New Frontiers or New Countries? A Survey Assessing COVID, Telehealth, and Innovation in Psychoanalysis

• Published in: Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 2022-08, Vol.70 (4), p.695-728
• Main Authors: Stukenberg, Karl W., Moriwaki, Adam N., Fisher, Charles P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0003-0651; 1941-2460
• DOI: 10.1177/00030651221113776

A wide-ranging survey focusing on the experiences of analysts providing telehealth treatment approximately six months into the pandemic was sent to one hundred randomly selected APsaA graduate analysts, one hundred randomly selected APsaA candidate analysts, and then to everyone on the APsaA members’ Listserv. Presented both open-ended and closed-ended questions, analysts were invited to quantify and reflect on their experience. Responding analysts in each of the three groups described similar experiences. Each group noted that they have, overall, moved from a neutral to a modestly positive acceptance of telehealth as a means of delivering psychoanalysis. In describing the frame and process of telehealth, the analysts reported wide differences in patient response to the change in format, including positive, negative, and highly specific shifts in the treatment process attributable to the change in format. Telehealth, it appears, is a distinct space in which psychoanalysis can be conducted. In general, respondents minimized the impact of the pandemic itself on the analytic process, though the process may have been more impacted by the pandemic than they were reporting. All three groups almost unanimously reported interest in exploring innovative psychoanalytic techniques.