Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is often referred to as "the talking cure".

Sigmund Freud was the founder of the Psychoanalytic Movement that is as relevant today as it has always been.

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy has not formed part of the frontline treatment for emotional and psychological disorders within the National Health Service despite its recognised value. This has come about for many reasons.

It is considered by some to be time consuming, expensive and lacks concrete evidence of effectiveness. It is overlooked in favour of time limited, therapist guided, solution focused therapies that often work out more economical for the treatment provider but only in the short term.

Like other modern therapies psychoanalytic psychotherapy is oriented towards identifying underlying problems and discovering a solution.

Unlike the modern cognitive, behavioural and motivational therapies and techniques Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is not therapist guided as such and has no fixed time limit.

The focus of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is the individual. Individuals attend once or as often as five times per week. It requires that the individual talk openly with the psychotherapist about their lives. The technique is built around the individual saying what comes to mind in the therapy session.

It is through the repeated application of this technique that understanding of our inner emotional state and conflict emerges. Over time, reflection and interpretation on the part of the psychotherapist, the individual repairs emotional, psychological and spiritual traumas and conflicts.

Fundamentally, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy seeks to recognise difficulties and subsequently repair our basic or fundamental psychological or emotional dependence towards independence.