Love in the Time of COVID-19: Experiences of a Psychology Trainee

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) swept across the country, graduate students faced challenges they could have never anticipated. The future of coursework, research, graduation, and practica was unclear; for some, the circumstances were more dire as university closures resulted in a lack of housing, food, and internet access. While there is extant research of clinical trainee experience, significantly less has been written on their experiences of major events, let alone how it impacts our clinical work or theory-making. Perhaps even more to our detriment, literature has continued to shy away from the most basic component of clinical work: love. What follows is my account of analytic love, loss, and healing during a turbulent time in my clinical training at a large metropolitan hospital. The goal of this article is not extravagant. By sharing these experiences, I hope to record these events, name my experience, and remind the analytic community of the power of love, and the necessity of discussing love, particularly its salience during times of immense distress.