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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 3, 2026

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality
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Emile, or on devastation: when virtual boundlessness meets inner emptiness.

Andrzej Werbart1

  • 1Training and Supervising Analyst and a fellow of the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society, an honorary member of the Polish Psychoanalytical Society, and a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|January 29, 2014
PubMed
Summary

This psychoanalytic case study explores how virtual reality offered a disturbed teen a god-like escape from bullying. Recounting violent fantasies in cyberspace helped him rebuild self-boundaries, though he ultimately ended therapy early.

Keywords:
Adolescencecyberspacedestructivenessmourningomnipotenceperversionpsychosisschool massacreself boundariesskin egosuicideviolence

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Cyberpsychology

Background:

  • A teenager, Emile, struggled with relationships and planned violence, finding refuge in virtual reality.
  • Virtual reality served as an omnipotent space, shielding him from bullying and perceived victimhood.

Observation:

  • The patient utilized virtual reality as an omnipotent space, escaping bullying and assuming a god-like persona.
  • The boundless nature of cyberspace facilitated the virtual enactment of violent fantasies.

Findings:

  • The patient's narrative of "wickedness, violence, destructiveness, and perversion" initiated the restoration of self-boundaries.
  • The therapeutic process enabled the creation of an autobiographical narrative, fostering self-cohesion.

Implications:

  • This case highlights the complex interplay between virtual environments, psychic "black holes," and the potential for both fantasy enactment and therapeutic progress.
  • The premature termination underscores the challenges of confronting omnipotent fantasies and the mourning process in psychoanalysis.