Episode 057: A Report from Moscow and the Role of Denial with Lola Komarova, Ph.D.

Psychoanalysis On and Off the Couch

"Some patients are quite happy being in their internal world - maybe the government is too, they’re in one world and people can be in the other. The patients live in one world and what is happening outside doesn’t bother them very much. It is about the avoidance of contact, the avoidance of the other "

Description: Dr. Harvey Schwartz welcomes Dr. Lola Komarova, who is a psychoanalyst in Moscow and served as the President of the Moscow Group of Psychoanalysts, where she currently is the Director of Training. In addition to her private practice in Moscow, Dr. Komarova teaches applied psychoanalysis for psychology students.

In this episode Dr. Komarova shares her vision of history, with the embedded notion that the past lives in the present. This refers not only to the childhood experiences that live in the present for all of us but also about how the political and historical pasts show themselves in our present circumstances.

Key takeaways:

[5:31] Dr. Komarova talks about life in Moscow right now.

[9:28] The smallpox epidemic in Moscow.

[9:57] The relation between the community and the government during the current epidemic.

[14:40] People realized they had to survive by themselves.

[15:42] Dr. Komarova talks about the history of psychoanalysis in Moscow.

[21:40] How do the multiple theoretical points of view come together in Dr. Komarova’s practice?

[25:07] The pandemic and its impact on some patients who became disturbed and paranoid and, on the contrary, some other patients who managed to ignore the pandemic.

[27:58] A specific form of denial.

[31:15] People show no interest in reality but become immersed in their internal world.

[32:07] Dr. Komarova shares how she is sustaining herself during this crisis.

[36:05] Dealing with an unpredictable future.

Mentioned in this episode:

IPA Off the Couch www.ipaoffthecouch.org