Le sujet contemporain et ses prothèses : du vécu de néantisation à la recherche de réflexivité

Objectives

This article analyzes certain forms of contemporary subjective configurations influenced by the anthropological context marked by the growing hybridization between the psyche and digital technology. More specifically, it examines the development and use of psychic prostheses as compensatory mechanisms in response to processes of desubjectivation and identity erasure.

Methods

The clinical case of Catharina, a young female hospitalized in a psychiatric service, is analyzed through a psychoanalytic framework. This case study explores the psychic dynamics at play in borderline subjectivation issues, particularly the mechanisms of dependence on digital prostheses and their impact on identity construction.

Results

Catharina's psychic functioning is characterized by an experience of self-erasure and a dependence on digital prostheses developed to ensure a form of narcissistic continuity.

Discussion

While these prostheses help regulate the psychic economy, they reinforce mechanisms of splitting and dissociation. They also lead to a delegation of certain psychic functions—particularly reflexivity—to the technological environment. This externalization, though providing an illusion of mastery and continuity, weakens the subjectivation process by hindering the mature and autonomous development of symbolic functions.

Conclusion

The clinical study of borderline subjectivation issues in the digital age thus highlights the exacerbated suffering of contemporary subjects, faced with the dissolution of traditional frameworks of identity and narcissism. In psychotherapeutic work with such patients, particular attention must be given to transferential dynamics marked by experiences of emptiness and annihilation, while focusing on reviving symbolic capacities as a counterpoint to the reifying and alienating use of psychic prostheses.