Presenter

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center Learning Lab

What makes the first in-person meetings so extraordinary, so profound and intense, for the therapist, patients, and students following the pandemic? Meeting again elicits overwhelming feelings from anxiety and self-consciousness to delight and joy. We experience release and relief upon returning to “real life.” The safety of the traditional and familiar psychoanalytic holding environment was disrupted in ways we could have never predicted. All of us, therapists and patients alike, were terrified following the wide-ranging sequelae from the deadly disease of Covid.

The impact was especially dramatic for those who remained in the NYC metropolitan area, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. I deconstruct the cascade of assaults on our lifestyles and our psyches resulting from the forced lockdown during the Covid pandemic.

 I consider how the field of psychoanalysis has changed given the shared trauma, advent of universal telehealth, and reshaping and even dissolution of traditional boundaries. I reflect on some ramifications, given the increasing reliance on devices, apps, and technology that obviate interpersonal relationships. 

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/can-we-hug-the-vibrancy-and-vicissitudes-of-patients-in-person-tickets-842078006987?aff=oddtdtcreator