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“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.”

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