Psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and counselling are psychological treatments. Based on Freud’s famous ‘talking cure’, the treatment effects change through regular weekly sessions, in which the relationship between analyst and client supports a therapeutic discourse. Over the course of the treatment, the client develops insight and self-awareness, integrating those past events that may have been traumatic or distressing or inarticulable into a coherent narrative. Supported by the special relationship to the therapist/counsellor/analyst, they examine the stress and suffering in their lives within the context of their life-history: where it originates, how it is manifested, what coping behaviours have evolved to deal with it. The client examines the current effectiveness of these coping mechanisms and in time develops insight and self-reflection, life-skills that will serve them well long after treatment has ended. The therapist will explain the differences between the psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and counselling experience for the client in the consultation.
Recent research in the US has proven the enduring improvements to be gained from psychotherapeutic treatment.
MarieWalshe/Agalma/2010