This is Beirut - Psychoanalysis

#SkinnyTok: Anorexia Reflected in a Wordless Screen

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

Tik Tok Psychoanalysis Anorexia Silent Scream SkinnyTok

Beneath TikTok’s dance videos and colorful filters lies a darker reality, a world where adolescents are drawn into a dangerous ideal. Under the hashtag #SkinnyTok, anorexia is not just present, it is glorified. The app gives young people the tools to expose themselves, compare and become captivated by an ideal of thinness that has quietly become ...

Dying as a Subject: The True Stakes of Palliative Care and Assisted Dying

David Sahyoun, 11/06 18:00 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Palliative Care Death Assisted Dying France

In France, the debate over palliative care and assisted dying challenges the very foundations of how we relate to life and death, to pain and, more profoundly, to the dignity of the human subject. What does it truly mean to die? Is it simply the end of life, or the loss of one’s voice, one’s place within social bonds and the capacity for ...

Screen Addiction: Understanding the Message Behind the Symptom

David Sahyoun, 04/06 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Addictions Therapy Culture

The underlying logic of “mindset therapy” is the reinforcement of the self. It urges individuals to push their limits, reinvent themselves, “raise their vibration” – as if the essence of psychic life were a relentless pursuit of performance. But for Freud and Lacan, desire is never aligned or resolved. It remains blocked, unstable, ...

Brigitte, Macron and the Republican Fantasy: Analyzing a Viral Moment

David Sahyoun, 28/05 14:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Emmanuel Macron Slap Brigitte Macron Vietnam

Certain gestures exceed their expected boundaries and unsettle the scene in which they occur. Brigitte Macron’s gesture, filmed as she stepped off a plane in Hanoi on May 25, is a striking example. This fleeting moment—interpreted alternately as a slap or a simple sign of complicity—ignited a torrent of interpretations. Beyond ...

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 ...

Psychoanalysis