Intercorporeity, Un-Distancing, and Aura in Skype Analysis

Psychoanal Q. 2023;92(2):223-261. doi: 10.1080/00332828.2023.2236603. Epub 2023 Aug 14.

Abstract

The Covid pandemic has forced analysts around the world, some more than others, to work using Zoom and Skype. The technical innovation is here to stay and raises questions on a theoretical level. Is online analysis 'real' analysis or not? What is lost from the analytical experience? What, if anything, is gained? The global health emergency, on the one hand, has made these questions inescapable; on the other, it has provided a kind of huge experimental field to deal with them. Here, the author argues that when viewed from the perspective of the concepts of intercorporeity (Merleau-Ponty), un-distancing (Heidegger), and aura (Benjamin), some of the issues of 'presence' in teleanalysis become clearer.

Keywords: Benjamin; Bion; Heidegger; Skype analysis; aura; field theory; intercorporeity; un-distancing.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Epilepsy*
  • Humans