What is Psychoanalysis?

 

Psychoanalysis is a treatment for psychological problems, problems in living and working, and problems in

relationships.  While many people see a psychologist because of problems that they are having in one or more of these

areas, the focus of psychoanalysis is not just fixing problems, but learning to live a much more richer, meaningful and

productive life.  In psychoanalysis, one explores and works to improve at a very deep level, how one goes about being

oneself in the arenas of love, work, and play. The pursuit of happiness is not just a clause in the Declaration of

Independence; it’s a normal and valid goal of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is both a psychotherapy and a vehicle for

getting to know oneself more fully in relation to others and to deepen and improve your ability to love, work and play.

Psychoanalysis traditionally conducted in three to five sessions per week and involves allowing the patient to deeply

experience himself or herself in the context of a professional relationship.

 

Psychoanalysis is about finding out how you go about being yourself and creating a safe space in which to move deeply

and intensely into the sometimes frightening domain of your unconscious fears, dreams, fantasies, memories, and

hopes.

 

The process of psychoanalysis involves a gradually increasing honesty with oneself, an exploration of the unconscious or

subconscious aspects of our thinking and feeling, and an increasing capacity for being close to other people in self-

promoting rather than self-destructive ways.

 

My approach to psychoanalysis is a contemporary approach that takes into account recent research in development,

neurobiology, cognition, and treatment as well as decades of experience in clinical practice. I am as interested in your

future as I am in your past. The future can be a rich canvas on which to create the life that you’ve been yearning for or a

nightmare of fears and anxieties.

 

Frequency of Sessions

Psychoanalysis typically involves three to five sessions per week in order to work intensely with both current events and

their deeper meanings but some people work less often.

 

Sitting up or Lying on the Couch

Psychoanalysis does not necessarily look like a New Yorker cartoon with the patient lying on the couch and the

psychoanalyst sitting behind with a pad of paper.  Sometimes people find that if they lie on the couch without having to

look at me, they are freer to move more deeply into their own thoughts and feelings without censoring them. Other people

prefer the more interpersonal experience of sitting on the couch in front of me, or in a comfortable recliner nearby.

 

Cost

Because of the frequency of visits, psychoanalysis can more expensive. While “remodeling one’s self” is usually far less

expensive than remodeling one’s home, the results are much more long-lasting and transportable to wherever you live.