The Therapeutic Space: Phenomenological and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

This seminar brings together phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspectives to explore the therapeutic space in its multiple dimensions.

This seminar brings together phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspectives to explore the therapeutic space in its multiple dimensions. While therapeutic space is often taken for granted and treated as self-evident, it is in fact the very field in which therapeutic work unfolds. The recent shift to online modalities has brought these spatial dimensions into sharper focus, drawing attention to features that might otherwise remain unnoticed. The discussion will address, among other themes, the material setting of therapy, the specific dynamics of online therapeutic environments, and the relational space shaped by transference and countertransference, all considered within a broader phenomenological field.

The aim of the seminar is to foster a dialogue on the role of therapeutic space from both phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspectives. At the same time, we seek to encourage an interdisciplinary exchange that brings together not only theorists, but also practitioners — therapists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors — in order to reflect collectively on how therapeutic spaces are constituted, experienced, and conceptualized.

Programme:

 14:00–14:10 – Welcome and introduction

 14:10–14:40 – Dr Lucienne Spencer (University of Oxford) – A Phenomenology of Speech Expression in the Therapeutic Space

 14:40–15:10 – Martyna Iwanicka-Kabat  (University of Warsaw) – A Phenomenal Field of Transference and Countertransference:A Phenomenological Perspective 

 15:10 – 15:25 - Coffee and Cake break

 15:25–15:55 – Agata Bielińska (Polish Academy of Sciences) – Between Closeness and Distance: Towards a Psychoanalytic Philosophy of the Spatiality of Love

 15:55–16:25 – General discussion

 16:25–16:30 – Closing remarks