Psychoanalysis, and how it helps?

Freud lived in Austria between 1856 and 1939. He was a doctor of medicine and neurology. His main work centered around psychological processes of the human mind which became Psychoanalysis. His work has become the backbone of most current psychotherapies. It should however be noted that many modern therapies whilst based on the work of Freud have moved a considerable distance from his original work.

Psychoanalysis’s central understanding is based in the unconscious. The work is centred around uncovering and working with the unconscious mind.

This work looks at bringing awareness to impulses and then changing the impulse as needed. Our thoughts and feelings do not disappear, they are stuck or imprinted within our minds. What is held within the unconscious affects our conscious mind, our everyday lives, the way we feel and function in society.

Much work within Psychoanalysis focuses on the repressed self. The things we “forget” because perhaps they are to upsetting. Hence the saying repressed anger or love. But these repressed memories come out from time to time in our behavior  The term “Freudian slip” is an obvious pointer to this unconscious becoming conscious.

Sometimes our feelings become so repressed that we consciously deny having them, as in the example above we may be so frightened of or urge to annihilate that we become unable to express anger. Or conversely we may get angry but “simply” cannot consciously see our own anger.  How often have you loudly stated or heard someone say “I’M NOT ANGRY!” This could be repressed anger! Or of course it could be an open expression of anger said in angry jest!

As with most psychotherapies psychoanalysis works with Repression, Projection, Denial, Displacement, Rationalisation, and Introjection. These can all be forms of defence. We each have our own defence mechanisms and the level and form they take will affect our daily lives. The level at which they adversely affect us varies considerably.

According to Freud, as we grow up we learn to cope with life in our own individual way. Psychoanalysis works with theid, ego, and superego.   id is the sense of self at a basic level, the automatic part of self – animal instinct.  ego is our belief in our own power and controls how we relate to others our emotions etc. superego is perhaps best described as our internal judge or conscience. Generally the superego will not be in balance with the id with ego providing the balance.

Pure psychoanalysis sessions tend to last for about 50 minutes with sessions being between one and three times a week. The tendency towards more than one session each week can be very expensive but is often the preferred way of working for very busy professional people and the analysts they see. The length of time one sees an analyst depends on the progress made, the issues that arise and there cause. The cost of Psychoanalysis varies considerably and can cost up to £120 per session.