Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

 

Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy are unique forms of intensive psychotherapy that foster personal development and liberation from unsatisfying or painful patterns of living. In pursuit of those goals, the individual in a psychoanalytically informed therapy and the therapist work together in close collaboration. They pay careful attention to the interactions of personal and interpersonal experience, of past and present, of body and mind, of fantasy and reality. It is expected that such an in-depth exploration can set in motion a process of personal transformation. The value of psychoanalytic treatment lies in our long-term, consistent relationship with someone (the analyst) who is working to understand us, who accepts us for who we are, and who helps us with our struggles.

 

People seek psychoanalytically informed treatment for many reasons. Some want help with specific emotional problems like depression, anxiety, or stress or are seeking to come to terms with a painful or traumatic personal history. Others may feel stuck in distressing patterns that prevent them from feeling satisfied, from connecting with others, or from finding meaning in their lives. Many people simply desire a deeper self-understanding or greater creativity in their personal lives

 

Psychoanalysis offers a unique and comprehensive method of thinking and working therapeutically. The theory and methods of psychoanalysis originated with Sigmund Freud's pioneering explorations of the influence of unconscious processes on everyday life and on emotional difficulties.

 

A psychoanalyst can help you . . .

 

1. Get relief from painful emotional symptoms

2. Feel understood as a unique individual

3. Achieve emotional freedom

4. Improve your personal relationships

5. Become more productive at work

6. Take more pleasure from life

7. Change lifelong ways of coping that haven't worked

8. Understand feelings and behaviors that don't seem to make sense

9. Gain greater control over your life

10. Stop self-destructive patterns of behavior

11. Understand yourself

12. Prevent the past from interfering in the present

13. Talk things over in a safe and private environment

14. Unlock your creative potential

 

Frequency of Sessions

 

The process of psychoanalysis depends on the establishment of a safe, confidential, and collaborative therapeutic relationship. The frequency of sessions in a psychoanalytically informed treatment typically ranges from one to five times a week. Frequent sessions allow the patient's dilemmas to come to life in the intricacies of the psychoanalytic relationship.

 

Patient and therapist work together to understand the meaning of the patient's emotional reactions, thoughts, memories, fantasies, dreams, images, and sensations in an effort to alleviate personal suffering and to expand the capacity for work, love, and creativity.

 

The Couch

 

Many individuals find that the use of an analytic couch allows them to speak more freely about their most personal concerns and to access unconscious experience. For others, the experience of a face-to-face dialogue seems essential to the unfolding of the therapeutic process.

 

Collaboration

 

The psychoanalytic process weaves a complex tapestry in which therapist and patient can explore the rich and intricate texture of human relationship. This process can be expected to unfold over a considerable period of time. A decision to enter psychoanalytically informed treatment represents a mutual agreement between patient and therapist. Decisions about the frequency of sessions needed to sustain the process are reached jointly.

 

Although it is recognized that no single theory can account for the complexities of the human mind, psychoanalytic tradition and technique are valuable resources for understanding the psychological processes of personal development and social interaction. Contemporary psychoanalysts draw on a vast body of knowledge-both within psychoanalysis and across disciplines-to understand their patients compassionately and to respond effectively to the broader communities in which they live and work.

 

Psychoanalysis is also engaged in dialogue with other disciplines like science, history, philosophy, gender studies, visual arts, literature, poetry, music, and film. As an evolving domain in its own right, psychoanalysis continues actively to address a wide range of current issues, such as changing social structures, individual alienation, identity and diversity, political violence, and emerging cultural realities. In addition, there has been a long tradition of reciprocal influence between psychoanalysis and psychological research, especially in the areas of human development, cognitive science, and social psychology.

 

Who Can Benefit from Psychoanalysis?

 

Psychoanalysis is especially suited for those who need to get to the root of long-term problems and patterns ("I have difficulty in my personal relationships" or "I never excel at or feel satisfied in my work" or "I keep missing deadlines at work") rather than immediate issues ("I just broke up with my partner"). Some people come to analysis because of repeated failures in work or in love brought about not by chance but by self-destructive patterns of behavior. Others come because the way they are-their character-substantially limits their freedom and their pleasures. Still others seek analysis to definitively resolve psychological problems that were only temporarily or partially resolved by other forms of treatment. People from all walks of life have found psychoanalysis to be helpful.

 

If a troubled person is capable of having and using insights and is emotionally sturdy enough to tolerate intense, difficult feelings that can arise during treatment, he or she is likely to be able to benefit from analysis. Most patients see an analyst for an initial evaluation to determine what type of treatment is most appropriate. If it's psychoanalysis, treatment typically is for four to five sessions per week over a long period of time. This form of treatment permits the deepest and longest lasting changes.

 

Many studies demonstrate that psychotherapy with medication is more effective than medication alone, underscoring the human need for talking things over in a safe and private environment.

 

Who Can Benefit from Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychotherapy?

 

In supportive, psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy (also called exploratory or expressive psychotherapy), problem-solving is the focus. Goals are a partial reorganization of psychic structure in the context of significant symptomatic change, better adaptive equilibrium, and a reinforcement of adaptive defenses. Examples of acute reasons for treatment include recent onset of anxiety, guilt, or depressive symptoms; emergent inhibitions (for example, avoiding a desired marital commitment); and emergent occupational difficulties (for example, conflict with a new boss). The treatment works directly with current difficulties, symptoms, and inhibitions; engages in problem-solving; and recognizes fantasy/unconscious conflicts as a cause rather than externalizing. This is the treatment of choice for many cases too serious to participate in the rigors of a standard psychoanalysis (see below). Cases with severe, chronic, life-threatening self-destructive behavior, such as chronic suicidal behavior, severe eating disorders, drug dependence, alcoholism, and severe anti-social behavior respond more favorably to psychoanalytic psychotherapy than to psychoanalysis. Frequency is generally two or three sessions per week.

 

Who Is a Psychoanalyst?

 

Even before being trained as psychoanalysts under the auspices of the American Psychoanalytic Association or other psychoanalytic training institutes, psychoanalysts have had rigorous and extensive clinical education. They are licensed mental health professionals like psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists, or psychiatric nurses. Candidates accepted for training at an accredited psychoanalytic institute also meet high ethical, psychological, and professional standards. Candidates then engage in extensive additional post-graduate training in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic training consists of a rigorous program of several years of coursework, a personal analysis, and experience providing psychoanalysis under the supervision of senior analysts. Psychoanalytic therapists adhere to basic psychoanalytic tenets in their practice of psychotherapy with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and groups. Thus, psychoanalysts are the most highly trained mental health professionals.

 

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