What Is Psychoanalytic Therapy?

Psychoanalytic therapy is a form of talk therapy based on Sigmund Freud's theories of psychoanalysis. The approach explores how the unconscious mind influences your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Specifically, it examines how your experiences (often from childhood) may be contributing to your current experience and actions. Psychoanalytic approaches to emotional disorders have advanced a great deal since Freud's time.

Techniques

People undergoing psychoanalytic therapy often meet with their psychoanalyst at least once a week. They can remain in therapy for months or even years.

Psychoanalysts use a variety of techniques to gain insight into your behavior. Some of the more popular techniques include:

• Dream interpretation: According to Freud, dream analysis is by far the most important psychoanalytic technique. He often referred to dreams as "the royal road to the unconscious." Psychoanalysts may interpret dreams to get insight into the workings of your unconscious mind.
• Free association: Free association is an exercise during which the psychoanalyst encourages you to freely share your thoughts. This can lead to the emergence of unexpected connections and memories.

In addition, during psychoanalysis, you might find that you are experiencing "transference." Transference occurs when you project your feelings about another person onto the psychoanalyst. Talking about these feelings can help your psychoanalyst understand how you interact with others.

What Psychoanalytic Therapy Can Help With

Psychoanalytic therapy may be used to treat a number of different psychological conditions, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Emotion struggles or trauma
• Identity problems
• Self-esteem issues
• Self-assertion
• Psychosomatic disorders
• Relationship issues
• Self-destructive behavior
• Sexual problems

Benefits of Psychoanalytic Therapy

What makes psychoanalytic therapy different from other forms of treatment? A review of the research comparing psychoanalytic approaches to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) identified seven features that set the psychoanalytic approach apart.

• Focuses on emotions. Where CBT is centered on cognition and behaviors, psychoanalytic therapy explores the full range of emotions that a patient is experiencing.
• Explores avoidance. People often avoid certain feelings, thoughts, and situations they find distressing. Understanding what a client is avoiding can help both the psychoanalyst and the client understand why such avoidance comes into play.
• Identifies recurring themes. Some people may be aware of their self-destructive behaviors but unable to stop them. Others may not be aware of these patterns and how they influence their behaviors.
• Exploration of past experienced. Other therapies often focus more on the here-and-now, or how current thoughts and behaviors influence how a person functions. The psychoanalytic approach helps people explore their pasts and understand how it affects their present psychological difficulties. It can help patients shed the bonds of past experience to live more fully in the present.
• Explores interpersonal relationships. Through the therapy process, people are able to explore their relationships with others, both current and past.
• Emphasizes the therapeutic relationship. Because psychoanalytic therapy is so personal, the relationship between the psychoanalyst and the patient provides a unique opportunity to explore and reword relational patterns that emerge in the treatment relationship.
• Free-flowing. Where other therapies are often highly structured and goal-oriented, psychoanalytic therapy allows the patient to explore freely. Patients are free to talk about fears, fantasies, desires, and dreams.

Effectiveness

Success often hinges on the ability to confront potentially stressful or triggering experiences. While some critics have derided the success rates of psychoanalytic therapy, research suggests that both long- and short-term psychoanalytic therapy can effectively treat a range of conditions.

Symptom Reduction

One review of the effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapies found moderate to large success rates for reducing symptoms of a variety of psychopathologies.

A 2021 review of studies found that short-term psychoanalytic therapy led to lasting improvements in somatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms.

Lasting Improvements

People who receive psychoanalytic treatment tend to retain these gains. Most continue to improve even after therapy ends. On the other hand, the benefits of other evidence-based therapies tend to diminish over time.

Things to Consider

As with all treatment methods, there are also potential downsides that should be considered. This form of therapy tends to require ongoing sessions. Traditional psychoanalysis could involve three to five sessions a week for several years, however psychoanalysis psychotherapy is less frequent and may be undertaken once to twice a week. Depending on how long your therapy lasts, the costs can mount up.

Psychoanalytic therapy can also be an intense process. It involves evoking emotional responses and often challenges established defense mechanisms. While the process can sometimes result in uneasiness, it can also help you understand the unconscious forces that exert an influence over your current behavior.

How to Get Started

If you think you or someone you love would benefit from psychoanalytic therapy, the first step is to seek out a trained professional. To find a qualified psychoanalyst, start by asking your primary care physician for recommendations. You can also search the directory available on the American Psychoanalytic Association's website.

Once you have identified a potential psychoanalyst, make a call to set up an initial consultation. During this consultation, you can further explore if psychoanalytic therapy is the right approach for you.

Psychoanalytic therapy is just one mental health treatment approach that you may want to consider. Always talk to your doctor or therapist to determine which psychotherapy method might be the most effective for your individual needs.