Survival of the survivors; containment for the uncontained

Abstract

Video therapy can be a great help when seeing patients face to face is not possible, as has widely occurred due to the Covid-19 lockdown. We must unpack and fully understand video therapy as a type of practice, given that it is different from our standard mode of therapy. Through a specific clinical case, I will highlight a paradox of this type of therapy: namely, that the screen can act as an aid for the patient but an obstacle for the therapist. Specifically, its mediation can support emotionally coerced patients to express and contact their emotions better, whilst this same screen can act as an obstacle for the therapist who may struggle to contain the patient emotionally. The clinical case I will discuss is about Judy, a patient who suffered relational trauma from early childhood, with whom I struggled to contain emotionally in her first real connection with her feelings, which occurred through video therapy.