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Dedicated to F.A.R. to whom I owe the biggest apology I can never give
In the tradition in which I was raised, an analysis does not begin until something has been put into question by the patient, and it is this question, and further questioning, which “motors” a treatment. It is at this very starting point and evolving points where interventions made in the present provoke a rewriting of the past with a direction toward the future (Laplanche, 1992/2020). The unfolding of a journey takes place, in between two people within a defined context of safety, benevolence, and consistency. Yet, it's in a time such as COVID that we are all launched into a realm of confusion, despair, leaving us at a loss for words. Our familiar frame is lost, and further interventions made within our past contexts now take on a whole new meaning. It's not at this place that we begin, because we've already begun; however, it's at this point that I will raise the notion of the analyst's ethical position to the patient as a guardian (Laplanche, 1992/2020) and one who reinstates a shifting positionality of activity/passivity, which has its consequences (Saketopoulou, 2019; Scarfone, 2015). To follow, here, is a bold statement not to be forgotten: the analyst is a human with an unconscious (Freud, 1915/1957; Laplanche, 2007/2011). This unconscious is forever inserting itself into moments that are seemingly innocuous and reveals itself indirectly in everyday life and the analytic situation (Freud, 1901/1960; Laplanche, 2016).
Why is this happening to us (to me)? It's a question so fraught with emotions, perhaps of fear, emptiness, abandonment, anger, and concern that I can do no justice to answer it (Saketopoulou, 2019; Scarfone, 2015). From where does this question come? May I introduce again that people are dying? Many people are dying across the world. We are trapped in our homes if we are so privileged and able. We are losing so much that is yet to be seen and understood. But is this the thing th