Psychoanalysis

What is psychoanalysis? 

Psychoanalysis is, above all, an invitation to speak. It is an invitation but also a question..."Who is speaking?" Dreams, slips of the tongue, "bungled actions," forgettings...these are ways in which the patient encounters something beyond the imaginary consistency of one self-image, something that insists and repeats, taking forms that can cause suffering and alienation which our contemporary parlance tries to exhaustively describe with medicalized descriptors such as depression, panic, paranoia, executive dysfunction, chronic pain.

Why psychoanalysis?

Many forms of psychotherapy are geared towards managing symptoms. This has a number of implications that are worth considering. In psychoanalysis, symptoms are a communication that are inextricably bound to your subjectivity and forms of unconscious enjoyment. This means that while they can be “managed,” they will tend to recur without a working through of what sustains the symptom’s longevity and intractability. This is especially true if you have lived with a particular symptom for many years. While some psychotherapeutic treatments may be successful in reducing the severity of your symptom or help you maintain a sufficient level of functionality in your social or occupational domains, you may still notice a lingering dissatisfaction about yourself or your life.  Research into the efficacy of short term cognitive-behavioral treatment versus longer term psychodynamic treatment (a type of therapy with roots in psychoanalysis) has shown that individuals who complete the former may have subsequent relapses despite the initial symptom reduction. This has long term costs from both a financial and quality of life perspective.  Psychoanalysis refrains from moral evaluations of whether a symptom is “good” or “bad” and thus does not put itself in a conflictual stance towards what attempts speak an unconscious knowledge.  This allows for a deeper exploration of how you have come to suffer from your symptom and affords you the opportunity to eventually decide how to transform it in a way that creates a life of your own choosing. The history of mental health treatments is littered with examples of unethical approaches to eliminating pathology and returning an individual to a state of “wellness,” which is determined as such by social, cultural, historical norms. Ultimately, what psychoanalysis affirms is that there is no “normal” way to exist in the world. It returns the decision of what it means to live freely and ethically to the subject.

When is a good time to start psychoanalysis?

I do not believe there are strict rules as to when the appropriate time to embark on psychoanalytic treatment. Often times, individuals seeking analysis are driven by a desire to better understand their unconscious or explore the meaning of troublesome problems in their lives. Echoing the common phrase “When there is a will, there is a way,” I believe that as long as there is curiosity, there is a way to do psychoanalysis.  There are of course situations in which the desire for analysis may influenced by factors that impair the efficacy of the treatment such as a family member’s demand or a misguided notion about how the treatment takes place. These complicating factors warrant reviewing together during the consultation period. Finally, because I provide psychoanalysis as an outpatient treatment only, there should be a reasonable expectation that you will be able to attend sessions regularly without the interruption of hospitalizations or other unplanned absences.