A Space Odyssey: The Impact of Changing the Physical Aspects of the Analytic Setting on the Analyst, the Patient and Their Relationship

ABSTRACT

The re-modeling of my consulting room space, as a senior analyst became a transformative process. Through clinical examples that traverse themes of envy, pleasure in the new, loss of the familiar and privileging my subjectivity, the influence of the altered physical setting on my patients, myself, and our relationship is examined. Conceptualizations of my professional home as nest, matricial space, holding environment and selfobject experience are considered along with examples of evocative physical objects in relational and developmental contexts. This nourishing space became a sanctuary while working virtually during the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychoanalytic office
• home
• matricial space
• transformation
• evocative object
• holding environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sandra G. Hershberg

Sandra G. Hershberg, M.D., is a psychoanalyst and adult and child psychiatrist. She is the Director of Psychoanalytic Training, Founding Member and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in Washington, DC. She is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, where she received an award for excellence in teaching in 2019. Dr. Hershberg is a Geographical Supervising Analyst at the St. Louis Institute of Psychoanalysis and the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at Georgetown University Medical School and serves on the Program Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Hershberg is an Associate Editor of the journal Psychoanalysis, Self and Context and is on the Editorial Board of Psychoanalytic Inquiry.

Dr. Hershberg has published and presented papers on variety of subjects including biography and psychoanalysis, pregnancy and creativity, therapeutic action, ethics, and the mother/daughter relationship. Her most recent papers include Mothering a Child with a Visible Facial Difference: The Gaze of the Mother and the Gaze of the Other and A Female Gaze in/on the Female Body in Art and Psychoanalysis: Paula Modersohn-Becker. Dr. Hershberg is the Co-Editor and a contributor to the book Psychoanalytic Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice: Reading Joseph D. Lichtenberg published by Routledge in 2016. In 2021 she co-edited an issue of Psychoanalytic Inquiry entitled Writing a New Playbook: Confronting Theoretical and Clinical Challenges of the Twin Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism.