In the article, the author/analyst shares about the experience of treating patients during a pandemic. Human connection arguably is the bedrock of psychoanalysis, and through that connection we engage in interesting conversations, as Adam Phillips says, and then therapists see what happens. (In this light, symptoms are simply entry points.) This sense of connection, real or hoped-for, is the fabric of their work, and if growth is to be had, however that might be defined, it is that lingering sense of connection, present or past, that provides the scaffolding for it. The recent pandemic has challenged the psychoanalytic bonds, and yes, perhaps in some instances deepened them. What kind of risk/benefit ratio are patients and analysts willing to assume? But hasn't that question always been embedded in all psychoanalytic relationships? But even the humanness of a handshake now feels lethal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Inscrutable to myself