People seek out psychoanalysis for many different reasons. Some want relief from deep emotional pain and to break life-long, self-defeating patterns. Others seek a life of greater purpose and satisfaction. Another common reason for beginning psychoanalysis is to improve relationships and learn how to maintain a stable partnership. Psychoanalysis can help you make more effective use of your talents, build self-esteem, tolerate a wider range of emotions, have more satisfying and full experiences, understand yourself in a more intricate and sophisticated way, and face life’s challenges with greater freedom and flexibility. In a comparison of outcomes from different forms of therapy (Knekt et al, 2011; Huber et al, 2013), psychoanalysis has been shown to be most effective in the long term. Psychoanalysis is proven (de Maat et al, 2010) to be effective in creating significant symptom relief and in reducing personality-related problems in a way that continues for years following treatment.

Psychotherapy is an umbrella term to describe many forms of talk therapy. Psychoanalysis is one form of psychotherapy. Other forms of psychotherapy include cognitive behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), emotion-focused therapy, brief therapy, and family therapy. Like all psychotherapies, psychoanalysis has specific parameters that are both different from other forms of psychotherapy and that define how psychoanalysis is practiced. While most forms of psychotherapy could be compared to snorkeling on or just below the surface of the ocean, psychoanalysis is deep-sea diving, exploring the depths of the origins of conflicts, fears and anxieties in a safe, confidential and structured relationship with a psychoanalyst.

For some people, other psychotherapies are enough to manage feelings around interpersonal issues or anxieties. For others, psychoanalysis provides a way to understand your own motives in a broader, deeper way. It can be truly life-enhancing when you are willing to dive into the depths of your psyche to understand more about our own humanity and, as a consequence, discover so much more about humanity in general. Psychoanalysis can be truly life-saving when you are gripped by deeply destructive patterns of behavior and can see no other way out.

Psychoanalysis has been proven to be an effective, long-term therapy in so many different situations that it is difficult to answer this question based on a particular treatment goal. The patients who benefit the most from this form of therapy seem to be curious about the underlying causes of their symptoms or distress, are able to set aside sufficient time in their in their schedules to consistently participate in the treatment, feel a sense of urgency regarding the need for change, and are also able to be patient in obtaining results. While studies (Knekt et al, 2011; Huber et al, 2013) show that psychoanalysis can produce deeper and longer-lasting results than other forms of therapy, symptom relief is often not as immediate as other forms of psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis can stir up difficult emotions. If you are looking for a long-lasting remedy and are able to make the significant time investment for a deep exploration, feel free to contact our Referral Service professionals to explore whether psychoanalysis is for you.

Candidates are experienced, licensed professionals who choose a minimum of 4 years of additional training so that they can become certified psychoanalysts. As part of their training, they are required to meet with some patients 3 or 4 times a week, under the guidance of a supervisor. If you contact the Referral Service looking for a more intensive type of therapy, you might decide after talking with one of our interviewers that psychoanalysis could be the right choice for you. If money is a concern, you would then have the option of choosing psychoanalysis with a candidate, because he or she is in training and may be willing to see you for a reduced fee. It is important to keep in mind, however, that, although the Referral Service can help you think about how much you might be able to afford for psychoanalysis, ultimately it will be up to you and your candidate-analyst to settle on a fee.