Ground Zero: A Common Ground for the Analytic Dyad

The memories and the visual images of 9/11 are embedded in the public psyche as remnants of a collective trauma, and this collectivity can serve to create a common ground and an intersubjective space for trauma work. In addition to emphasizing the importance of enactive witnessing and recognition in the healing process, I discuss in this paper the impact of trauma, including that of 9/11, that has been experienced from afar, as I was living in Ohio on September 11, 2001. I will also address the impact of experiencing a traumatic event from a physical distance on trauma work, using the concept of “distance” both literally and figuratively. The clinical illustrations provided all involve witnessing 9/11 on a television screen. Each vignette illustrates how the images themselves can be used as actual screens on which to project earlier trauma history. Similarly, part of the clinical work was done from afar. Telephone and virtual therapy at certain times facilitated both disclosures and, paradoxically, enhanced feelings of closeness. The analyst’s engagement in the process of witnessing facilitated connection to dissociated areas of experience, but enactive witnessing brought cohesiveness and clarity to the fragmentation caused by trauma and lack of early recognition. The clinical stories illustrate how this engagement enabled both participants to enliven deadened, dissociated parts of the self.