Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a therapeutic process that focuses on an individual’s unconscious and deep-rooted thoughts. Developed by Sigmund Freud, it takes the view that our current behaviour, thoughts, and feelings are directly influenced by our childhood and past experiences. Over time these can become repressed and may manifest themselves as depression or other negative symptoms.

Psychoanalysis is typically delivered long-term, intensive treatment, requiring time and a level of commitment from the client. You would usually be required to attend regular sessions for several years, depending on your needs and circumstances. It is this delivery time frame that sets psychoanalysis apart from psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies, which share similarities with this approach but are generally short-term.

Four key assumptions guide the process of psychoanalysis. These are:

1. Psychological problems are rooted in the unconscious mind.
2. Manifest symptoms are the result of underlying (latent) disturbances.
3. Unresolved issues or repressed trauma are often the root causes.
4. Treatment aims to bring repressed conflicts into consciousness, allowing the client to make necessary changes to resolve them.

The treatment process also relies heavily on other factors, including a strong relationship between client and therapist. This relationship will help to facilitate a core process of psychoanalysis, which is called “transference”. Transference takes place when the client freely talks about his/her feelings and thoughts towards important people in their life – essentially living out his/her unconscious dynamics through the connection to the therapist.

The psychoanalyst will employ a range of techniques during therapy, including:

• Dream Analysis: Freud believed that people learn through myths, jokes, fairytales, poems, and similar forms of expression. Dream analysis involves interpreting the symbols in our dreams to gain insight into the unconscious mind and identify areas of difficulty that may need further exploration.
• Word Association: This involves the therapist giving a stimulus word, to which you must reply with the very first thing that comes to mind. This enables unconscious thoughts to enter the conscious in preparation for further investigation later in therapy.
• Projective tests: This involves the psychoanalyst presenting you with a series of abstract images and inviting you to explain what you see, or to create a story based on the images. A commonly known projective test is the inkblot test, also known as the Rorschach test.
• Para Praxes: This is also known as the ‘Freudian slip’. It is thought that unconscious thoughts and feelings could transfer to the conscious mind through slips of the tongue or pen. Psychoanalysts are of the opinion that every slip is significant and can reveal something important.

Psychoanalysis is a highly personalised therapy that can help treat a variety of psychological disorders and self-destructive behavioural patterns that may be affecting one’s quality of life.. The therapy can help clients of all ages and can even benefit those who are simply curious to know a bit more about themselves and how their mind works. Essentially, though, it is for people who have concerns that interfere with the way they want to live their lives.

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