DISEASE
The Analyst, the Citizen
K. Philippe GENDRAULT
First, they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me Memorial Holocaust Day Trust (UK) version We are living in very strange times. This virus has forced upon us something that is usually dismissed and if not, is often theorized ad nauseam. The medical crisis has forced us into the social reality of our lives, into what we are, namely a group, a collective of people, who are scared, angry, sad, and all the myriad emotions represented by the signifiers of our patients, by the narratives binding people, hygienically or otherwise, by all those words trying to symbolize the Real, the virus, and the menace of death it carries. The time of history is often abstract and very theoretical. Still, we are living history today in Real-time, and that is the trauma we are all going through, even if these specific signifiers—coronavirus, COVID-19, etc.—represent this trauma as well as all the compensatory narratives, both individual and social. A San Francisco ER nurse who, with all her colleagues, remains in wait of the emergency surge of cases, spoke a few days ago with humor of having a “pre-traumatic stress disorder.” We are living, both analysts and analysands, in this historical Real time, and therefore traumatic. Accordingly, It disrupts the usual order of things. Because of the present crisis and the constraints imposed upon all of us, upon the collectivity, we, as psychoanalysts and members of this collectivity, find ourselves side by side with the architect, the journalist, the delivery person, the bus driver, etc. We are no longer those special individuals who have access to a specific knowledge with its Weltanschauung. The virus has reduced us to the mere status of citizens, like all the other people facing this pandemic. And like the architect, the postman, and all the other people, we will do the best we can, applying our craft to the best of our abilities under the circumstances. And it can be incredible for the patient to hear the analyst suggest
Michael Smith, Williamsburg Bridge Pedestrian Walkway 16
DIVISION | R E V I E W
SUMMER 2020
