Work with emotions in remote psychotherapy in the time of Covid-19: a clinical experience

Abstract

Objective: Face-to-face experiential work with emotions is effective, but it remains unclear what the feasibility of teletherapeutic work with emotions is. The current Covid-19 worldwide situation represents an opportunity for psychotherapists to test new ways of working with clients, including from an emotion-focused and emotionally focused perspective. Methods: The present brief report describes a clinical experience based on 6 weeks, so far, of telepsychotherapeutic work focused on emotions via online tools, during the Covid-19 partial confinement in Switzerland. Results: We found a certain feasibility of remote work with emotions in psychotherapy, for individual clients, and for couples. Specific challenges represent relationship and contextual factors (clear communication, using tone of voice, regular check ins, setting up a clear frame, technical aspects of communication, the Self of the therapist), accessing and deepening emotions and managing dysregulated experience and interpersonal escalation. Discussion: Based on this initial clinical experience, we propose that integrative experiential practice partially delivered via a computer screen be studied in controlled settings by psychotherapy research in the future.