Benefits of Psychoanalysis

Why chose psychoanalysis instead of pills and/or short-term therapies?

Here is why:

1. Our awareness is only the tip of the iceberg of who we are, and we usually don’t pay attention to the rest. As result parts of us often work against other parts. Conflict is draining and creates dissatisfaction. Psychoanalysis helps us discover and accept our hidden sides. The process of integrating our different sides also fosters our creativity.

2. Psychoanalysis cultivates emotions: emotions create meaning, and help us anticipate the future. They are as important as color to our vision or tones in music. Just as children are born with the ability to learn any language, but lose sensitivity to anything beyond their mother tongue over time, we are born with a comprehensive emotional potential, but become trained to the preferences of the people around us, and keep going with a restricted repertoire. The analytic relationship provides a training ground to regain our emotional vocabulary. Then we see more opportunities for satisfaction and learn to  avoid or deal with aversive situations more easily.

3. Only with a psychoanalyst can you be sure that the person who treats you knows what it is like to undergo this type of treatment, because every psychoanalyst has had a training analysis.  If “easier said than done” rings a bell with you, psychoanalysis may be for you, because it does not give advice, but helps you to take your own best advice.