Some Reflections on the Debate Over Tele-analysis. Held Virtually on Zoom

Presenter: Siamak Movahedi, Ph.D., L.P., FIPA
Discussant: Andrea Marzi, M.D., Ph.D.

This presentation regards the debates over the “authenticity” of analysis by phone, Skype, or Zoom because of the absence of the bodies in the room. While attitudes toward tele-analysis have recently changed in the wake of COVID, the co-experiencing of two physical bodies in close physical proximity would appear to be necessary for conducting the “real” analysis. Far from simply questioning the importance of the in-person analysis, Dr. Movahedi will instead identify the voice, the musical semiotics of emotions, as a critical, if not the most vital, aspect of psychoanalysis as a “talking cure” and psychoanalysis as an art of listening. Insofar as the speaking is instituted in the body, the body is present through voice even in the virtual analytic room in tele-analysis. He will argue that the need for the presence of the material bodies in the session is one aspect of the analytic rituals that, along with the room, the couch, and other power objects, set the stage for the continuous projection of the identities of the analytic couple. The seductive nature of the analytic situation and the status differential are more salient in the analyst’s office turf than in the patient’s room in tele-analysis.