Contemporary psychoanalysis has recently made a "paradigm shift" consisting of dealing with the discontents of civilizations emerging from the extension of the explicative dominion of psychoanalysis not only in the direction of social and political phenomena, but also in that of understanding the impact of environmental and ecological issues on the human psyche. New paradigms need new concepts such as the term "pandemic discontent", contained in the title of the present book. The concept of "pandemic discontents" refers to Freud's "Civilization and its Discontents" in order to focus on those anthropological mutations, including the expansion of technologies and the mutations of ecology, which represent irreversible fractures which have shifted a part of humanity in the face of the fragility of the social and cultural structures on which, as Kaës writes, the permanence of a civilization is based, or even the human species itself. And dealing with the discontents of civilizations leads psychoanalysis to a challenge which has not yet been completely assimilated, i.e. to measure up to the social dynamics and no longer only the intra-psychic ones, and to think of these changes as 'extra-psychic conditions', as Kaës defines them, which provide a framework or a setting for the formation of the psychic apparatus, for the forms of subjectivity that derive from them and for the sufferings they have produced. After the foreword written by Nancy McWilliams, "Psychotherapy in a Pandemic", written during lockdown in NY and dealing with therapists' feelings during online consultations, after the introduction written by the editor, Giuseppe Leo, the section "Psychoanalysis in Pandemic Times" (writings by Anna Ferruta, Hilda Catz, Giuseppe Riefolo, Merav Roth, and Cosimo Schinaia) concerns how to apply analysis to the Covid-19 crisis (psychoanalysis as a tool for interpretation of the pandemic crisis at various levels, individual, social, political) but also how to practice analysis under the Covid-19 pandemic (dealing with the conditions under which the practise of psychoanalysis is possible in such an unprecedented global context). The section "When the psychoanalyst is the patient" contains the memoir written by Pietro Roberto Goisis, a Milan-based psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who survived the coronavirus. In this pandemic both analyst and patient have to deal with a dangerous external reality, with the supplementary task for therapist of helping the p

The book concerns contemporary psychoanalysis dealing with recent discontents due to pandemic and climate change. After the foreword written by Robert D. Stolorow, "Planet Earth. Crumbling Metaphysical Illusion", and the introduction written by the editor, Giuseppe Leo, the section "Psychoanalysis in Pandemic Times" (writings by Nancy McWilliams, Anna Ferruta, Hilda Catz, Giuseppe Riefolo, Merav Roth, and Cosimo Schinaia) concerns how to applyanalysis to the Covid-19 crisis (psychoanalysis as a tool for interpretation of the pandemic crisis at various levels, individual, social, political) but also how to practice analysis under the Covid-19 pandemic (dealing with the conditions under which the practise of psychoanalysis is possible in such an unprecedented global context). The section "When the psychoanalyst is the patient" contains the memoir written by Pietro Roberto Goisis, a Milan-based psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who survived the coronavirus. In this pandemic both analyst and patient have to deal with a dangerous external reality, with the supplementary task for therapist of helping the patient face his/her internal jeopardy. Finally in the section "Psychoanalysis and Climate Change" there is the chapter written by Marco Francesconi and Daniela Scotto di Fasano.

This edited volume examines the psychosocial transformations experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, and envisions those that might lead to a more equitable society as we ‘open up’. The book integrates psychoanalysis, sociology, cultural studies, and psychology to address three main areas: personal experiences of the lockdown, new formations of power and desire that the lockdown has shaped, and global concerns related to the pandemic. Within those three areas, the chapters discuss key themes that include the uses of space during lockdown; experiences of death, loss, and domestic violence; race and the pandemic; technology, media, and viral media; chronic illness; handwashing and COVID-19; and conspiracy theories. Drawing together academics and practitioners with a common vision of social justice and active pedagogy, the contents of this volume combine experiential writing with cutting-edge, theoretically-informed interdisciplinary debates. The book advances and demonstrates the productive diversity of psychosocial studies, drawing on psychoanalytic theories, critical psychologies, critical theories, critical race theories, process philosophies, affect theories, and critical pedagogy. In doing so, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences.

This book explores how meaning-making during the COVID-19 pandemic, and specifically during the period of the April 2020 lockdowns, may be derived from shared lived experience among participants, residing in diverse geographical regions. This study conducted 46 in-depth interviews with Greek participants residing in 13 district countries and 23 cities around the globe and argues that meaning making of the pandemic derives from shared lived experiences of radical change and everyday transformations, fearful as well as well as hopeful perceptions of crisis and trauma emerging through loss of life before the pandemic.

Starting from the foreword written by Robert D. Hinshelwood, the British analyst points out that over four centuries mankind has conquered all the dangers and is out exploring new worlds in space, but that sense of triumph and omnipotence - and what he calls the "Disneyfication" of Nature - could turn against it, and this pandemic might represent a rupture in that overblown omnipotent confidence. From a psychoanalytic point of view, when omnipotence shatters, it is replaced by vulnerable impotence and danger. In this 'pandemonium', i. e. demons everywhere, where the much celebrated virtue of enlightenment thinking seems to be eclipsed on a global scale, as the virus makes our throats dry and our breath short, Nature could claim us as its helpless creatures. To date we have dealt with our concerns about climate change by reassuring ourselves with our omnipotence - "we caused it and in our omnipotence we have the means to cure it" - indulging ourselves to think we are the controllers of climate change, "and the globe is there simply for us to manage for our own purposes".After the writing by Robert D. Stolorow, and the introduction written by the editor, Giuseppe Leo, the chapters by Nancy McWilliams, Anna Ferruta, Hilda Catz, Giuseppe Riefolo, Merav Roth, and Cosimo Schinaia concern how psychoanalysis is a tool for interpretation of the pandemic crisis at various levels (individual, social, political) but also how to practice analysis dealing with the conditions under which it is possible in such an unprecedented global context. Moreover, Pietro Roberto Goisis writes about his experience of survivor of coronavirus. Finally, Marco Francesconi and Daniela Scotto di Fasano write about climate change from a psychoanalytic point of view.