What is Psychoanalysis?
When people ask what psychoanalysis is, they usually want to know
about treatment to alleviate suffering. As a therapy, psychoanalysis is
based on the observation that individuals are often unaware of many of
the factors that determine their emotions and behavior. These
unconscious factors may create great pain. Sometimes this pain takes
the form of recognizable physical symptoms, sometimes as problems in
work or love relationships, disturbances in mood and self-esteem, or
troubling personality traits. Because these forces are unconscious, the
advice of friends and family, the reading of self-help books, or even
the most determined efforts of will often fail to provide the necessary
relief.
Analysis is an intimate partnership which leads the
patient to a new freedom based on an awareness of the underlying source
of his or her difficulties, not simply intellectually but emotionally
by re-experiencing them with the analyst. Typically, the patient comes
four or five times a week, lies on a couch, and attempts to say
everything that comes to mind, "free associate". This is the setting
that permits the emergence of aspects of the personality and character
not accessible to other methods of observation.
As the patient
speaks, hints of unconscious sources of current difficulties gradually
begin to appear - in certain repeated patterns of behavior, in the
subjects which the patient finds hard to talk about, in the ways the
patient relates to the analyst. The analyst helps elucidate these for
the patient, who refines, corrects, rejects, and adds further thoughts
and feelings. During the years that an analysis takes place, the
patient deepens the search, step by step, through examination of
on-going experience, memories, imaginings, and dreams. As a result the
patient heals and grows substantially and lastingly.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM PSYCHOANALYSIS?
The
persons best able to undertake psychoanalysis are sturdy individuals
who are troubled, searching, able to talk about their experiences, and
willing to live with the pains as well as the pleasures involved in
finding, freeing, and strengthening themselves further.
Such
individuals have developed successfully in many ways, but are
nonetheless hampered by long-standing symptoms, such as feelings of
depression and anxiety, sexual conflicts, maladaptive patterns of
behavior, and physical symptoms without any demonstrable underlying
physical cause.
Whatever the problem - and each is different -
it can be adequately understood only within the context of that
person's life situation. Hence, the need for a thorough evaluation to
determine who will benefit - and who will not - from psychoanalysis.
Because analysis is a highly individualized treatment, people who wish
to know if they would benefit from it should seek consultation with an
experienced psychoanalyst.
WHAT IS CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHOANALYSIS?
Child
and adolescent psychoanalysis, both offshoots of adult psychoanalysis,
share with it a common theoretical framework for understanding
psychological life, while also using additional techniques and measures
to deal with the special capacities and vulnerabilities of children.
For
instance, the young patient is helped to reveal his or her inner
feelings and worries not only through words, but also through drawings
and fantasy play. In the treatment of all but late adolescents, parents
are usually consulted to round out the picture of the child's life. The
goal of child and adolescent analysis is the removal of the
psychological roadblocks that interfere with normal development.
IS PSYCHOANALYSIS ONLY A THERAPY?
Although
psychoanalysis began as a tool for therapy, it is, in addition, a
method of investigation and a general theory of mental functioning,
behavior, and human development.
Psychoanalytic knowledge is the
basis of most in-depth approaches to therapy. Whatever the
modifications, the insights of psychoanalysis form the underpinnings of
much of the psychotherapy employed in general psychiatric practice,
child psychiatry, and in other individual, family, and group therapies.
Through
its examination of the complex relationship between body and mind,
psychoanalysis tries to further our understanding of human emotions in
health and in medical illnesses.
Since psychoanalysis seeks to
explain how the human mind works, it contributes insight into what the
human mind produces. In so doing, it has had a profound influence on
many aspects of contemporary culture.
THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE
Psychoanalysts
today appreciate the persistent power of the irrational in shaping or
limiting human lives, and remain skeptical of the quick cure, the
deceptively easy answer, the trendy or sensational solution. They know
that psychoanalysis is a strong and sophisticated tool for obtaining
self-awareness, helping patients free themselves from unnecessary
suffering while improving and deepening human relationships.
WHO IS A PSYCHOANALYST?
The
designation "psychoanalyst" is not protected by federal or state law.
Anyone, even an untrained person, may use the title. It is therefore
important to know the practitioner's credentials before beginning
treatment.
Psychoanalysts trained in institutes accredited by
the American Psychoanalytic Association are already specialists in
their own fields (such as psychiatry, psychology or social work) before
they begin their advanced training. Whatever their background, all
accepted candidates have five to ten more years of training consisting
of three parts: a personal psychoanalysis, training in theory and
technique, and psychoanalyses of patients under the supervision of
senior analysts. In addition they must meet high ethical,
psychological, and professional standards.
Psychoanalysts,
however, do not limit their practice to psychoanalysis alone but also
provide psychotherapy and include treatment with medication where
appropriate. Their training also enhances their extensive activities as
teachers, supervisors, consultants, and researchers in the many
different settings in which they work.
HOW DO YOU FIND A PSYCHOANALYST?
The
St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute is the only accredited source of
psychoanalytic training in the St. Louis region. We will be pleased to
supply you with a list of analysts in practice in the St. Louis area. In addition, as a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association we can also provide names of analysts in other communities.
For those who cannot afford private fees, evaluation and referral may be available through the Herbert S. Schiele Treatment Center.