Psychoanalysis is a method of observation of the human mind that endeavours to understand and explain how it functions in order to obtain therapeutic results for the patient. As a result of these observations a psychological theory of the human mind and behaviour has been developed. Though initially discovered by Sigmund Freud more than a century ago, the method has developed considerably through his followers since the early days.
The psychoanalytic method consists in establishing certain stable working conditions for the patient and psychoanalyst. Both meet in forty-five to fifty minute sessions, various times a week (4 or 5, occasionally 3) for several years.
Psychoanalytic theory suggests that not only constitutional and genetic factors conform personality and its disorders. Other central influences exist, such as the experience of birth, the early relationships with one’s parents, sexuality, losses and death. These crucial experiences, experienced within the family nucleus, gradually establish emotional patterns, fantasies and unconscious relationships that lie at the root of the problems for which people seek help. The regular conditions established by psychoanalysis provide a work frame where these unconscious models of relating can be brought into awareness and worked through in the relationship between patient and analyst.
We currently have evidence, by means of empirical studies, that supports the validity of psychoanalytical treatment.