Psychoanalysis as Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical psychotherapy are two approaches which psychoanalysts use when working with clients. On the surface, the difference between these two approaches appear in the frequency of sessions and the way contact is made. Psychoanalysis is more frequent (three to five times a week) and the client usually lies on the couch. Psychoanalytical psychotherapy is less frequent (one to two times a week) and the client usually sits in an armchair. However, the real difference is in the emerging process. The process of psychoanalysis enables longer-lasting and more stable changes, while psychoanalytical psychotherapy leads to changes that are important to clients at a given moment of life and are more specific in nature.
People who seek psychotherapeutic help feel trapped in psychic problems that limit their potential to experience the full joy in their emotional relationships, within families, among friends, as well as on work and in daily life. As warning signs that something is going wrong, a person may experience anxiety, depression, blockade and the like. The roots of the problem, however, are not available on a conscious plane, and therefore they are almost impossible to solve without psychotherapy.
With the help of a psychoanalyst, clients gain insight into the way they function, of which they were not previously aware. A safe environment and confidential atmosphere enable clients to meet their inner psychic world of personal thoughts, feelings, memories and dreams, and gradually they create conditions for the relief of psychic pain, encouragement of personality development and increase in self-confidence. At the same time, the client develops the self-analytical function that enables the effects of psychoanalysis to remain active after the treatment has ended.