How does psychoanalytic therapy work?
Here I describe how psychoanalytic therapy works in particular. Other therapies have a different approach. Most psychological pain is rooted in the way we relate to ourselves and to others. Our habitual pattern of interacting and indeed of feeling is established in childhood. If we experience overwhelming trauma or pain at some time in our childhood we develop defensive ways of coping, especially in the ways we relate to ourselves and to others. For example, we may switch off our feelings and behave as though we are not really there, or later we may start drinking too much or working too hard or we keep having abusive relationships or we have panic attacks or depression etc. We have developed these patterns of interaction or feeling – unconsciously, not deliberately – to cover more deep-rooted pain. Many refer to this as “keeping a lid on it”. Often these patterns of interaction or feeling have become habitual and cause us great problems as time goes by. Psychoanalysts and psychoanalyt
