Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy — understanding the root of mental health issues

What is psychoanalytic psychotherapy?

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a process that helps people deepen awareness of their mental and emotional world. Uncovering what things really mean makes it possible to understand and resolve presenting problems, and the patterns of behaviour and thinking we find ourselves repeating.

The aim of psychotherapy is to alleviate emotional distress and dissolve the obstacles within us and between us. It aims to shift deep-seated emotional conditioning that is often unconscious, thereby reducing symptoms manifested in our moods, behaviours, and perceptions of ourselves and others.

In a confidential and private setting, we address these issues in depth. Discussion, interpretation, and reflection lead to a loosening of the knots that bind us to mental distress and emotional suffering. Many people who have lost a sense of meaning in their lives, who are despairing or feeling hopeless, often feel helped by psychotherapy. The process makes possible a greater sense of fulfilment and aliveness, making life worth living.

The therapeutic alliance that develops between the therapist and patient facilitates a process called ‘transference’, helping the patient identify unconscious patterns in both their inner world and their relationship with the outer. These patterns and dynamics are reflected in the patient’s relationship with the therapist. As these patterns emerge between us into awareness, they can be identified, discussed, and finally changed.

Talking ‘therapeutically’ is not the same as how we talk in other contexts. The structure of psychotherapy is flexible and porous, allowing insights, dynamics, and memories to arise, without the rigidity of formulaic, goal-directed methods popular within applied psychological services. The mutual attention we give to what arises during therapy, combined with the safe analytic space to delve more deeply, allows consciousness to shine over dark places and stagnant recesses of the psyche. How the therapeutic process works is difficult to explain with only words, because ultimately it is an experiential practice. Most people who attend to their growth in this way reap the rewards and are glad for having done so.

Who is Psychotherapy for? 

Usually people come to therapy when they are struggling to deal with emotional and mental distress. This can manifest as problems in a relationship, the reoccurrence of destructive behaviours, or persistent feelings of anxiety and depression. Some people come to therapy with unshakable feelings of emptiness or dissatisfaction, confusion or grief, isolation, or fears of an unlived life. Other people come to therapy because their loved ones are concerned and can no longer cope with destructive behaviours within the family dynamic. These problems are often an entry point to realisations of deeper issues and conflicts.

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for all of the above problems, including more specific psychological disorders such as obsessional behaviours, psycho-somatic conditions, phobic anxieties, and ‘split off’ or withdrawn states of being.

Some of these problems may have developed as a result of obstacles or deficiencies in emotional development. The tell-tale signs of developmental blocks show up in the repetitive nature of personal difficulties. The same problem occurs over and over, albeit in different contexts- in a new relationship or friendship, at a different workplace- but is a familiar dynamic that has played out many times before. This continual repetition can make people feel stuck, and helpless to change.

This is when psychotherapy is called for. It provides a restorative space to develop emotionally, in areas of life that have thus far been blocked, by attending to and dismantling the obstacles and barriers that have been enmeshed and embedded in the psyche, often for years or even decades.  

Issues Beyond the Scope of Psychotherapy and Counselling

There are several circumstances that will require more than what psychotherapy or counselling can offer. If a person is experiencing extreme mental health issues such as psychosis, acute suicidality, fragmentation of consciousness, or drug/alcohol-induced altered states, then medical or psychiatric care may be required, including hospitalisation and/or medication.

Many people, particularly separated couples, may be involved in the Family Court process and require assessments and court reports for legal purposes. This is also beyond the scope of what I offer. In such circumstances, engaging with a professional who specialises in that field would be more suitable.