Dislocated Presences: Technology, the Psyche, and the Meaning of Virtual Space

• Speaker: Hannah Schmitt, PsyD

• Date: Sat, May 9, 2026

• Time: 10:30 AM ET

• Location: Virtual and In-Person NYC

• Source: Austen Riggs Center

"Featuring:

• Ben Kafka, PhD

• Leora Trub, PhD

• Christian Thorne, PhD

• Hannah Schmitt, PsyD (Moderator)

The final roundtable examines how digital technologies are reshaping psychic life within the context of place and its disembodied absence. What becomes of presence, intimacy, and therapeutic containment in virtual space? Panelists will consider how teletherapy, online rituals, and screen-mediated relationships challenge and extend traditional psychoanalytic concepts, including transitional space, the container-contained, and the skin ego.

This session offers a space for reflection on disembodiment, connection, and the symbolic potential of virtual environments—inviting new ways of thinking about psychic life in the digital age."