Fear of Excitement: Working with Couples & Video Games
Tuesday November 11, 8:00-9:30 PM EDT
(will be recorded for registrants)
Mike Langlois, LICSW
Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
This presentation explores how video games can serve as a powerful medium for psychodynamic psychotherapy, particularly in work with couples. Through a blend of theory and case vignette, I highlight how shared gaming experiences can surface transference and countertransference dynamics—offering therapists a live arena to explore conflict, communication, and playfulness.
Drawing on thinkers from Winnicott to Laplanche, we’ll examine how the therapist’s own relationship to excitement and play can shape the therapeutic process. By framing video games not as distractions but as symbolic spaces and transitional fields, the talk demonstrates how couples’ in-game interactions mirror and transform real-life relational patterns. We’ll discuss how play in general and video games in particular can queer the relationship.
Most importantly, we’ll have a robust Q & A during which we can explore how the therapist’s own fear of excitement and internalized compliance inhibit them from exploring both familiar desires and unfamiliar game worlds.
Mike Langlois, LICSW is currently a Teaching Associate in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he supervises interns and clinicians. He has served on the Massachusetts Commission for LGBTQ Youth. Mike serves as a resource on digital literacy & social justice issues such as dismantling racism, LGBTQIA awareness & safety, disability awareness, and non-traditional families. He has served in an advisory capacity to NASW on youth suicide prevention. Mike is a member of APsaA and APA’s Division 39 as well as the Board of Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility.
Registration $20 (limited scholarships available)
Please Register in Advance at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5M0K_yifQjKbVUhEIgYK_w
Paying It Forward
Candidates, trainees, & early career please contact directly for reduced rate options. If you have significant financial privilege, & you want to support early career therapists from a variety of racial & class backgrounds, you are welcome to fund a full or partial scholarship.
