This is Beirut - Psychoanalysis

Screen Addiction: The False Promise of 'Mindset Therapy'

David Sahyoun, 21/05 18:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Addictions Mind Therapy Culture

Excessive screen use often results in compulsive patterns, where individuals struggle to cut back despite being fully aware of the negative consequences. Today, the screen has become a space of projection—a mirror reflecting our solitude, a portal to fantasy and an endless source of stimulation. It is no longer just a tool, it’s embedded in ...

‘To Exist Is to Be Different:’ Creativity as Self-Affirmation

David Sahyoun, 14/05 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Exist Creativity Self-Affirmation Culture

For philosopher Jean Baudrillard, consumption is far more than an economic act – it is a system of communication and social control. We don’t consume merely to meet our needs; we consume to be like others, to belong to the collective. Behind the apparent abundance of choice hides an insidious conformity: you need to have this object to be ...

‘To Exist Is to Be Different:’ The Challenge of Loving Without Losing Oneself

David Sahyoun, 07/05 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Exist Psychoanalysis Couple Love Difference

When differentiation hasn’t occurred during key developmental stages, it eventually resurfaces as an existential crisis. Whether in adulthood, through burnout, sudden depression or emotional turmoil at a life crossroads, it often reflects a deep need to become something other than what one has turned into. Far from being solely negative, these ...

Games of Desire: Seduction and Its Pitfalls

David Sahyoun, 23/04 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Culture Desire Seduction

Seduction is intimately tied to the development of the self. Present from the earliest stages of life, it weaves through every domain—from the personal to the social and political, from the economy to daily interactions, to the great works of art. It can be understood as a form of connection with others, one that reveals unconscious desire. In ...

When AI Meets Therapy: The Promise and Pitfalls of Digital Healing

David Sahyoun, 16/04 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Therapy Artificial Intelligence AI Culture

AI (artificial intelligence) is a computer system designed to replicate human thought and behavior. It can reason, process information, and search for answers across vast pools of relevant content available online. A chatbot, by contrast, is a conversational tool designed to simulate human interaction. It runs on pre-scripted responses, ...

‘Always Be Drunk:’ Remedy or Illusion in the Face of Existential Emptiness?

David Sahyoun, 09/04 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Drunkness Baudelaire Culture Emptiness

In The Spleen of Paris, Baudelaire advises the reader to “always be drunk. That’s it: the only question. In order not to feel the horrible burden of Time, breaking your shoulders and bending you toward the earth, you must get drunk without ceasing. But on what? On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish. But get drunk.” This work ...

Education in Lebanon: The Struggle of Anxious Parents

David Sahyoun, 02/04 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Psychoanalysis Trauma Parents Teachers Culture

Lebanon has been entrenched in a protracted, multifaceted structural crisis, compounded by prolonged security instability, regional conflicts, political tensions and sporadic outbreaks of violence. These factors have fostered an environment of uncertainty and anxiety. The war that erupted in 2023 has layered additional trauma and disruption, ...

Ghosting: A Strategy of Avoidance

David Sahyoun, 26/03 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Ghosting Psychoanalysis Culture Social Media

The anglicisms used to illustrate certain phenomena observed in virtual exchanges have surprising meanings. Far from indicating a mundane behavior, they carry meanings that reveal deeper characteristics about their users. This week, we will try to understand what “ghosting” is, which shares common traits with “breadcrumbing.” The ...

Breadcrumbing: Love in the Age of Digital Manipulation

David Sahyoun, 19/03 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Breadcrumbing Love Psychoanalysis Culture Social Media

The term “breadcrumbing” is a borrowed English expression that arises from contemporary affective relationships, characterized by the virtual nature of exchanges and the immediacy of interactions. Its origin can be traced to the story of Little Thumb, where the protagonist leaves a trail of breadcrumbs to find his way. Much like Perrault's ...

Growing Up Masked: The Psychological Challenges of a Confined Childhood

David Sahyoun, 11/03 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Covid-19 Psychoanalysis Children Traumatism Culture World

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted societies on an unprecedented scale, deeply altering ingrained customs and daily social interactions. Children, navigating crucial phases of their psychological and identity development, were confronted with a world of masked faces, limited social interactions and new anxieties. For infants, the human face is the ...

Loss as the “Little Death” of the Psyche: An Anatomy of the Narcissistic Wound

David Sahyoun, 19/02 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Narcissism Loosing Culture Psychoanalysis

Loss, in its psychic dimension, can reveal a fundamental fragility within our being. Whether personal or collective, it does more than disrupt our balance—it can jeopardize our very sense of identity. In these critical moments, to lose becomes synonymous with losing oneself, exposing a profound narcissistic vulnerability. In fact, excessive ...

Deciphering the Ostrich Policy

David Sahyoun, 12/02 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Denial Culture Lebanon Politics

The expression “burying one’s head in the sand” describes a person who refrains from facing reality. While this phrase does not do justice to ostriches at all, in humans, it involves denial, an unconscious defense mechanism. It consists of refusing to acknowledge an unbearable reality, whether external or internal. We all use this mechanism ...

Psychoanalysis