Vicissitudes of the psychoanalytic setting

The outbreak of the pandemic forced a temporary change from an in-person setting to a distance setting via a screen, generating a debate about the viability of the psychoanalytic process in the case of distance settings. This discussion leads us to reconsider the fundamental elements of the setting, such as the hitherto unquestioned co-presence of the bodies of the patient and the analyst in the same space. After reviewing key moments in the evolution of the concept, from Freud to Bleger, and analysing the contemporary situation, including recent IPA reports, it is emphasised that the physical presence of the body, in which psychic life is rooted, is essential to enable unconscious communication. To support this idea, clinical examples and a detailed vignette are presented. In addition, the importance of the frequency of sessions is highlighted, underlining the fact that the quantitative factor is crucial to the nature of psychic life and any attempt to modify it.