Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is an intense psychotherapeutic conversation usually conducted with the patient lying on a couch four or five times per week. The analyst attends to the patient’s associations, fantasies, and dreams to uncover unconscious sources of meaning and motivation. In the patient’s relationship to the analyst, he or she will find that past patterns and difficulties reemerge; in this way, the analyst and patient work together to effect lasting change at a very deep level—from the ground up. The analyst and patient will work toward many of the same goals of psychotherapy: to expand the patient’s sense of freedom in work, love, and play.