FROM THE GATE TO THE GATEWAY: PSYCHOANALYTIC NAVIGATIONS ONLINE.

Abstract

The shift towards remote or online therapy was compelled by the Pandemic. Many colleagues, who neither had practice using this modality, nor had ever considered it as a possibility, ultimately adopted it. This experience brought with it a substantial expansion of online therapy beyond that moment of emergency. It opened up new prospects of intervention, but at the same time it required a greater measure of reflection in order to understand how to inhabit this new therapy space. Setting aside provisory, intermittent, or emergency situations, which temporarily transfer therapy into a "field of tents" (Bolognini, 2021), the author proposes to consider how online psychotherapy redefines an important element of the psychoanalytic setting-the issue of the space. This is no longer the therapist's place of work, envisaged and organized by him/her/them, fixed in time, and contrived only to welcome the therapeutic relationship-one of the crucial aspects of the external setting, which together with the temporal dimension, fulfills the therapy ritual. Assuming the framework to be essential to the psychoanalytic process, this paper will focus on the methodology of online therapy. The author will describe the contributions of the neurosciences, to provide a deeper understanding of the distinctive characteristics of sharing in an online vs. an offline space. Online therapy should be assessed for its distinguishing qualities within a complete theoretical, technical, and clinical reflection specific to each case. Proceeding as if it were a mere relocation of an in-person analysis would enhance the seductiveness of a therapy that is easily accessible with any laptop anywhere, anytime, and in which one could mistake an online connection for a deep connection.