Therapy takes place over the phone or WhatsApp video following a joint writing process between me and the patient through a writing exercise that I present following our initial conversation. The patient starts writing and uploads the text to Google Docs, were I am invited to connect to it and write together with the patient. This connection is the product of the Corona period, where people have been starving for interpersonal interaction. Therefore, I believe that there is even more room for a work and artistic partnership in treatment.
As a therapist who strongly believes in my own self-disclosure as an integral part of therapy, I had thought that the expression of my feelings during therapy and sharing of personal examples were enough. However, during Corona, I have discovered a new sense of exposure that had been unfamiliar to me and not easy to digest. Conversations through the computer using ZOOM has forced me to see myself as my patients see me: how I look, my facial expressions, and the movements I make during treatments. This exposure has compelled me to see myself as my patients see me and to work on it.
Treatment During Corona
I have two interesting examples of treatment during Corona:
The first example was a treatment that took place over the phone (not a video call) with a patient. Before Corona, during a session, oftentimes the patient would draw and create. Our discourse was made and sustained through works of art. During Corona, we continued to have a therapeutic process over the phone, and we had an art conversation when I did guided imagery therapy. The patient prepared a work of art at home, and ten minutes later, he sent me a picture of the artwork, after which I sent a text response. This created a very interesting and significant artistic connection between the patient’s unconscious and mine.
A second example relates to a therapeutic tool I developed called The Kingdom Game: A tool that allows the creation of a realm parallel to the patient’s realm, while collecting items from his real life and weaving them through an imaginary world. Typically, the kingdom is actually and metaphorically created for a number of encounters. During Corona, the kingdom was built through texts spoken in conversation. Sometimes I collected the items and created a text, which I returned to the patient, and sometimes it was built while having a conversation.
– What can be learned from it for treatment?
– How would you sum up the visit to the “Corona Kingdom” so far?
