FAQs
Who is psychoanalytic psychotherapy for?
Psychoanalytic, or psychodynamic, therapy has a wide range of uses. You may have suffered a major life event or loss which has left you unable to feel you can cope. Or you may have had an underlying feeling for many years that something isn’t quite right. You may be curious about your own internal world and wish to explore this in its own right. Psychoanalytic therapy doesn’t require you to present with a clearly defined “issue” or “goal”, though something like this may emerge through the course of the therapy.
At a time where deep self-reflection over a long period of time is out of fashion, this kind of therapy is an opportunity to explore parts of yourself that you may not consciously be aware of. This in turn can help to facilitate a new kind of self-awareness.
What can it help with?
Psychotherapy can help with many personal and emotional struggles, including:
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Relationship issues
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Depression
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Anxiety disorders
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Personality difficulties
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Trauma
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Self esteem
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Abuse
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Loss of sense of meaning
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Identity struggles
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Divorce
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Bereavement
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Obsessive thoughts and behaviours
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Anger and aggression
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Sexual problems
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Self-harm
How does it work? How will it benefit me?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is not about training a person onto new ways of behaving, nor is it about “fixing” faulty thought process. It offers the opportunity, alongside a trained therapist, to think carefully and deeply about your thoughts, feelings, memories and dreams. It’s often said that psychotherapy is interested in what has happened to you, not what is wrong with you.
Together we would work on making sense of the material that you bring to sessions. Over time, it is possible to gain a deep insight into the struggles that you face. This then opens up the prospect of finding new and creative ways of thinking about yourself and how you relate to the world.
How often should I attend?
Sessions are usually between one and three times a week, though it can be as many as five times a week.
How long will it take?
It’s impossible to say how long the therapeutic process will take, each person brings their own individual circumstances. This kind of therapy is not an immediate solution to long term and deep rooted problems. In general it can be anything from one to several years.
Is there evidence that it works?
Yes. There is a substantial amount of clinical research and evidence to show that psychoanalytic therapy is not only beneficial but that these benefits continue to increase once the therapy has finished.
Below is a list of links where you can click through to read about the expanding body of studies that demonstrate the efficacy of psychotherapy.
https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/policy-and-research/research/psychotherapy-evidence/
https://www.bpc.org.uk/download/489/FINAL-Overview_Evidence_Base_Briefing-June205.pdf
https://www.bpc.org.uk/download/696/Evidence-in-Support-of-Psychodynamic-Psychotheraphy.pdf