What Does the Virus Do to the Analytic Container?

Abstract

Taking the unexpected and sudden termination of an analysis by a patient as a starting point, the author asks what impact the pandemic had on the analytic space and, in particular, on patients with early relational trauma. She speculates that the re-inscription of early experiences the therapy aims for not only happens at a verbal level, but also implicitly at a non-verbal level. The author questions herself on the theme of the analytic space and feels that, in particular in times of the pandemic, it is important to create a symbolic “vas” that can stand fear and destruction, creating the container that helps to allow the rhythm and the melody of a therapy to develop, that is unique and characteristic of each analytic pair. But in the pandemic, the treatment room, too, becomes a space of potential danger. The threshold is unable to banish the virus. Both analysand and analyst are equally vulnerable.