Retiring in the time of Covid and Donald Trump: the impact of the therapist's attachment style on maintaining connection over Zoom

Abstract

The therapist's retirement is not widely written about in psychoanalytic literature. The physical requirements to do our job are minimal, hence it is often possible to keep working long into advanced age. Self-esteem and identity, fuelled by our work, are hard to disrupt. Pressure to maintain one's status as a working professional is also a factor. The therapist's attachment style may contribute to prolonging the decision to retire, if they have a significant need for the emotional and intellectual stimulation derived from the work. The experience of ending many long treatments over Zoom and the telephone, surrounded by the chaos of the pandemic and the political situation in the United States, was profoundly impacted by my attachment style, making it harder to locate myself in my patients' experience.