Practicing in a time of covid loss and threat: Parallel processes on the yellow brick road of trauma, healing, trust and belonging

Abstract

ABSTRACT We are always practicing in a time of threat and loss, but what changes is the nature of the threat and the loss: is it shared or not shared, known, or not known, disclosed by force or disclosed by choice? This paper explores the themes of trust and belonging as the essence of the psychoanalytic frame and the parallel processes of how our own traumas, as psychoanalysts, warp and weave through our relationships with our patients over time. The pandemic has gifted us with a perfect storm of shared traumas and created new opportunities for navigating, negotiating, rupturing and repairing, and healing, as the frame was forcefully bent, broken, and rebuilt in the context of this global crisis. The pandemic has emphasized the importance of lifting the veil of secrecy and bringing those of us who live these complex lives of service, as both healers and suffering strangers, into community and dialogue. To illustrate these themes, this paper explores the parallels between “Jennifer” my patient of 14 years and my own journey through life and analysis.