Psychoanalysis, the original talking cure, was invented by Sigmund Freud, Josef Breuer -a GP- and their patients. From these early days in Austria it expanded internationally until the analyst and his couch became the ultimate Hollywood cliche.Psychoanalysis developed into different schools, but common to all is a dedication to authentic speaking and careful listening. Healing is promoted through self-knowledge, gained by uncovering unconscious scripts and desires that determine expectations, behaviours, thinking, and phantasy.
Because psychoanalytic treatment is labour intensive and demands an extremely long period of training, it is rarely available for adults on the NHS.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century however, psychoanalysis remains a versatile and sophisticated treatment. It increasingly attracts people seeking an alternative to the generalized, narrowly structured, and highly regulated therapies promoted by health officials and governments throughout Europe.
Psychoanalysis can be brief -Gustav Mahler's treatment by Freud took place during an afternoon's stroll. It also can be long-term and intensive with several sessions a week over several years. In the middle are the vast majority of people who attend Rodney Street Psychoanalytic Practice for one session a week during twelve to eighteen months of treatment.
(The image above is Oedipus by Francis Bacon)
