Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences
With Freud’s groundbreaking essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” the temporality and treatability of trauma, its triggers and its symptoms, obtained a special status. Not only did Freud imply that trauma cannot be represented, he also eventually stated that analysis itself can never reach a defini...
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| הוצא לאור ב: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Auteurs principaux: | , |
| פורמט: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| שפה: | Anglais |
| יצא לאור: |
Angles
2020
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| נושאים: | |
| גישה מקוונת: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_893 |
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| record_format |
openedition |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
temporalité traumatisme réalité virtuelle thérapie virtuelle Freud Sigmund stress post-traumatique casques immersifs temporality trauma head-mounted displays virtual reality Freud Sigmund PTSD virtual therapy |
| spellingShingle |
temporalité traumatisme réalité virtuelle thérapie virtuelle Freud Sigmund stress post-traumatique casques immersifs temporality trauma head-mounted displays virtual reality Freud Sigmund PTSD virtual therapy Friedman, Michael Friedrich, Kathrin Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| description |
With Freud’s groundbreaking essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” the temporality and treatability of trauma, its triggers and its symptoms, obtained a special status. Not only did Freud imply that trauma cannot be represented, he also eventually stated that analysis itself can never reach a definitive conclusion — analysis is an endless process, literally interminable in Freud’s words. Moreover, the triggering of a trauma was arbitrary, and in no way apparent. This was due to the fact that according to Freud the trauma was triggered retroactively, regardless of when the trigger starts or stops being traumatic. On the background of this unique Freudian temporal retroactivity, this article constructs how new digital and virtual technologies of the 21st century prompt a new understanding of the temporality of the trauma. While the nature of Freudian trauma is temporally unpredictable, we claim that two current virtual reality (VR) technologies used by the US military promise exactly the opposite. The first, called Bravemind, offers soldiers a way to control their experienced traumas by codifying them in virtual scenarios with visual and haptic interfaces under the paradigm of virtual treatment; the second, STRIVE, prepares solders who have not yet been deployed on the battlefield for possible future traumas. In this sense, we claim that STRIVE offers a negative mirror-reflection of the Freudian conception of trauma, and with it, a new conception of trauma itself. For Freud trauma was triggered retroactively, its ontological status was unfixed and trauma itself — its content — unrepresentable. By contrast, with STRIVE the content of trauma is known in advance, and enacted even if it is uncertain whether the anticipated traumatic event will occur. |
| author |
Friedman, Michael Friedrich, Kathrin |
| author_facet |
Friedman, Michael Friedrich, Kathrin |
| author_sort |
Friedman, Michael |
| title |
Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| title_short |
Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| title_full |
Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| title_fullStr |
Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences |
| title_sort |
virtually treatable: temporalities and encodings of traumatic experiences |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.893 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/893 |
| _version_ |
1877293948242755584 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_893 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.893 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.893 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/893 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9mz2 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Friedman, Michael Friedrich, Kathrin temporalité traumatisme réalité virtuelle thérapie virtuelle Freud Sigmund stress post-traumatique casques immersifs temporality trauma head-mounted displays virtual reality Freud Sigmund PTSD virtual therapy With Freud’s groundbreaking essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” the temporality and treatability of trauma, its triggers and its symptoms, obtained a special status. Not only did Freud imply that trauma cannot be represented, he also eventually stated that analysis itself can never reach a definitive conclusion — analysis is an endless process, literally interminable in Freud’s words. Moreover, the triggering of a trauma was arbitrary, and in no way apparent. This was due to the fact that according to Freud the trauma was triggered retroactively, regardless of when the trigger starts or stops being traumatic. On the background of this unique Freudian temporal retroactivity, this article constructs how new digital and virtual technologies of the 21st century prompt a new understanding of the temporality of the trauma. While the nature of Freudian trauma is temporally unpredictable, we claim that two current virtual reality (VR) technologies used by the US military promise exactly the opposite. The first, called Bravemind, offers soldiers a way to control their experienced traumas by codifying them in virtual scenarios with visual and haptic interfaces under the paradigm of virtual treatment; the second, STRIVE, prepares solders who have not yet been deployed on the battlefield for possible future traumas. In this sense, we claim that STRIVE offers a negative mirror-reflection of the Freudian conception of trauma, and with it, a new conception of trauma itself. For Freud trauma was triggered retroactively, its ontological status was unfixed and trauma itself — its content — unrepresentable. By contrast, with STRIVE the content of trauma is known in advance, and enacted even if it is uncertain whether the anticipated traumatic event will occur. La question de la temporalité des traumatismes, de leurs traitements, de leurs déclencheurs et de leurs symptômes figure au cœur du célèbre essai de Freud : “Au-delà du principe de plaisir”. Freud ne se contente pas de suggérer que le traumatisme ne peut être représenté, il estime que l’analyse elle-même ne peut s’achever — la cure analytique est un processus sans fin, littéralement interminable dans les propres termes de Freud. De plus, l’événement déclencheur du traumatisme est arbitraire, et en rien apparent. Car pour Freud le traumatisme est déclenché rétroactivement, indépendamment du fait que le déclencheur commence ou cesse d’être traumatique. Les technologies numériques et virtuelles du 21e siècles jettent-elles une lumière nouvelle sur la temporalité du traumatisme et cette notion freudienne de rétroactivité ? Alors que la temporalité du traumatisme chez Freud est par nature imprévisible, nous soutenons que deux protocoles thérapeutiques fondés sur la réalité virtuelle et mis au point par l’armée américaine prouvent exactement le contraire. Le premier protocole de thérapie virtuelle, intitulé Bravemind, permet aux soldats de contrôler leurs expériences traumatiques passées en les encodant au sein de scénarios virtuels via des interfaces visuelles et haptiques. Le second, intitulé STRIVE, prépare des soldats qui n’ont pas encore été envoyés au combat à gérer d’éventuels traumatismes ultérieurs. En ce sens, nous estimons que STRIVE fonctionne comme le miroir inverse de la conception freudienne du traumatisme et qu’il appelle à une nouvelle approche du traumatisme. Pour Freud, le traumatisme était déclenché rétroactivement, son statut ontologique demeurait indéterminé et le contenu du traumatisme ne pouvait être représenté. En revanche, dans le cas de STRIVE, le contenu du traumatisme est connu à l’avance et mis en scène même si on n’est pas certain que l’événement traumatique que l’on anticipe aura lieu. |