About

What sets psychoanalysis apart from other treatments is its ability to work with the entirety of an individual’s life, and not merely with the symptom itself. So we work with fears, anxieties, fantasies, dreams, jealousies, and the whole of one’s history. This allows, practically speaking, for association to replace the dissociation that modern life has accustomed us to. By making connections where they had been severed, or at least severely limited, we can come into contact with elements of ourselves that have been “scotomized” or made into a “blind spot”.

We can also think of psychoanalysis as the name we give to a very specific process of recovery, i.e. the one by which we come to know something that we have always known, but which has evaded our conscious grasp. These “unconscious” elements persist in our lives, in our speech, beyond our everyday awareness, yet they are often the immediate causes of our suffering. As such, they lead us to repeat patterns and relationships that are harmful, painful, and often antithetical to what we want out of life.

Analysis is thus a dual process of discovery and recovery. Just like archaeology, the more we uncover, the more our understanding of our own history changes. Our narratives and notions shift as the lens through which we view ourselves changes. It is this type of intervention that offers us a choice, a possibility, where we previously did not have one.

Such a process entails working with another (an analyst) who listens to the way these elements function in one’s speech and language. Put differently: we will be “working with your unconscious”. This type of work is best done regularly, in person, and several times a week, because frequency lets the work develop despite our defences. Once-weekly and online sessions are also available.