Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, often referred to as ‘deep therapy’, is a form of talking therapy. It works with a greater degree of intensity the other psychological treatments and, as such, offers a person a greater depth of understanding of themselves. Psychoanalytic therapy is often effective at addressing deeper patterns of behaviour, relationship issues and distress that other ‘skills based therapies’ or brief therapies are unable to reach.
This type of therapy has its origins in the the psychoanalytic movement of the 19th centre and Freud. This origin often concerns patients, as the original ideas of freud can be very hard see the relevance of. Many of these ideas are now outdated, however concepts like the unconscious that have made there way into everyday language are attributed to Freud. No one practices psychoanalytic therapy in the way it was 100 years ago. The treatment has made significant advances in methodology and effectiveness over this time even if the legacy and stigma held in hollywood movies remains.
One of the major things that demarkates psychoanalytic therapy from other therapist is the frequency. It traditionally has occurs multiple times a week for a number of years. The idea behind that is the high frequency facilitates a sense of safety such that deeper places within somones’s internal world can be reached. More recently psychoanalytic ideas and treatments have become utilised effectively with less frequent or briefer courses. These treatments are not the same as high frequency treatments, however they can be very effective.
Psychoanalytic therapy is a more complex treatment due to the length and technique has been very difficult to research. It is not that the evidence indicates it is ineffective, but that there is not research and as such does not have the depth of research afforded to other simple treatments like CBT. The evidence available suggests it is equally effective at treating mental health conditions as many of the other treatments, however the benefit it offers continues after the treatment concludes. There is no other treatment that has evidence to support ongoing benefits past the treatment period.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy requires a depth of training that beyond that required in any other modality of treatment. There is a prerequisite that one is working as a health professional. It them requires an in-depth personal psychoanalytic treatment, case based supervision over multiple years and over 300 hours of academic training.
For more information on psychoanalytic psychotherapy follow the links below:
Two books that give you a easy introduction to psychoanalytic psychotherapies are:
