Psychoanalysis

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Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a highly developed form of psychological therapy that was originally created by Sigmund Freud at the turn of the last century.

It is a Psychodynamic therapy which is designed to help a person understand WHY they think, feel and experience negative or unhelpful thoughts and emotions which sometimes seem to be completely out of their control.

The primary objective of Psychoanalysis is to help people suffering with emotional and personality issues to uncover, release or make sense of deeply entrenched emotional experiences which have become “stuck” deep in the psyche of the individual.

Psychoanalysis baner - Stairway into the mind graphic

Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory holds that these early negative childhood experiences can have a long lasting effect on a persons life leading directly to a range of psychosomatic symptoms, what Freud called NEUROSES.

Up until fairly recently scientific research suggested that these emotional experiences, which are stored in a part of the brain called the “Amygdala” were permanently etched there and could only ever be “masked” or sometime “consciously over-ridden.”

However, recent research has shown that these deeply embedded emotional experiences CAN be re-written through a process known as memory re-consolidation which can permanently erase them leading to a complete emotional resolution of the problems.

Despite many years of “de-bunking” of Psychoanalysis, many professional therapists still believe it to be one of the most effective approaches for permanently resolving long term emotional problems, particularly as it involves the development of a much more meaningful and empathetic relationship with the Therapist than the more rigidly delivered directive interventions (for example CBT).

You can read the scientific literature all about neurological memory re-consolidation here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_consolidation#Reconsolidation

What Happens During Psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis is a collaborative process in which the client-therapist relationship plays an important role in the process itself.

A client undergoing a course of Psychoanalysis develops a unique and trusting relationship with the Therapist which facilitates the course of the therapy.

Very often the types of experiences that occurred in our early developmental phases that are able to have a negative impact on our daily lives contain difficult “material” – experiences that we may have never told anybody about before because of the sense of “shame” or “guilt” that they might have caused.

These two emotions, shame and guilt, have been cited as the “driving forces” behind the process called “repression” – the unconscious mechanism our mind uses to “hide” unpleasant or emotionally overwhelming experiences from our consciousness.

The process of Psychoanalysis is designed to create an atmosphere where these experiences can be “discussed” without any fear of being judged.

Free Association

During the weekly sessions which last around and hour, you will be encouraged to “freely associate” experiences and emotions, that is allowing thoughts and feelings to surface without making any deliberate effort to search for them.

This process of Free Association allows the mind to explore experiences without the need to consciously “search” or “identify” specific experiences and plays a central role in uncovering the more important and causative events.

Once these negative emotional experiences are understood in the current “context” – that is, “now” – the symptoms created by these events diminish and over time may even disappear altogether!

The current form of Psychoanalysis we use at Tranceform is very similar to Coherence Therapy and is fully up to date with advances in memory consolidation theory.

Psychologist Paul Lee MSc. in Wombourne office.

Psychoanalysis with Paul Lee BSc. MSc.

Paul, who now holds a BSc honours degree and a Masters degree (MSc) in Psychology was originally trained (1988) in Psychoanalysis combined with Hypnosis by the International Association of Hypnoanalysts – IAH.

However, these days, Paul offers Psychoanalysis without the use of Hypnosis, sometimes known as Conscious Analytical Therapy or CAT.

A course of Psychoanalysis, like other Psychodynamic approaches, typically requires more sessions than the directive interventions and although is it impossible to be prescriptive about the actual number of sessions, it is reasonable to expect something in the region of 15 – 20 sessions, although everybody is different and proceeds at their own pace.

Free Initial Consultations for Psychoanalysis

We offer all prospective clients a FREE initial consultation to discuss your problems and how psychoanalysis might be helpful prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various therapy options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At Tranceform Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss any therapy treatments BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.