The Psychodynamic Psychiatrist and Psychiatric Care in the Era of COVID-19 (Ingram and Best, 2020)

It is especially fitting that “The Psychodynamic Psychiatrist and Psychiatric Care in the Era of COVID-19” be included in an issue of Psychodynamic Psychiatry celebrating the 50th year anniversary of the publication. This article is a snapshot of our field at a unique moment in history. In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in the United States and rapidly changed work and personal lives for everyone. Within the space of one week, most psychodynamic psychiatrists transitioned from in-person sessions to video and telephone sessions. This article, based on a meeting held one month later, gives a picture of conditions at that time. The article is a rich collection of data, organized into five categories: The Psychiatric Administrator, The Structure of Clinical Care, The Content of Clinical Care, Patients' Reported Personal Experiences, and Psychiatrists' Reported Personal Experiences.

The article will be especially valuable to current and future readers who want to understand the early history of the pandemic as it impacted psychodynamic psychiatrists and their patients. The section on The Psychiatric Administrator reminds us of a time when access to effective masks was severely limited, and psychiatrists were reassigned to COVID-19 treatment teams, helping the teams communicate with families. The Structure of Clinical Care section describes the fatigue felt by psychiatrists as they learned to use new technology. The Content of Clinical Care section provides insight into technique, as psychiatrists describe flexibly attending to urgent reality concerns while not losing sight of the deeper meaning of events.

The section on Patients' Reported Personal Experiences notes the relief felt by some patients as a result of reduced demands for socialization, while other patients found that the pandemic isolation revived memories of