My soon-to-be 4 year old daughter has started counting her grandparents’ wrinkles and exploring how the amount might relate to death. And it’s not just her who has an increased interest in mortality. For many people, life’s end feels more relevant to contemplate due to the pandemic. So why not attend a death cafe?
One of the words we often come across during these Corona times is vulnerability. Corona is most dangerous to those who are vulnerable, it is said. This category entails primarily the elderly and the immunosuppressed, but also those who, due to a lower socioeconomic status, aren’t receiving proper healthcare.
For the sixth episode of the It’s Complicated podcast,
Reece Cox ventures into the realm of multilove. The episode is captivating and only left me curious for more brain pickings, so I wrote not just one of the interviewed psychotherapist, Mathias Funke, but also two other counsellors specialised in polyamory, Rosanna Wendel and Phil Sheldon. This is what came out of my probing.
In the previous letter I said I would talk today about what happens in the mind and body when we are unable to act in the face of a threat, but, having spent the last hour or so on my social media feed I would like to talk about community, safety and reciprocity instead.
As many people across the globe are entering their third week of isolation, their solitary states may result in interesting streams of consciousness. This article here, from clinical psychologist Jan Kaspers, comes from such a state. It’s a contemplative, meditative essay, that explores a broader perspective on the current pandemic.
What is your idea of Good? Where do you find “Good”? And is this, in fact, the only question that psychoanalysis is allowed to ask?
Have you ever wondered why moths and flies behave in this quasi-suicidal way of flying directly into a flame? I have. It turns out that they don’t actually intend to fly into the flame at all: Months and flies have 360 little light tubes in their eyes which they use to navigate with in reference to the vertical light beams from the sun or the moon.
Distance therapy, also known as online therapy or tele therapy, might become the new normal in these times of corona crisis and social distancing.
For reasons beyond anyone’s control, we are finding ourselves suddenly faced with the prospect of spending many hours at home. I often day dream about living alone in the the countryside but, importantly, in these day dreams I am always there by choice and never ever is the dream set in my apartment, alone, in Berlin.
I wanted to write an informative text about the psychological effects of Covid-19, but I’m too paralysed by the constant influx of new information and emotions. Instead you will have to make do with a personal essay about how a Danish, German-based therapist is experiencing the situation from her couch. So bear with me while I gather my thoughts in this surreal time.
