ABSTRACT
Psychoanalysis traditionally involves the physical presence in the same space of those taking part in it, though without any physical contact as such between them–beyond perhaps, in certain cultures, a formal handshake or a peck-on-the-cheek. An important issue is whether the simultaneous presence of the therapeutic dyad in a physical space is an indispensable condition for the psychoanalytic process to occur. It could be argued that it is, on the grounds that the emotional aspect of intimate relationships such as the analytic one can only properly find expression in such a context. Traditional physical analytic encounters may be preferable to virtual ones, but they would not constitute a necessary condition for the analytic process to unfold and for effective therapeutic work to occur. Intimate loving relationships, in their varying combinations of physical and emotional components, reflect the infinite variety of human beings.
