ABSTRACT
This contribution describes psychoanalytic work during an extreme situation of war. The impact of war conditions on patients’ functioning and the process of psychoanalytic engagement with them is examined. Specifically, this work stresses the impact of the attacks on the setting and changes in the structure of relations. The author further reflects on challenges to preservation of the analytic process under the conditions of breached confidentiality as well as possible ways to address the challenges of war to the psychoanalytic professional identity. The article is an attempt to understand how psychoanalysts could maintain the psychoanalytic container or their analytic self in catastrophic situations, which intend to destroy both settings and people.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Vladimir Lagutin
Vladimir Lagutin, has a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences, is a certified psychoanalyst of the International Psychoanalytic Association, is a training analyst of the Ukrainian Psychoanalytic Society, and a Psychoanalyst in private practice (Dnipro, Ukraine). He was the first President of the Ukrainian Psychoanalytic Society, which is a study group of the IPA.