Chronicle of an overcrowding

Credit: Pixabay Photo: Sigmund Freud

Dear friend … think of me. I have written a lot. I suppose they will be posthumous works, but it helps to pass the time. Irene Némirovsky French Suite 1942)

My generation, which is the post-war generation and that of those who follow me lower in age, is the first time that we have faced a dramatic, distressing situation that somewhat resembles the overcrowding of ghettos across distances. You cannot go out, you cannot see family and friends and the most painful thing is that we cannot share the daily growth of our grandchildren, and what is worse, we do not know when we will kiss them again and hold them against our hearts.

These are the first words that I could write in this obligatory confinement, and the paradox is that, despite all the time at our disposal, it is almost impossible for me to read and write, I lack my space and my routine, which are the little bar from my neighborhood next to my table and the coffee I usually drink. That is my ritual and my place of mental concentration, everything I read and write by hand I do there, then at home, I spend it clean on my computer, I am from the pencil and paper generation, I cannot write directly in the computer, I don’t even have a laptop. I love to underline the book in pencil and write on paper and I am a fan of pens. So this is my first installment surpassing the “crown” that I have decided will not defeat me nor will I have to bow.

This pandemic does not make any difference, neither of social classes, religions, or economic power, this Royal concerns us all and covers different parts of the planet.

I am trying to take a look as a psychoanalyst at this unprecedented situation for me both as a subject and as a health professional. It is not just a matter of listening to the situation that is itself traumatic for each patient, but now we are not left out of it since it is also up to each of us as living beings exposed to the virus. So what is done then? I discover myself creating new modalities and forms of care and support for anxiety, the link with each patient has become more flexible, it is not so “neutral”, new ways of treating and managing the cure are sought, and a closer approach with fewer interpretations and giving tools to cope with the confinement day by day, from sharing a recipe to encouraging creativity, be it reading, writing…