ABSTRACT
From the perspective of a psychotherapist deeply affected by the climate crisis, this chapter questions why patients rarely directly verbalise concerns or anxieties about climate change in their sessions. In his paper, That Which Patients Bring to Analysis, Henry Rey writes that the unknown question that people bring to analysis is how to repair damaged and dying inner objects, without which they cannot live healthy functioning lives. The dying object is kept alive, Rey claims, whilst they wait for help to come. This paper takes the position that once this true quest of analysis is realised, a process of mourning can begin, and significant gains can be made. Drawing on the work of Sally Weintrobe, George Marshall and others, it is suggested that in spite of overt climate silence, the process of mourning damaged inner objects can facilitate the task of facing the greatest threat to humanity we have known.
