{"title":"The only way: virtual experience becomes emotional reality","authors":"Stella Acquarone","doi":"10.1080/0075417x.2022.2043413","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The pandemic has seen tele-therapy become ‘the only way’ for all of us, but the author has been using it since 2004 in her parent infant work. While she acknowledges and enumerates some of the frustrations inherent in tele-therapy, associated with its deviation from the classical psychoanalytic method, she also poses several questions: does it broaden the scope of psychoanalysis? Is it consistent with Freud’s ‘hope’ that ‘the increasing experience’ of psychoanalysts will include adaptations on behalf of patients, for instance those who cannot attend sessions in person? [Freud, S. (1912). Recommendations to physicians practising psycho-analysis, section (f). SE, XII, p. 120]. Also, are there aspects of tele-therapy that actually aid rather than hinder the aims, for example, the lessening of inhibition in virtual space? In the discussion, the author focuses on the screen as the defining aspect of tele-therapy. The screen becomes an intermediary point in the therapist–client interaction and relationship, which facilitates new aspects of mental functioning. These new aspects can include assimilating facial expressions (Darwin, 1872), the construction of a virtual space that activates internal objects, the speed needed to handle face-to-face psychoanalytic dialogue, and the surprise felt when internal obstacles or trauma are repositioned, lessened or neutralised in tele-therapy sessions where clients don’t expect their repressed unconscious conflicts to be noticed. In conclusion, the author puts forward a notion that tele-therapy can foster a ‘virtual space that becomes real’, in other words, a virtual experience that can become an emotionally-felt reality.","PeriodicalId":43581,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0075417x.2022.2043413","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT The pandemic has seen tele-therapy become ‘the only way’ for all of us, but the author has been using it since 2004 in her parent infant work. While she acknowledges and enumerates some of the frustrations inherent in tele-therapy, associated with its deviation from the classical psychoanalytic method, she also poses several questions: does it broaden the scope of psychoanalysis? Is it consistent with Freud’s ‘hope’ that ‘the increasing experience’ of psychoanalysts will include adaptations on behalf of patients, for instance those who cannot attend sessions in person? [Freud, S. (1912). Recommendations to physicians practising psycho-analysis, section (f). SE, XII, p. 120]. Also, are there aspects of tele-therapy that actually aid rather than hinder the aims, for example, the lessening of inhibition in virtual space? In the discussion, the author focuses on the screen as the defining aspect of tele-therapy. The screen becomes an intermediary point in the therapist–client interaction and relationship, which facilitates new aspects of mental functioning. These new aspects can include assimilating facial expressions (Darwin, 1872), the construction of a virtual space that activates internal objects, the speed needed to handle face-to-face psychoanalytic dialogue, and the surprise felt when internal obstacles or trauma are repositioned, lessened or neutralised in tele-therapy sessions where clients don’t expect their repressed unconscious conflicts to be noticed. In conclusion, the author puts forward a notion that tele-therapy can foster a ‘virtual space that becomes real’, in other words, a virtual experience that can become an emotionally-felt reality.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Child Psychotherapy is the official journal of the Association of Child Psychotherapists, first published in 1963. It is an essential publication for all those with an interest in the theory and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and work with infants, children, adolescents and their parents where there are emotional and psychological problems. The journal also deals with the applications of such theory and practice in other settings or fields The Journal is concerned with a wide spectrum of emotional and behavioural disorders. These range from the more severe conditions of autism, anorexia, depression and the traumas of emotional, physical and sexual abuse to problems such as bed wetting and soiling, eating difficulties and sleep disturbance.