What is psychoanalytic therapy?
Psychoanalytic therapy can bring about lasting change. It can help us understand ourselves and get to the heart of what we might be struggling with in our lives.
Thinking about Therapy?
The most important thing to bear in mind when looking for a therapist is that you should ensure that your therapist is on a PSA accredited register. This means that your therapist is a member or Registrant with a UK based regulator. It’s important to ensure that this is the case because it means your therapist’s training has been verified and they have a Code of Ethics or Standards they must abide by in their practice.
Registrants on the BPC’s Register have undergone intensive training, have had their own personal therapy before and whilst training, and agree to follow high professional and ethical standards thus protecting you, the public, and the profession. The BPC is a regulator with a strong psychoanalytic focus, we regulate psychoanalytically trained analysts and therapists.
Psychoanalytic therapy deepens awareness and self-understanding. This can enable personal growth and deeper fulfilment.
What is psychotherapy?
Psychoanalytic therapy is a form of talking therapy that is built around conversations with a listener (the psychoanalyst or therapist) who is trained to listen to what might be occurring within your mind on a deeper level. In this way thoughts and feelings can be aired so that you develop a deeper understanding of yourself, your conflicts, fears and anxieties. Having a better understanding of what lies deeper in your unconscious mind can help reduce suffering, enable emotional growth and lead to a more fulfilling life.
We know finding the right therapist can feel like a daunting task full of information overload so we’ve compiled a few answers to some Frequently Asked Questions we receive. Keep reading below to learn more:
FAQs
Psychoanalytic therapies involve talking to a trained psychoanalyst or psychodynamic therapist, usually one-to-one. Psychoanalytic therapy can also be in a group with a group therapist or in a couple with a couples’ therapist.
Psychoanalytic therapy involves talking about your thoughts and feelings, your relationships with others, including the relationship with your therapist, and ultimately the relationship you have with yourself. In your sessions you may be encouraged to talk freely and honestly without censoring what you say. Talking in this way enables a deeper exploration of what might lie in your unconscious mind.
Psychoanalytic therapy usually involves talking to a qualified therapist. However, therapists begin practicing while in training. If your therapist is in training they would normally inform you of this but if you are unsure, you can ask them directly. Therapy by someone in training is sometimes offered at a reduced fee.
Psychoanalytic therapy is an effective form of therapy that is practiced widely throughout the world.
Psychoanalytic therapy differs from many other talking therapies in that it aims to help people make deep seated changes personally and emotionally, alongside relieving the symptoms that inhibit them. It can help you discuss feelings you have about yourself and other people.
Psychoanalytic therapy can bring about lasting change. It can help us understand ourselves and get to the heart of what we might be struggling with in our lives.
Psychoanalytic therapy is also a very effective way of helping children, through the use of play. It can also help adolescents work through identity and emotional difficulties or concerns.
Psychoanalytic therapy is usually one to one sessions which last 50 minutes and may range from once weekly to five times weekly. In a session, you might sit in a chair or lie down on a couch with your analyst sitting behind or beside you.
Therapy may last several months or years, depending on the scope and depth of the work you do with your therapist.
We talk more about what to expect from a session on this web page, click here to read more.
Choosing the right therapist for you depends on a variety of factors. It is often helpful to have one or more preliminary consultations before deciding how best to proceed. Always ensure that your therapist is on a PSA accredited register during your search.
Psychotherapy can also be practiced in an organisational setting. If you’re interested in learning more, see the frequently asked questions below.
Psychodynamic organisational therapy
Psychodynamic organisational therapy is an application of psychoanalytic thinking that focuses on the interaction between the unconscious dynamics of organisations and the unconscious dynamics of individuals. It differs from other applications practiced by psychoanalytic clinicians trained to work with individual patients within the consulting room, although it shares the same theoretical base.
Psychodynamic organisational therapists work in a variety of professional roles, within a wide spectrum of organisations that provide services for vulnerable client groups of all ages. They apply psychoanalytic thinking to their working context, to facilitate the creation and maintenance of a therapeutic environment. They do not offer individual psychotherapy, although they may offer formal and informal counselling within an organisational setting.
The culture of the workplace can be vulnerable to the anxieties and stresses of the individuals who work within it, to the pressures of the task required of them, to the emotional distress or dysfunction of the clients they serve, and to the many adverse external circumstances that may impinge upon it.
Individual role consultation with those in charge can help managers to deal with issues that are stirred up in their teams by exposure to traumatic events, emotional distress, disability and mental illness. Reflective group work can help staff make sense of experiences of relational difficulties and of secondary trauma that may reflect the problems and preoccupations of their clients; psychoanalytic process groups and therapeutic supervision can help to explore how the internal worlds of the many individuals who staff an organisation, and the internal worlds of their clients, may intersect and impact upon one another.
Through this work, facilitated by psychoanalytically trained organisational therapists over a sufficient period of time, managers and their staff teams can learn to build and maintain a therapeutic environment, providing a culture of empathy, collaboration and resilience and a more effective service.
You can find BPC registered psychodynamic organisational therapists on the BPC Register here and refining the specialism to psychodynamic organisational therapist.
Trainings in this modality are offered by APPCIOS (The Association for Psychodynamic Counselling and Practice in Organisational Therapy) You can find out more by going to one of the APPCIOS websites – https://appcios.info/ – or https://psychodynamicthinking.info/
Psychodynamic organisational therapists combine a psychoanalytic understanding of the individual within the organisation and of the organisation within the individual. They use this understanding to create and maintain therapeutic environments that impact on the wellbeing of both staff and client groups.
Organisational consultants may work in a variety of settings, including more commercial settings. They are not necessarily trained in psychoanalytic thinking or in how to apply psychoanalytic thinking to an organisation. Many psychodynamic organisational therapists also work as organisational consultants.
If you’re still feeling a bit lost in your search, don’t hesitate to contact us for further information about our Register and how everything works. Although we can’t make any recommendations on what specific therapists to contact, we can answer general questions about the profession, training and what we do as a regulator.
