COVISD-19 – Expectation and Reality – Outpatient clinic patients
Monday morning at 09:00 AM, and it is time for the group. I pick up the phone hoping that we can meet by way of video. The first patient is a 64-year-old female, “R,” considered high risk and depressed; she is well-known to the outpatient clinic. She asks me to keep it only on voice call; “No video,” she says. The second patient in the group that morning is a 63 female as well, joining the conversation while the third one does not respond. We are wondering what happened to “D”? Taking turns, we engage in conversation. At times, one takes most of the space and the other, with respect, stays quiet. I try to lead the conversation, allowing the two of them to share and respond like we do in the group. The main theme of the conversation is CVOID-19, and the various concerns related to it. The idea of staying at home feels good and safe for “R,” yet threatening and uncomfortable for “S” who misses the coffee shops, the swimming pool, and her pupils at school. “R” finds it to be a perfect time to take care of her ill father, while “S” is worried of staying home with her husband. Both miss their children and grandchildren who were advised not to visit as they are at-high risk if they were to fall ill. As the conversation develops, I think to myself: How do I promote play? Playing facilitates growth and therefore health. Playing renews vitality, playing leads into group relationships, playing can be a form of communication in psychotherapy, and lastly, psychoanalysis has been developed as a highly specialized form of playing in the service of communication with oneself and another (Winnicot, 1971, p. 41). There is no space to play in the call, and I feel the challenge of encouraging the memory of playful meetings in movement. In the third week of lockdown we manage to practice a warm-up together, stretching while listening to our familiar music and relying on our memories; no video only the voice allowing regulations. Later, we are able to share our experiences of moving alone yet together.
