Psychoanalytic Therapy

Psychoanalytic Therapy is the “classic” therapy of the New Yorker cartoons.  While full psychoanalysis is often done lying on the couch meeting four or five times per week, psychoanalytic therapy can be done once per week and often sitting facing the therapist.  It is therapy based on psychoanalytic theory, but not formal psychoanalysis.

Most psychoanalytic theories hold that past relationships (typically with the parents) form how we interact with subsequent relationships (teachers, supervisors, lovers).  As such, anxieties and insecurities that we developed in our relationship with our parents will continue to affect our relationships later in life.  As an example, a person who felt abandoned by a parent might continue to fear future abandonment from friends and romantic partners.  Therefore, psychoanalytic therapy looks to uncover those dynamics, many of which are unconscious, and restore them through the therapeutic relationship.

Unlike several clinical orientations that focus primarily on specific symptoms, psychoanalytic therapy tends to focus more on a person’s overall personality structure and psychological dynamics.  As such, it tends to address the whole person rather than a specific set of symptoms.  For this reason, people often find that they improve in areas of their lives that were not specifically addressed in therapy.

Another difference between psychoanalytic therapy and other treatment modalities is that it puts more emphasis on the quality of the therapeutic relationship.  In so doing, the relationship with the therapist is used as a vehicle for change within the therapeutic process.