The paper presents some specifics of psychoanalytic practice in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding, based on the results of the survey of 71 Ukrainian psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists after a month of lockdown. The majority of respondents tried to continue their practice in new conditions, the more experienced practitioners were more successful. However, 1/6 of the respondents had to suspend their practice. Those who continued practicing noted that their patients had experienced new intense feelings, mostly fear, anxiety, being “castrated”, aggression and anger, hope and hopelessness. About a half of the respondents mentioned complementary changes in transference and countertransference, which was also associated with the duration of practical experience, certification status, guidelines from psychoanalytic associations, and patients’ readiness to speak on pandemic-related or quarantine-related topics. While the majority of respondents confirmed perceived support from colleagues, they were chiefly dependent on associations’ attentiveness and, surprisingly, the main method.
This paper presents the results of an anonymous survey of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists (n=71) from different institutions, associations, and theoretical schools, which was conducted online after a month of lockdown in Ukraine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the survey, one-third of the respondents adhered to their usual psychoanalytic theories and conceptions for reflecting on the phenomena they observed during the pandemic unfolding. Two-thirds of the practitioners admitted that they had been focusing or shifting toward certain conceptions in their theoretical thinking more than they used to. These theories were referring to the following two main issues: (1) how the psychic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine in each particular case can be explained and theorized on, and (2) how a psychoanalyst can deal with it through his or her own analytic stance and interventions. Practitioners tended to refer to the theoretical viewpoints of "Classic psychoanalysis", "Object relations", and the variety of particular one-time-mentioned theories of mourning, anxiety, trauma, defense mechanisms, manifestation of neurotic conflicts, Self issues, complexes, early traumatic experience, etc.
The approximation of concepts reflecting the complex life situations with which an individual cope and which are reflected in mental health, to the context of the functioning of a small group
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