John Suler

Rider University | RIDER · Department of Psychology

This chapter from Psychology of the Digital Age: Humans Become Electric describes the universal principles as well as a unifying theory of cyberpsychology. The basic premise is that cyberspace is psychological space. It is an extension of our individual and collective minds. It is a space “out there” where the minds of self and other converge. How...

A new and rather surprising door in the history of the mental health field has opened. Professionals have begun to explore methods for using online environments to help people. How do these methods compare to in-person interventions? Although face-to-face approaches may be advantageous in many cases, there are some advantages to computer-mediated a...

One's passion for the Internet can be healthy, pathologically addictive, or somewhere inbetween. Where a person falls on that continuum is determined by the cluster of needs that are being fulfilled by his or her Internet use and how the internet addresses those needs. This article suggests eight factors that can help clarify the healthy or unhealt...

While online, some people self-disclose or act out more frequently or intensely than they would in person. This article explores six factors that interact with each other in creating this online disinhibition effect: dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimization of authori...

Cyberspace is Psychological Space Cyberpsychology Architecture is a transdisciplinary model for understanding the psychological impact of different digital environments. It is based on the premise that cyberspace is psychological space, a projection or extension of the individual and collective human mind. This space can be conceptualized as an int...

The generation that grew up with the internet shares the same praises and worries about it as do research experts in cyberspace studies.

What could be more intrinsically human than self-portraits? They represent what makes us unique among all creatures on this planet: our highly developed self-awareness. While other animals, such as chimpanzees, might at times demonstrate a consciousness of themselves, none have reached the level where they use tools to capture the process of self-r...

A psychological study of the effect of mindful awareness on taking photographs, including guidelines on how to cultivate mindfulness.

A psychological study of creating conceptual photographs, including the interpretation of meaning in conceptual images, the role of the creator and viewer, concept difficulty, photo titles and descriptions, composition, and post-processing techniques.

A psychological study of the use and emotional impact of negative space in photography.

A discussion of a "clones" photograph that illustrates the tripartite personality structure (id, ego, superego).

A summary of the psychologically therapeutic aspects of creating, editing, and sharing photographs online.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potentially beneficial effects of people taking photographs of people or scenes that they find interesting or important, and then articulating their thoughts and feelings about those photos. The study’s focus was on the possible differences between photographs that people remembered taking as opposed...

After you take a series of photographs – during what we photographers call a “shoot” – some of those pictures you’ll definitely remember later on. You’ll also forget some or maybe many of them. Did you ever wonder why some shots stand out in your memory while others elude it? - See more at: http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/forget_remember.h...

Based on real life experiences and written by an internationally recognized expert in emerging fields of psychology, Madman is a unique novel that immerses the reader into the world of a psychology intern working on the psychiatric unit of a modern teaching hospital.

This paper examines some of the common myths about online psychotherapy.

This paper examines some of the common myths about online psychotherapy.

This paper examines some of the common myths about online psychotherapy.

In online photo-sharing communities, the individual's expression of self and the relationships that evolve among members is determined by the kinds of images that are shared, by the words exchanged among members, and by interpersonal actions that do not specifically rely on images or text. This article examines the dynamics of personal expression v...

Online support groups have been used extensively, in numerous areas of distress, for 15 years. Researchers have presented conflicting findings and ideas about their effectiveness in helping people cope with respective problems. Our review of quantitative studies and our qualitative exploration of the nature of the experiences that occur in such gro...

Personal computers and computer networks began to take over offices and increasingly the public in the 1980s, but the extensive adoption of the Internet did not come about until the introduction of the first browsers and the overwhelming acceptance of Microsoft Windows and Apple systems – equipped with advanced graphics – both in the mid-1990s. The...

eQuest is an online program that guides participants through a variety of online activities in order to help them address some specific personal issue, as well as encourage self-insight on a broader level. These activities include locating and evaluating information, joining discussion/support groups, establishing one-on-one relationships with know...

Discussion boards provide instructors a unique opportunity to extend their classrooms into cyberspace. This article offers some observations about student behavior in these online forums and practical suggestions for the instructor, including the creation of rules and structure for the online environment, factors influencing student participation,...

This chapter explains the nature of text-based relationships, which are either synchronous, as with text messages and chat in real time, or asynchronous, as with email exchanges, message boards, and blogs. Psychology of these relationships is explored while pointing out the implications for online clinical work. Many of the psychological dimensions...

An international, multi-disciplinary group of online mental health professionals, under the auspices of the International Society for Mental Health Online, presents this 3rd-year report. This article highlights the experiences of ISMHO's Clinical Case Study Group members with regard to online clinical work across several Internet-based modalities a...

Online peer supervision and case study groups are an effective method for clinicians to share experiences and support each other in their work. This article describes some theoretical and practical ideas about how to set up and manage such a group using an e-mail list. It offers some suggests for helping members acclimate to the group, present thei...

Visual chat is a simple way to describe them, although they have gone by a variety of other names, such as multimedia chat, GMUKS (graphical multiuser konversations), and " habitats " , a term coined by Randy Farmer, the first to invent them. They are something of a cross between a MOO and a traditional chat room. As social environments, they are u...

This article proposes a dimensional model for conceptualizing the various approaches to conducting psychotherapy in cyberspace, including "cybertherapy" involving the internet, local networks, and stand-alone computers. As compared to in-person therapy, computer-mediated therapy is unique in how it offers the opportunity to interact with clients vi...

The techniques and advantages of academic publishing online.

One's passion for the Internet can be healthy, pathologically addictive, or somewhere inbetween. Where a person falls on that continuum is determined by the cluster of needs that are being fulfilled by his or her Internet use and how the internet addresses those needs. This article suggests eight factors that can help clarify the healthy or unhealt...

A description of "The Palace," one of the earliest multimedia avatar worlds. I

A wide variety of deviant behavior may arise as the population of an online multimedia community increases. That behavior can span the range from simple mischievous antics to more serious expressions of psychopathology, including depression, sociopathy, narcissism, dissociation, and borderline dynamics. In some cases the deviant behavior may be a p...

An overview of John Suler's cyberpsychology research at the Palace, one of the first multimedia, avatar communities.

This paper compares the mental imagery system to the verbal system as a way to build and organize the sense of self. Implications for psychotherapy techniques are considered.

The purpose of this online hypertext book is to explore the psychological dimensions of environments created by computers and online networks. It is intended as an evolving conceptual framework for understanding the various psychological components of cyberspace and how people react to and behave within it. You can find the latest version of "The P...

This paper compares the concept of "self" in Zen and psychoanalysis, especially the interplay between self unification and disintegration, and self and object, as therapeutic dynamics.

This first chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) provides an overview of how eastern philosophies such as Zen and Taoism compare to psychoanalytic object relations theory and self psychology, with an emphasis on subjective experience, the unconscious, and the importance of avoiding Eurocentrism as well as O...

This second chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) examines the history of how the eastern philosophies of Zen and Taoism were introduced into psychoanalytic thinking, including historical themes about routinization, transplantation, ideological schisms, esoteric and exoteric directions, and the extinction a...

This third chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern thought (SUNY Press, 1993) examines various theoretical approaches for resolving the apparent disparity between eastern philosophies that place emphasis on attaining “no-self” and western psychological theories place emphasis on attaining “self.” Topics include the psychological and ph...

This fourth chapter of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) discusses the role of paradox in psychological and spiritual transformations. Topics include the Zen koan, paradoxes within the intrapsychic world, the self/other paradox, paradox as pointers, the paradox of the willing self, and transcending paradox.

This fifth chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) examines the role of representational systems (verbal, imagistic, enactive) in spiritual growth. Topics include the limitations of language and concepts, mental imagery as transitional space in spiritual growth, the dynamics of form and formlessness, and gras...

This sixth chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) examines the psychological aspects of meditation. Topics include the intrapsychic mechanisms and types of meditation; the liabilities and therapeutics of meditation; the clinician's contemplative experience; meditation in life context; and the relationships a...

This seventh chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) discusses the relationship between spiritual teachers and their students. Topics include the psychological strengths and weaknesses of teachers and students, healthy and pathological relationships, crazy wisdom, and the psychodynamics of teachers working wi...

This eighth chapter of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) compares western psychotherapy to the martial arts. Topics include the warrior philosophy, the basic martial art concepts applied to psychotherap, the dynamics of hard and soft techniques, and the clinician/warrior's selfobject connection to a transcendent rea...

This ninth chapter of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) relates the I Ching imagery system to psychotherapy. Topics include the meanings of the yin/yang symbol applied to psychotherapy, the eight trigrams as reflections of psychotherapeutic processes, and Taoism qualities of psychological transformations.

This tenth chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) discusses the roots of the vision quest practice in eastern spirituality. Topics include the vision quest as a model of psychic transformation, as well as the psychodynamics of wandering, signs, and visions.

This concluding chapter from Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought (SUNY Press, 1993) considers the future possibilities of how psychoanalysis and eastern philosophy might merge as disciplines of personal transformation.

This book explores the convergence of psychoanalysis and Asian thought. It explores key theoretical issues. What role does paradox play in psychological transformations? How can the oriental emphasis on attaining "no-self" be reconciled with the western emphasis on achieving an integrated self? The book also inquires into pragmatic questions concer...

While imaging a series of 20 block-shaped letters and numbers which are positioned between parallel lines, subjects categorize each corner of the figure as either touching or not touching one of the lines. The computer program provides instructions for the task, presents the 20 figures, and records three types of error scores as well as duration of...

Suggests that the imagery of the T'ai Chi figure and its associated trigrams can serve as a model for understanding the processes of change within psychotherapy. The T'ai Chi figure expresses the themes of unity and completeness, the dynamic interplay and balance of opposite forces, and the cyclical nature of therapeutic change. The images and attr...

Reviews the book, Clinical empathy by David M. Berger (see record 1987-97363-000). Few people would deny that empathy always has been an important aspect of psychoanalytic treatment. However, as Berger points out in Clinical Empathy, discussions in the literature about this topic have increased dramatically over the past 10 years. To a large exte...

The vision quest was practiced in earlier societies, especially among some of the tribes of the Plains and Plateau Indians, as a method of gaining psychological and spiritual insight. The person would wander into the wilderness, alone, in search of a vision that would reveal a truth. Drawing on questionnaire data and the personal accounts of people...

Reviews the book, Theories of the Unconscious and Theories of the Self by Raphael Stern (see record 1987-97911-000). An edited book always faces a dilemma. Ideally, it approaches a topic from various perspectives, allowing experts in the field to present their views on the topic and providing a context in which the reader can discover the similar...

A sign of progress in Zen meditation is the appearance of vivid imagistic sensations known as "makyo." These images reflect previously hidden or warded-off features of self structure that surface to the conscious layers of the mind. The activation of the observing self and the deautomatization of habitual intrapsychic functions facilitates these im...

In Zen Buddhist training, paradoxes known as "koans" are presented to students to stimulate their progress toward the state of enlightenment. The Zen psychology of the koan can serve as a model for understanding psychotherapy. It can reveal the various elements of paradoxical self-contradictions that underlie psychological transformations, includin...

Mental imagery techniques may facilitate the therapeutic process by stimulating patients' insight into unconscious dynamics, by helping them uncover and master warded-off affect, and by enhancing the clinician's empathic contact and access to countertransference. The history of imagery techniques in the psychoanalytic movement and the effect of the...

Similar to the 1st volume of Progress in Self Psychology, this 2nd volume is a collection of invited papers and papers from national conferences devoted to this area of psychoanalysis. According to Goldberg, these volumes are intended, perhaps temporarily, to serve as a substitute for a journal in self-psychology. Loosely divided into sections on t...

In some indigenous cultures a method for gaining insight into oneself was the vision quest. A person would go on such a quest in times of crisis (when an answer to a problem was needed), as a rite of passage into adulthood, or simply out of a desire for self-discovery. The person typically would wander off into the wilderness, alone, searching for...

While snake-fearful and non-fearful subjects made the same number of errors on an affectively neutral task, the fearful subjects showed a significantly greater increase in errors on a fear-related imagery task. Results suggest that mental imagery ability is more sensitive to anxiety than self-report and conventional physiological indices.

Eliza, a widely known computer program that reacts to the user by simulating the responses of a psychotherapist, can be used as a teaching aid in undergraduate clinical psychology courses. Students' interaction with the program can enhance their understanding of interviewing and psychotherapy, the contrasts between clinical interactions controlled...

Contends that since Kohut's death, a new generation of self psychologists continues to push forward into the areas he pioneered. In Structures of Subjectivity, Atwood and Stolorow offer a valuable new perspective within this psychoanalytic movement. They present their perspective in the form of a well-organized, comprehensive framework that speaks...

The vision quest is a technique used by primitive cultures to gain psychological or religious insight. During a vision quest, a person would wander alone into the wilderness, searching for a sign or vision that would reveal some truth. The basic psychological dynamics underlying the quest include free association and de-structuring; the intermingli...

This paper examines the therapeutic aspects of the ideology of Overeaters Anonymous as a cognitive antidote to maladaptive beliefs that perpetuate the problems experienced by group members. Identity management, social and expressive interactions, and group activities are considered.

Suggests that D. S. Holmes (see record 1984-25288-001) is overly critical of research into effects of meditation on somatic arousal. Holmes focused on methodological weaknesses of these studies rather than on their strengths. Even if meditation does not affect somatic arousal, conclusions should not be drawn about its effectiveness in other realms.

Suggests that D. S. Holmes (see record 1984-25288-001) is overly critical of research into effects of meditation on somatic arousal. Holmes focused on methodological weaknesses of these studies rather than on their strengths. Even if meditation does not affect somatic arousal, conclusions should not be drawn about its effectiveness in other realms....

Multiple regression analyses of interview data determined whether certain behavioral, personality, and social support variables were associated with maintenance of changes in exercise, weight loss, and smoking cessation for a group of postcoronary patients. The results indicate that the psychological reactions to success or failure at one health be...

Rehabilitation groups, especially those with a self-help emphasis, often rely on an ideology to assist their members in achieving therapeutic change. Mottos that are condensations of the ideology can serve as flexible cognitive tools for coping with problems. This article describes the rationale and procedures for developing mottos based on a case...

The results of this experiment suggest that the access while free associating to cue words can be enhanced by using visual as opposed to verbal responses, by having greater imagery ability, and by interactions of those two variables.

The therapeutic potential of a self-help group's belief system is its ability to encourage people to overcome powerlessness and provide a cognitive antidote to the particular personal problems being addressed by the group. Basic ideology issues include internal or external attributions, identity management, the emphasis on social and expressive int...

Hypothesizes that the creative act is a special form of interaction between primary and secondary process thinking in which a novel idea or insight is generated by the loose, illogical, and highly subjective ideation of primary process. It is then molded by secondary process into a context that is socially appropriate and meaningful to others. Alth...

Brainstorming, as originally developed and researched at the Creative Education Foundation at SUNY Buffalo, is a specific set of procedures for a group of individuals to develop ideas and problem-solve. Leading a class through a brainstorming session is an excellent way to demonstrate a variety of issues concerning group dynamics, cognitive process...