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ComAI Lecture – Reading with Dr. Laura Wiesböck “Digitale Diagnosen. Psychische Gesundheit als Social-Media-Trend”

The sociologist Dr. Laura Wiesböck heads the Junior Research Group “Digitalization and Social Transformation” at the Institute for Advanced Studies. She has received numerous awards for her work. In 2025, she published the book “Digitale Diagnosen: Psychische Gesundheit als Social-Media-Trend”. The publication received widespread acclaim (including from FAZ, Spiegel, and SRF Sternstunde Philosophie), reached number one on DIE ZEIT’s non-fiction bestseller list in March 2025, and was nominated for the Tractatus Prize.

The reading provides insight into the ambivalent effects of the spread of a “psychotherapeutic culture” via digital channels. The author asks why disruptive emotional states and behaviors are currently primarily recognized and acted out in a pathologized form, and which social circumstances and actors contribute to questions of emotional balance and functionality increasingly being negotiated as questions of health or illness. Particular emphasis is placed on the spread of US health discourses on “mental health,” which reinforce neoliberal ideas of radical individualization, competition, and consumerism. Overall, Laura Wiesböck outlines that while digital platforms offer spaces for education and self-help, the profit-driven architecture of social media also creates structures that intensify psychological stress—for example, through the algorithmic reinforcement of psychological vulnerability, “addictive design,” or the economization of health narratives.

We look forward to your participation!

Location: Lecture Hall 5, Main Building, Staircase 9, Courtyard 5, University of Vienna

An event organized as part of the bachelor’s course Communicative AI and Artificial Companionship (Michaela Pfadenhauer, ComAI P7) and the master’s course Analysis of Digital Dispositifs (Thomas Slunecko & Moritz Meister).