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The psychic elaboration of absence, openness to which can come from the recognition of absence, is an important issue in the transference/countertransference dynamics. It implies that passion for the primary object, whose modes of presence-absence play a fundamental role in the constitution of the ego, can be deployed in the transference. Thus, prior to an established oedipal neurosis, a fixation to an unsatisfying primary object may indicate the persistence of narcissistic flaws that are liable to impede relations to external reality and openness to the world of objects. The choice of setting proves to be crucial, given that each setting involves a different relationship to perception. I will try to elucidate this with reference to a clinical case of the process of the elaboration of absence which governed the transition from the face-to-face situation to the couch, including the remote sessions that were necessary during the lockdown.