First of all, I hope you, your family and loved ones are healthy and safe. Faced with the sudden loss of our everyday parameters, please allow me to share with you some thoughts that aim to create emotional continuity.
No experience can push the limits of our psychic capacity to deal with the pandemic we are experiencing/living/suffering; the catastrophic effects have altered all mental functioning; the well-known mechanisms of omnipotence, denial, and projection, show us the obsolescence of this operation. Omnipotent thinking tells us at first that the entire coronavirus problem is not in our backyard, that those who get sick and die are always other people. Projection smashes external reality and in a globalized and hyperconnected world, not only do news arrive, so does the virus, a virus that shows us that the “enemy” – the virus – lives outside and inside. It’s volatile, it has no nationality, color, or taste. It’s oblivious to social classes and human nature. It doesn’t know borders or retaining walls. It doesn’t care about ethnic groups, religions and political systems. Despite it being created by man, even God himself cannot stop it.
This virus is an inanimate piece of inorganic matter which potentially holds a devastating power of disorganization and even destruction over organic matter, the organic matter we are made of. In that respect, viruses are older than life.
This pandemic is not announced at the reception of Eros, it enters (penetrates), breaks through the extremely fragile doors of the human race. Confidence in life went out the back door, fear went in through the front door, and helplessness went in through the keyhole. Everything seems to be upside down, a threat, a challenge. In addition to sickness and death, as Freud mentioned, the first victim of war (pandemic) is truth. This pandemic has also caused great economic hardship and the absence of law in some countries.
Keeping distance from the people we love seems to be an expression that we do care about those people. Working “from home” seems to be a punishment and we forget that in Winnicott’s words “home, is where we start from.” In the analysis room, the couch – now the computer –, the patient, technological networks and the analyst’s mind, articulate and try to be a hinge in this social tragedy.
We know that working through social difficulties is nothing new; suffice it to remember the insistence with which Melanie Klein, while analyzing little Richard, brought up psychic reality where the war sought to impose itself with its pressing and stark presence. ¿How can we forget the anecdotal phrase “bombs over London” that Winnicott used to point out in a meeting while simultaneously discussing the article “war neurosis,” while an air attack was taking place?
This leads me to ask myself: what can we offer as analysts in these uncertain challenges? Are there any roads that lighten the burden of this transitory time?
The answer Freud gave Einstein to the question “Why the war (Virus)?” comes to my mind. I am aware that what we face is not war, because war implies human will to destroy other human beings. The trauma of the threat of dying from a natural cause (a tsunami, an earthquake, a flood, etc…) is very different in its consequences, I think, than the trauma of being suddenly confronted with the threat of being annihilated by other human beings. Today, more than ever, I want to share with you some of the factors Freud pointed out in that article, because in my opinion, they are still useful for any experience of psychic threat. Freud mentioned:
- People must acquire sufficient understanding of their common elements and tolerate their differences so as not to merge the concepts of foreigner and enemy into one. In this matter, to avoid confusing the foreigner with the enemy would make wars more difficult, merging concepts is an advantage.
- Everything that establishes affective bonds between men, along with cultural development, would act against war. (1933, p. 3213) (1933, p. 3215).
- It would be important to establish an institution to be in charge of solving all conflicts of interest (1933, p. 3210).
- Paradoxically, fear of mutual destruction could favor the cause of peace (#StayHome).
As a summary, Love (Eros) and Knowledge (Logos), were the proposals of the Viennese master.
The challenge of staying human in an unusual situation, knocks on our door all the time, as Hanna Segal wrote: “We live in a crazy world, but for those of us who believe in human values, it is really important we keep this fire alive, it’s about believing in the power of love.” This thought agrees with what García Marquez wrote in his book Love in the Time of Cholera:
“He says there’s still hope, that life is more eternal than death, that we must continue to pursue our dreams, correct our mistakes, become worthy and that even if the time of cholera (coronavirus) arrives, there will be space for love, to fulfill dreams, for happiness…”
Thought is not possible without silence. In order to think and work, we must be able to close our eyes and contemplate, keep a minute of silence in honor of all the people that have left this realm, manage to receive and transform all the whirlwind realities that hit us daily, and keep trusting our method, seeking not to deviate from the analytical route: to make room for psychic reality, which, by the way, is deeply modified. We experience going into the “lockdown” of the session (virtual session on the phone or Skype) within the experience of being confined at home. And so, this kind of “lockdown” within the lockdown, tends to blur the limits of inside and outside.
If we remain within the dimension of our profession , our usual compasses and frameworks are so shaken that we need to improvise and accept uncertainty and treading in foreign territory. I think that if we can keep going, it could have quite enriching consequences on the way we think and practice psychoanalysis.
The confinement experience (stay inside, there is no outside for you anymore) can be experienced in so many ways. The fact that we have to fight against a “natural enemy” and not a human one, may have positive consequences on the ability to come closer together.
This letter is also an invitation to build a community mentality that promotes the culture of prevention with one goal: that Eros and Ananké, as Freud emphasized, return to be human and culture progenitors again!
Hope we meet again. Warmest regards and please stay safe!
