FROM SILENCE TO SPECTACLE: DIGITAL CULTURE AND THE CRISIS OF PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC DISCOURSE
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This paper analyzes the transformation of psychotherapeutic language in contemporary digital culture, with a specific focus on its popularization, semantic reduction, and functional shift. Proceeding from the hypothesis that the hyper-production and widespread utilization of psychological concepts in digital space lead to the devaluation of the therapeutic process, the paper examines how clinical terms depart from their original meaning to become tools of classification, social control, and psychological self-defense. Through an interdisciplinary approach integrating psychoanalytic theory, critical discourse analysis, and insights from neuroscience, the study analyzes phenomena such as the semantic inflation of terms ("trauma," "narcissism," "toxicity"), the discursive dynamics of the "manosphere," as well as the neurobiological mechanisms of attention and reward that favor fragmented and affectively intense knowledge.
The results indicate that popular psychological discourse often functions as a substitute for deeper psychic work, offering rapid interpretations that stabilize meaning while limiting reflection and transformation. A particular emphasis is placed on the shift from moral to diagnostic categories, whereby responsibility is displaced from the ethical to the pathological register. In this context, psychotherapeutic language becomes an instrument of biopower that shapes subjectivity and interpersonal relations. Simultaneously, the paper recognizes the emancipatory potential of the popularization of psychological knowledge, while highlighting its ambivalence within the conditions of the digital attention economy.
In conclusion, the paper advocates for the re-contextualization of psychological language and the preservation of the therapeutic space as a locus of silence, ambivalence, and encounter with the Other, in opposition to the logic of the spectacle and instant interpretation.
Ovaj rad analizira transformaciju psihoterapijskog jezika u savremenoj digitalnoj kulturi, sa posebnim fokusom na njegovu popularizaciju, semantičku redukciju i promenu funkcije. Polazeći od hipoteze da hiper-produkcija i široka upotreba psiholoških pojmova u digitalnom prostoru dovode do devalvacije terapijskog procesa, rad ispituje način na koji klinički termini napuštaju svoje izvorno značenje i postaju sredstva klasifikacije, socijalne kontrole i psihološke samoodbrane. Kroz interdisciplinarni pristup koji integriše psihoanalitičku teoriju, kritičku analizu diskursa i uvide iz neuronauke, analiziraju se fenomeni poput semantičke inflacije pojmova („trauma“, „narcizam“, „toksičnost“), diskurzivne dinamike manosfere, kao i neurobiološki mehanizmi pažnje i nagrade koji favorizuju fragmentisano i afektivno intenzivno znanje.
Rezultati ukazuju da popularni psihološki diskurs često funkcioniše kao zamena za dublji psihički rad, nudeći brze interpretacije koje stabilizuju značenje, ali ograničavaju refleksiju i transformaciju. Posebno se ističe pomak sa moralnih ka dijagnostičkim kategorijama, čime se odgovornost premešta iz etičkog u patološki registar. U tom kontekstu, psihoterapijski jezik postaje instrument biomoći koji oblikuje subjektivnost i međuljudske odnose. Istovremeno, rad prepoznaje emancipatorski potencijal popularizacije psihološkog znanja, ali ukazuje na njegovu ambivalentnost u uslovima digitalne ekonomije pažnje.
U završnici, rad zagovara re-kontekstualizaciju psihološkog jezika i očuvanje terapijskog prostora kao mesta tišine, ambivalencije i susreta sa Drugim, nasuprot logici spektakla i instant-interpretacije.
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Bajro Salkunić Workpaper From Silence To Spectacle eng and serb.pdf
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References
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