The digital age and psychoanalysis: New frontiers of the setting and therapeutic challenges

Abstract

We reflect on the concept of the setting in psychoanalysis, and how it has been radically reconsidered given the impact of the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic on human interactions and moving from face-to-face to online sessions. The rapidity of going from seeking interaction to a fear of possible contagion led some professionals to adopt a sudden change of setting. Although the concept of setting seems to come from the classical Freudian method, Freud never spoke about it explicitly, although it was subsequently developed from his writings. Only in the 1960s and 70s was the setting perceived as the very object of psychoanalytic exploration. Since the psyche in psychoanalysis is conceived as a spatially extended entity, this paper discusses the concepts of space and time (external setting) and the mental state of both the patient and analyst (internal setting). We investigate how these aspects have changed as a result of the use of technology. What changes have taken place at the perceptual level in the patient and analyst? What differences are there with respect to the presence/absence of the other’s body? We use our own reflections of our personal experiences of undergoing face-to-face and online sessions to reveal the differences between them.

Key words:

• setting
• space
• body
• Internet
• technique
• psychoanalysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 It is specified that, within the clinical vignettes, names and any other personal references have been changed in order to respect people’s privacy by making them completely unrecognizable.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Serena Previdi

Serena Previdi graduated with a double degree in clinical psychology from the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy, and Universidad del Rosario, Bogotà, Colombia. In 2016 she undertook a postgraduate internship at the Clinica Santo Thomas in Bogotà, taking charge of patients suffering from psychosis and began her first personal analysis, with clinical psychologist Dr Mario Guerrero. Serena Previdi has been a member of the order of psychologists of the Emilia-Romagna, and at the Erich Fromm Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Bologna. Starting that same year, she began her second personal analysis with psychoanalyst and SPI associate member Dr. Fava Ramona.

Since 2021 she has been a resident at the Clinical Psychology Service, and Pathological Addiction Service, AUSL Modena.

Anna Buzzi

Anna Buzzi graduated in clinical psychology from Carlo Bo University, Urbino, Italy, with a thesis entitled “Prison Police: Organization, Professional Mission and Psychosocial Risks” as a continuation of the interest that had already developed in this area from a three-year thesis where attention was placed on the social reintegration of prisoners. She subsequently undertook a postgraduate internship in a therapeutic community, for people with pathological addictions and a double diagnosis and in alternative measures to prison.

Anna Buzzi is enrolled in the order of psychologists of Emilia Romagna and is currently attending the Erich Fromm Institute of Neo-Freudian Psycho- analysis specialization school, carrying out a specialization internship at the Child Neuropsychiatry and Centre for Adult Eating Disorders, AUSL Bologna.

Mariagiovanna Cozza

Mariagiovanna Cozza graduated in 2012 in medicine and surgery from the University of Perugia. and obtained her specialization in geriatrics in 2017 from the same University. From 2020 she has worked at AUSL Bologna, mainly with psychogeriatric outpatient activities aimed at the classification of mood disorders and cognitive deficits in elderly individuals.

From 2021 she started attending the Erich Fromm Institute of Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysis specialization school in Bologna. From 2022 she started her personal analysand therapy, carrying out the sessions in mixed mode (sometimes online, sometimes in person) with Dr. Davide Corradetti, a Full Member psychoanalyst of the IFPS.