Freud's 4pm Session:The Body of the Analyst

The Body of the Analyst: Presence, Illness, Prosthesis

In this talk, Anna Fishzon addresses the psychoanalyst’s body and its role in treatment. The issue of the analyst’s body has received unprecedented attention in the international community of clinicians since the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper intervenes in passionately debated topics among analysts: What is lost and gained in remote treatment, and how does the living presence of the analyst inform therapeutic action? The psychoanalytic frame highlights the ways bodies and their drives speak silently. What happens when analysts’ bodies are entombed in portable devices, or when they disclose illness to patients? Can an analyst still function as a transference object or prosthesis for the patient after disclosures about the analyst’s private corporeality? The function of the analyst’s real body is illustrated through short clinical vignettes, as well as the author’s personal story of cancer treatment and reconstructive surgery.

SPEAKER

Anna Fishzon, PhD, FIPA is a licensed psychoanalyst in full-time private practice in New York City. She is Member, Supervisor, and Faculty at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) and a training analyst and faculty member at Pulsion: The International Institute of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychosomatics (New York). She is also an active Participant in the Après-Coup Psychoanalytic Association (New York). Dr. Fishzon has authored two books: The Impossible Return: Psychoanalytic Reflections of Breast Cancer, Loss, and Mourning (Routledge, 2025) and Fandom, Authenticity, and Opera: Mad Acts and Letter Scenes in Fin-de-Siècle Russia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013); she is co-editor with Emma Lieber of The Queerness of Childhood: Essays from the Other Side of the Looking Glass (Palgrave, 2023). For a decade she taught interdisciplinary courses at Williams College, Columbia University, and Duke University, and authored scholarly articles on Russian history, consumer culture, temporality, late socialism, animation, and opera.

Complement your visit to the Freud Museum with one of our tours or talks led by staff, volunteers and guest speakers.

The talks are free with your admission ticket. Book your admission ticket now!

The event will be held on the first floor of the Museum during regular opening hours. Unfortunately, the Freud Museum does not currently have step-free access. Advance booking is highly recommended, as capacity is limited.

Concessions/Members/Patrons: Please show proof of eligibility/membership card on arrival.