How can Psychoanalysis Help Me?

I was trained psychoanalytically and I often employ this approach at some stage of treatment with my clients.  While my overall therapeutic methods are eclectic, I continuously go back to my foundation of psychoanalysis when I’m feeling stuck with a patient.  According to the American Psychoanalytic Association a psychoanalyst can help you to:  

-       Get relief from painful emotions or symptoms

-       Feel understood as a unique individual

-       Achieve emotional freedom

-       Improve your personal relationships

-       Become more productive at work

-       Take more pleasure from life

-       Change lifelong ways of coping that just aren’t working

-       Understand feelings and behaviors that don’t make sense

-       Gain greater control over your life

-       Stop destructive patterns of behavior

-       Understand yourself

-       Prevent the past from interfering with the present

-       Talk things over in a safe and private environment

-       Unlock your creative potential

By working with a therapist who is also an analyst, a patient is able to explore their complex drives and the motivations behind their behaviors and thought processes. As humans, we are built for communication and we strive to understand the world around us and to be understood by others.  The unique therapeutic relationship creates a safe space, which allows the psychotherapist and patient to “think together” in a way that fosters insights, breakthroughs, personal growth and evolution and integration of the psyche.