What is psychoanalysis? and What does Psychoanalysis look like in Practice?
Psychoanalysis operates on the premise that there exists a knowledge not known to ourselves, an unconscious knowledge. If one worked in one’s own best interests and if one is in control we wouldn’t be capable of our own destruction such as in cases of anorexia, addiction, gambling, puzzling anxiety or depression. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a practice that focuses primarily on speech. Language is our connection to reality as reality is grounded in speech. Psychoanalysis is an effective method of treatment for those experiencing disturbances in affect, thought or behaviour. Clinical experience shows that when one symptom disappears it is often replaced by another. Psychoanalysis aims to undo the identifications and fixations that have led to the repetition in symptom-formation. Clinical practice in the psychoanalytic orientation is preoccupied with the singularity of each client in a case-by-case tradition not a one solution fits all model. Speech provides the means to access ...