WCP 2025

Introduction Life is a constant interplay of polarities, joy and sorrow, growth and setbacks. The ability to embrace this duality and navigate every emotion with acceptance rather than resistance is crucial for personal resilience and growth. The 5Q parental education program, a 1.5-year comprehensive journey, focuses on helping parents understand the schemas rooted in their childhood, equipping them to befriend their emotions and foster healthier familial dynamics. This transformative program demonstrates how healing the inner child can strengthen resilience, self-worth, and adaptability in life, particularly for parents striving to create nurturing environments for their children.

Methodology/Approach Participation in this program required a professional certification in parentology recognized by University Malaya, Malaysia's top university (QS World University Rankings 2025, global rank of 60). The program is also accredited by the Council of Creative Education (CCE) Finland, reflecting its innovative approach to creativity in parental education. Over 1.5 years, 100 participants (99 female, 1 male) engaged in workshops, group discussions and reflective exercises. The curriculum integrated psychological principles, focusing on childhood schemas, emotional regulation, and the acceptance of life's polarity. Participants were guided to embrace their emotions, fostering greater resilience and self-awareness in their parenting practices.

Results/Findings The findings reveal profound emotional and psychological transformations among participants. By understanding their childhood schemas, participants reported enhanced emotional acceptance, improved self-worth, and a greater capacity to adapt to life's challenges. Many participants highlighted their newfound ability to embrace emotions rather than resist them, creating stronger parent-child bonds and secure attachment patterns. Children of participants exhibited noticeable improvements in emotional resilience and behaviour, mirroring the emotional intelligence modelled by their parents.

Conclusion/Perspective The 5Q parental education program emphasizes that embracing polarity and befriending emotions is essential for resilience and growth. By addressing childhood schemas and fostering emotional acceptance, parents are empowered to navigate challenges with adaptability and clarity. Future research should explore the inclusion of male participants to evaluate gender specific impacts and broaden the program's applicability. Additionally, longitudinal studies and quantitative assessments would further validate its long-term benefits.

Introduction   Youth are not only the “next generation,” but the very architects of the future. Yet in today’s digital landscape, the growing use of algorithm-driven social media has begun to reshape their psychological and academic development in subtle but profound ways. This presentation explores how the unconscious structures of the psyche, self, ego, and object relations are being reorganized under the influence of digital platforms. The question at the center of this inquiry is: What are the psychoanalytic implications of social media’s pervasive presence in the lives of young people?
Methodology / Approach This presentation draws upon psychoanalytic theory, particularly Freudian and post-Freudian concepts such as the pleasure principle, ego development, transitional objects, and identity formation. It integrates clinical reflections with theoretical analysis, and builds upon insights from the author’s doctoral research on the voice structure in the digital space and the future of illusion.
Results / Findings Social media environments foster performative digital identities, amplify the pleasure principle, and diminish ego strength, all of which compromise the psychic functions necessary for emotional regulation, deep learning, and authentic connection. Parasocial interactions and curated personas act as displaced transitional objects, offering illusory forms of attachment while weakening real-world relational capacities. These dynamics contribute to a broader psychic reorganization that mirrors the documented decline in academic engagement, not as a cognitive failure, but as a symptom of disrupted symbolic development.
Conclusion / Perspective The erosion of youth potential in the digital age is not merely an educational crisis, it is a psychic one. If the capacity to think deeply, feel authentically, and relate meaningfully is undermined, we risk building a world where inner life becomes flattened by the algorithm. Psychoanalysis has a unique role to play in understanding and addressing this shift. This contribution invites a deeper conversation about how we can meet these challenges therapeutically, culturally, and politically.