Existential psychology in practice:

Zoltán Köváry speaks about his personal and professional experiences of the pandemic in relation to his research on creativity and psychobiography.

The case of the current covid19 crisis is an inevitable multifaceted tipping point where we share a global existential catastrophe and its relevance to technology, language, psychology, economy, politics, science, etc. How can educators engage with the unavoidable necessities of simultaneously learning and teaching as boundaries disappear, while also all aspects of education and its treats, and interconnected complexity gets magnified? What are the phases of pre- and post-pandemic in education? What phase are we in now as we are preparing for the fall semester full of uncertainties?

Zoltan Kovary is clinical psychologist and linguist in Budapest, Hungary. He is a full time associate professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Department of Clinical Psychology and Addictions. Zoltan has a doctorate in theoretical psychoanalysis. His main research topics are psychoanalysis and existential psychologies, the psychology of creativity and the application of psychobiography. Investigating the methodological questions of psychobiographical idiographic studies.

In his 2019 book New trends in psychobiography he speaks of the importance of the “real” subject and mixed methodologies used in connecting theory and practice to real life. In psychobiography, the interconnected nature of the individual to their existence gets emphasized and therefore, self-reflection, self-knowledge and self-involvement are inevitable part of the process to develop meaningful methodology.

In exploration of mixed methodologies introduced in other fields, such as education, psychobiography can give a good foundation in the research phase. In this phase, the comprehension of large picture interconnectedness gives foundation to the research. More specifically, it creates a net or connections between psychobiography and psychosocial-history; which promotes responsible long term decision making process in all aspects of education and working with human subjects – especially in crisis.

This interview was recorded for the Quarantine Research at Wellesley College: Working within limitations website: https://blogs.wellesley.edu/quarantinedepartment/