A dialogue with Alyona Esse-Chukanova: “We have to continue”

ABSTRACT In this interview, psychoanalyst Doctor Esse-Chukanova stresses the importance of resistance to survive, on a personal and national level, under wartime invasion. She movingly describes ways in which she stays connected to her patients even in such unimaginable circumstances, repeating that for her and many of her colleagues, surrender, submission, or exile in the face of such oppressive horror is not an option. She also discusses the vital support of colleagues within her community, underscoring, there and in the therapeutic dyad, the importance of relational ideas in preserving human connection amidst inhuman conditions.