Skype as the Uncanny Third*

Skyper an acronym for Sky peer-to-peer was the original name given to new software designed to make free phone calls possible on the Internet in 2003. However, at this time, another domain with the same name already existed in cyberspace. So the “r” was simply deleted and Skyper became Skype. In Skype, described by Peer to Peer Technic as a peer-to-peer network,

[R]esources and data can be simultaneously exchanged between two networked computers, however, both computers must be on an equal footing, as the name suggests. Using a microphone, the computer records the user's voice; it then converts this information into individual datagrams (or network packets) and sends it via the Internet Protocol (IP) to the respective receiving computer. Thus, the entire data exchange occurs via the Internet. The receiving computer puts the incoming datagrams back together and transforms the data back into language that is delivered via a loudspeaker. (voip-information.de)

In March 2011, it was reported that thirty million users, who were simultaneously online, could be reached through Skype. By now, a few million more are surely using Skype. In fact, today I was one of these Skypers. I spoke to two separate analysands via Skype, each call lasting fifty minutes. So I carried out two analytic sessions today. Or did I? If the unconscious knows neither space nor time, then the answer is “Yes”. If, according to Sandler, whatever the analyst does is “analysis”, then “Yes”. If one reads the International Psychoanalytic Association's definition of psychoanalytical treatment, the answer remains unclear. The question arises whether transference and resistance can develop in such a setting, sufficient to enable a genuine psychoanalytical process.

From 2007 to 2010, I had the opportunity to live and work as an analyst in Asia, where I conducted in-person analysis with analysands who each had four sessions per week on average. Once back in Berlin, a question arose: would it b