its buzzes and electrons has on most all individuals in our world. The next section specifically addresses the use of technologies in treating patients, and the concluding section focuses on the use of technology in education and supervision.

I must say that the first section of the book was extremely compelling for me. The meta-message was clear to me—we must all become savvy to the nature of the growing world of technologies, social media, and gaming that surrounds our patients to truly understand them. As Scharff instructs us in the very first sentence of her introduction, “It is time for psychoanalytic therapists to adapt to the increased mobility of the global economy.” This was the first thoughtful collection that I have personally come across underscoring the impact that technology is having in shaping the very minds of the people who come to us for treatment. I was immediately invited into the book with the opening essay by Michael Stadter, Ph.D. When referring to his consulti