Conceptualising the digital “subject”: A Deleuzoguattarian framing of social media, desire and becoming in psychotherapeutic assemblages

Neely, Mason 2025. Conceptualising the digital “subject”: A Deleuzoguattarian framing of social media, desire and becoming in psychotherapeutic assemblages. Theory & Psychology , 09593543251377459. 10.1177/09593543251377459

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB)

Abstract

This article explores the application of Deleuze and Guattari to the practice of psychotherapy and attempts to consider how Deleuzoguattarian theory might inform a therapeutic understanding of the ways in which the digital —that is, social media platforms, mediated communication devices, smartphones, and so forth—influences subjectivity and interrelationality in the networked age. A review of the relevant literature explores historical approaches to case formulation and highlights the field’s limited acumen towards the interplay between online technologies and the therapeutic encounter. Following a brief overview of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy, a four-stage analytical model is put forward and applied to a case vignette taken from my own therapeutic practice, the analysis of which demonstrates the possibility of understanding the contemporary therapy meeting—and the contemporary “digital” subject—through a Deleuzoguattarian lens.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Medicine
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Start Date: 2025-10-16
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0959-3543
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 October 2025
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2025 14:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181926

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item