Teaching and Learning in the Time of Covid-19

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered clinical practice in immeasurable ways. This article expands this discussion by exploring the impact of the COVID pandemic, its restrictions, and the co-occurring events of social unrest, protests, and violence on the teaching and learning of psychoanalysis in a clinical training context. In our experiential accounts we explore the dynamics of identity, the dynamics of power, and the dynamics of clinical presence.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID
• psychoanalytic education
• training
• identity
• clinical presence

Notes

¹ Apparently, a dictum of Karl Menninger for dealing with unplanned disruptions of the therapeutic frame was “When in doubt, be human.” Glen Gabbard is also known to have used a similar phrase (Gutheil & Gabbard, 1998).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Earl D. Bland

Earl D Bland, PsyD, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and professor of psychology, at the Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University in La Mirada California. He teaches applied courses in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, contemporary psychoanalytic theory, psychotherapy & religion and coordinates the psychoanalytic curriculum. Earl is the co-author/editor of Christianity and Psychoanalysis: A New Conversation, published in 2014. Earl teaches and writes in the areas of psychoanalytic treatment and the intersection of psychoanalysis & religion. He maintains a private practice where he treats individuals and couples.

Shelby Reep

Shelby Reep, PsyD, is a post doctoral resident psychologist at Portland Mental Health & Wellness in Portland, Oregon. She received her training at Rosemead School of Psychology, focusing on a psychodynamic approach to psychotherapy. She works with individuals and couples and her clinical area of interest is the relationship between religion, sexuality, and trauma.

Nathan Farrey

Nathan Farrey, PysD, is a post-doctoral fellow at Fuller Psychological and Family Services. He is interested working with couples and adult individuals. He taught university ESL in Korea for nearly 8 years. He is interested in the intersection of psychoanalytic thought, philosophy, and spirituality. His dissertation was on authenticity and relational psychoanalysis.