“ I think that it is even creating more intimacy because they see that you are afraid too and if you are not afraid to say that you are afraid, and you are not too afraid to talk about it, and that is a good opportunity to talk about many fears. ”
Shahrzad Hashemi, MA
Tehran
Episode Description:
Harvey Schwartz welcomes Shahrzad Hashemi to this episode. She is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and an advance candidate for the Comprehensive Program for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at HamAva Institute in Tehran. Shahrzad is also the editorial assistant of the open access journal Psychoanalytic Discourse. In addition to her private practice, Shahrzad has been involved in many psychoanalytically informed activities in hospitals and schools.
In today’s conversation, we reflect on the changes the world is going through, what life is like in Tehran and how Shahrzad’s clinical work has been affected by the pandemic.
Key Takeaways:
[4:27] Tehran is currently going through the 7th week of quarantine, Shahrzad shares how it feels to be isolated for so long.
[7:28] Finding another routine to survive.
[8:10] The transition from in-person sessions to the virtual modality
[9:40] Shahrzad talks about the impact this crisis has been having on patients as well as on analysts.
[11:10] It is normal to be afraid.
[13:30] This is an opportunity to redefine metaphor and symbolization
[15:10] Shahrzad talks about the resistance of some patients to the virtual modality.
[18:35] Shahrzad shares a case example
[21:50] The challenges of being a psychotherapist at these times.
[22:08] What have Shahrzad found helpful to sustain herself and her community during the pandemic?
Mentioned in This Episode
IPA Off the Couch – www.ipaoffthecouch.org
Thank you Shahrzad, I liked the image of the good voices while listening to the voices of both of you.
One of my adolescent patients who had talked very little in the sessions in person and was drawing maps of the universe most of the time started to talk a lot on the phone about his real life and the films he is watching, even scary films. He mentioned that my voice was much nearer now, than before. So I wonder what will develop in the session when he comes back in person.
Best whishes and regards Caroline, Switzerland
There is a potential magic that can lessen resistance on the phone and on platforms like Zoom I have observed the emergence of memories of experiences of guilt and shame associated with physical emotional and sexual abuse when the patient is in a safe space at home.
This is a very interesting observation. However, I have encountered the opposite as well. Some patients may become more resistant due to the fact that they don’t have a safe and private space in their houses as it is shared by the family members and they fear that they might hear them. Therefore, I think as you also mentioned safety is the golden key.
Thank you Caroline for your kind words and interesting experience you shared. I suppose there is more to voice than we usually think. I mean only the voice, not the words. Of course many analysts and schools talked about this aspect but it seems to me that because of the primacy of words in psychoanalysis we tend to easily take the important role of voice for granted. Your patient’s experience and how he put that into words is very illuminating. I also think that on the phone we feel the voice closer, even sometimes we feel it as if it is in our heads. This can be very helpful for many but I think it might be more difficult or more exhausting for some of us and of course not for all. I am also wondering what will happen in your in-person sessions and would be more than happy to hear from you again then.
Warmest regards,
Shahrzad