The pandemic and the (im)possible online practice with children

Abstract

In the pandemic context, how to sustain the online psychoanalysys with children, without the presence of the bodies in the same physical space? The author discusses three clippings of this (im)possible practice. In the first case, being able to go forward online, despite not having privacy, allowed the analyst to follow the child's management, via mobile screen, from the physical space of her house, in a displacement that allowed her to occupy other places. In the second clipping, with the transition to the online modality, the child became silent, and removed her image from the screen. This was fundamental: sustaining, in transference, the child’s removal from the screen. In the third clipping, the analysis began already in the online modality, and the framing of the screen seemed to favor the appearance of something new: the screen as a stage. The use of mobile devices also established a direct communication of the children with the analyst, and brought, in these cases, a surprising effect of autonomy. Finally, the conclusion is that the setting is the transference and online psychoanalysis is psychoanalysis.