'Only connect': reflections on technology and transference. Issue 3 (1st September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zuppardi, Sam
• Is Part Of: Journal of child psychotherapy. Volume 46:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 312
• Page End: 320
• Publication Date: 2020-09-01
• Subjects: Coronavirus -- online -- technology -- transference -- adolescents -- psychoanalytic psychotherapy; Child psychotherapy -- Periodicals; Child psychology -- Periodicals; Psychotherapy -- in infancy & childhood -- Periodicals; 618.928914
• DOI: 10.1080/0075417X.2021.1901131
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0075-417X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper reflects on some of the author's experiences conducting psychoanalytic psychotherapy remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. The author takes E M. Forster's famous epigraph 'Only connect' as a starting point for reflecting on the nature of connecting in therapy when that work is mediated by technology. In particular, the author discusses his uncertainty about the impact of a digital format on the transference relationship. Three vignettes from the author's clinical work with adolescents are presented to expand upon this theme, before the author concludes that a transference relationship can survive, and sometimes thrive, across a digital distance.