What Is Psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century. It is based on the idea that human minds consist of both conscious parts and unconscious parts. We all live, without exception, in some forms of unconscious captivity.

Psychoanalysis is a practice in which an analyst interacts with an analysand in a special way. It aims for the analysand to understand his/her own self including the unconscious parts from the bottom of his/her heart and to be free from captivity.

The analysand will lie on a couch and is asked to talk freely about what comes into his/her mind. The analyst will sit out of analysand's sight and share time together, thinking about the way in which the analyand's mind is, and sometimes share the thoughts occurring to his/her mind with the analysand. One session lasts for 45-50 minutes, and those sessions are repeated regularly, 4 or 5 times a week in the traditional practice of psychoanalysis since Freud.

While building up the time spent like this, the analysand’s internal world, or the unconscious world, begins to emerge in the content of discourse, and also in the relationship with the analyst. A trained analyst will touch upon such world, experiences it and understands it. With help from the analyst, the analysand will experience his/her unconscious world thoroughly from the bottom of his/her heart, and gain penetrating insights about life, which is full of feelings.

As you may have noticed already, psychoanalysis is based on deep, intensive interactions, unlike other forms of psychotherapy or counseling. In psychoanalysis, movements of the analysand’s mind and emotions are very large. When psychoanalysis is successful, based on the above, it becomes possible for the analysand to transcend the ways in which he/she has been before.