Psychoanalysis is a way of exploring the mind through words.

You may begin by talking about something happening in your life now, and find yourself remembering something from the past, describing a recurring relationship pattern, mentioning a dream, or saying something you had never noticed before.

There is no need to have the “right” thing to say or choosing the “right” words.

Through this process of free speech and free association, we begin to listen not only to what is consciously known, but also to what may be operating beneath it: recurring patterns, contradictions, desires, fears, conflicts and feelings that can be difficult to put into words.

Psychoanalysis x conventional therapy

Many forms of therapy are structured around identifying a difficulty and working towards changing them. This can be valuable, particularly when someone is looking for practical strategies, suggestions or support with a specific situation.

Psychoanalysis takes a different route.

Rather than beginning with the assumption that we already know exactly what the problem is, psychoanalysis is interested in discovering how your difficulties have taken shape and what they might be expressing.

The unconscious is central to this work.

Sometimes we understand intellectually why we do something, yet continue to repeat it. We may find ourselves drawn into familiar relationship dynamics, reacting more strongly than we expected, struggling with the same feelings in different situations, or knowing what we want to change while somehow remaining caught in the same place.

When the symptom is not the problem

One of the fundamental ideas in psychoanalysis is that the symptom, or these struggles, are not necessarily the problem itself.

The anxiety, recurring relationship difficulties, compulsive behaviour, feelings of emptiness, self-sabotage, or other difficulties that bring someone to therapy may be the expression of something deeper.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, a symptom can be understood as a way the mind has found to manage an underlying conflict that has not been fully accessible to conscious awareness. In this sense, the symptom can serve a purpose: it may protect us from something that feels too painful, threatening or difficult to face directly.

This does not mean that we consciously choose our symptoms. Much of this process takes place outside conscious awareness.

The difficulty is that what once helped us avoid psychological displeasure can eventually become a source of suffering itself. We may find ourselves repeating the same patterns without understanding why, even when we consciously want something different.

For this reason, psychoanalysis does not simply aim to remove the symptom. Instead, we become curious about it.

What is the symptom expressing? What conflict might it be connected to? What does it allow the person to avoid? And why has this particular solution become necessary?

Rather than trying to force the unconscious material into consciousness, psychoanalysis creates the conditions for it to gradually emerge through speech, associations, memories, dreams, repetitions and the therapeutic relationship.

When what lies beneath the symptom can begin to be recognised, thought about and put into words, the person may no longer need to rely on the same solution in quite the same way. The symptom may gradually lose it’s function and it’d hold when it isn’t needed anymore.

In this sense, psychoanalysis is less concerned with asking:

“How do we get rid of this?”

and more interested in asking:

“Why has this become necessary?”

What happens in a psychoanalytic session?

You are invited to speak about whatever comes to mind.

There may be no predetermined agenda. You might talk about your relationships, work, family, dreams, memories, frustrations, fears, desires or seemingly insignificant moments from your day.

Sometimes the most important material appears in the places we initially think are irrelevant.

This is sometimes called a talking cure: not because talking magically makes difficulties disappear, but because putting experiences into words can allow us to encounter them differently.

You only need the willingness to begin speaking.