Shared trauma: possible implications for the analytical field

Abstract

Collective traumatic events such as hurricanes, wars and pandemics result in a series of devastating consequences for entire communities, not only in material terms, but also psychologically, politically and culturally. As the psychotherapist/psychoanalyst and patient are part of the same social group, it is understood that when faced with a misfortune of such magnitude both will be affected by its impact. This phenomenon is called shared trauma, an extraordinary, inevitable and multifaceted situation that will cross the intersubjective clinical scenario, mobilising feelings in the analytic pair and calling on the professional to rethink his practice. This article discusses the possible implications of shared trauma for the analytic field and suggests some ways of dealing with such situations. To construct this writing, a bibliographical review was carried out on trauma, shared trauma and the analytic field in psychoanalysis. Furthermore, some vignettes that were taken from semi-structured interviews with psychoanalysts who worked during the covid-19 pandemic will be presented to illustrate this study. Pubmed, Embase, PsycInfo, Scopus and VHL platforms served as search sources. Even though not all publications used in this research were based on psychoanalytic theory and experience, they contributed significantly. Through this investigation, we raise the hypothesis that working with psychoanalysis, more than an occupation, holds a structuring function that protects the psyche of its professionals.