Loneliness in times of war

ABSTRACT The therapist’s experience of living through wartime in Ukraine draws her to Winnicott’s notion of the developmental capacity to be alone. The author examines the loss of a witnessing experience, a self-with-other containment, when one is violently displaced from home, family, and community. This loss of safety where “no one is present for anyone” leads to an exploration of the impact of the therapist’s dissociation and how it disables their capacity to be emotionally present for themselves and their patients. The author highlights the solitary nature of trauma and the existential experience of loneliness as a critical feature for patients and therapists alike.