ONLINE SERVICE: REFUSAL OF THERAPEUTIC MEETING AS A PREFERENCE FOR DISTANCE AND LACK OF PHYSICAL PROXIMITY WITH THE ANALYST

Abstract

This study is an exercise in reflection on the principles of psychoanalysis and the possibility of effective treatment mediated by communication technologies, which have been preferred by patients even after the end of social isolation during the pandemic. In this sense, the preference for non-contact with the perceived other is analyzed through the sociological work of Elias Canetti on the relationship between the individual and the masses, carried out in dialogue with the work of Freud. This article used the method of bibliographic review of Freud's work and the studies that followed on the most important principles of psychoanalysis, such as the unconscious, free association, floating attention and transference; and a dialogue was carried out with the work of Elias Canetti on the fear of contact between individuals and the relationship with the mass; as well as with the reading of the most recent academic articles that deal with the changes that the pandemic period caused to the form of psychoanalytic treatment. The elements perceived in the therapeutic practice carried out remotely by the author are also present in the search for understanding the preference of many patients for continuing the remote modality beyond the reasons surrounding convenience, reflecting on the patient as a social being who may present, as one of the elements of his/her complexity, exaggerated by the social distancing employed for several months to avoid contagion of covid-19, the fear of contact with the Other. In this sense, it is concluded that the desire to maintain physical distance, including in the therapeutic setting, is part of the patient's psychic process that must be respected and worked on, taking advantage of the technological resources available for the practice of psychoanalytic clinic.