In the debate between psychoanalysis in person and at distance, this paper attempts to define the psychic space through its deeply emotional roots, which are genetically rooted in the primary somato-psychic exchange processes between mother and child, but at the same time form the basis for all interpersonal communication and, in particular, for the analytical relationship. A treatment approach that aims to make the patient aware of unconscious emotional experiences therefore cannot work without the physical presence in the psychoanalytic setting. For this reason, the debate between psychoanalysis and distance therapy aims at a fundamental decision that every analyst must make for themselves as part of their analytical attitude before any empirical research: a decision on how important the physical experience of the exchange process is not only for the mother-child relationship, but also for the relationship between analyst and analysand.

The full text is available in German.