52nd ATPPP Scientific Session

Teletherapy: Closeness and distance

Presenter: Martina Burdet

Discussant: Marco Posadas, MSW, RSW

Saturday, November 13, 2021: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Cost: $75

Open to all by registration.
Registration Deadline: November 1, 2021

** DISTANCE PARTICIPATION ONLY – This event will be conducted online. Preregistration is required.

In the aftermath of the initial impact of the corona virus to our existence and with the increased use of teletherapy, it is more important than ever to investigate and benefit from the differences and the similarities between the online and classical setting. We hope to elevate the quality of work we provide when we practice psychoanalytic psychotherapy though technology.

Due to the physical absence of the patient and therapist´ s bodies in a shared space, working therapeutically through technological supports implies a permanent dialectic between distance and proximity where the notion of limit is strongly questioned. This will be the red line of Dr. Burdet Dombald’s lecture.

Based on clinical vignettes, Dr. Burdet Dumbald will expose how archaic anguish (Hilflosichkeit, Breakdowns), anguish of helplessness to which we would not have usually access with the traditional setting, can appear as a repetition of a kind of a deep intimacy. In the absence of a body and due to the absence of body, first limit, violence and love expressions can bloom easier than face by face.

Dr. Burdet Dumbald will analyze, in the list of advantages, how the connection creates binding forces and contains anguish, but also how the opposite can be possible: to avoid the contact with the other.

Unconscious phantasies change and do so depending of the used supports: phone or support with image. From both sides, therapist and patient, gains and losses are experienced and need to be work through. It is very important to be able to make the difference between a defensive use of the technology, and on the other side, to be able to use its great possibilities and increase access to psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session participants will be able:

1. To identify psychotherapeutic strategies that can benefit from the use of technology at work.
2. Using clinical material to inform the presentation, we will discuss where the distance allows the blooming of early affects: fear of breakdown, primitive anxieties that usually not appear in the analytic room. We could add love and aggressiveness.
3. Strategies to increase the quality of our working remotely, how to keep a necessary structural absence for the psyche construction, or the presence of a third necessary for the Oedipal structure.

ATPPP Scientific Committee

Marco Posadas, MSW, RSW Chair
Claire Lunney, MD, CCFP
Doron Almagor, MD, FRCP
Lindsay Barton MA, RP, CAPCT
Kristine Klement PhD, RP (Qualifying)

Martina Burdet

Martina Burdet Dombald is a Full Member and Training Analyst at the Madrid Psychoanalytical Association (Spain), component Society of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) and Member of the SPP (Société Psychanalytique de Paris). Currently working in private practice in Madrid. She has participated in different positions: member of the Board at her Society, Publication Committee, Teacher and Supervisor at the Psychoanalytical Training Institute. Since 2016 General Secretary of the European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF). Member of the Sino European project between EPF and the Chinese Association for Mental Health (CAMH). She is the author of many publications about: Masoquism, Transference-Countertranference, Psychosexuality, Oedipus Complex, Excitation, Love and Trauma. She recently published (2018) her first book: Love in the Internet Era. Do you l@ve me or do you follow me (Underbau. Spanish version). Will be soon available in English.

Marco Posadas, MSW, RSW

Marco Posadas, MSW, RSW is social worker and psychoanalyst, and currently operates a clinical practice in Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, Clinical Supervision and Consultation in Toronto. He is chief clinical officer of the House of Purpose, a consulting firms that develops psychoanalytic interventions for corporations. He is the current over all Chair of the Gender and Sexual Diversity Studies Committee of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). Marco is also faculty at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, The Therapy Institute in Berkeley, California, and at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico where he teaches and supervises psychoanalytic clinical practice with LGBTQ+ and racialized populations.