What is Psychoanalysis?

A practitioner of the therapy of psychoanalysis is a psychoanalyst. Psychoanalysis is a methodology employed to understand causative factors of a person’s behavior, actions, and reactions. The procedure of free association is followed in which a psychologist tries and finds out from a person the past experiences and happenings that may have an effect on the person and disposition. This is conducted through many meetings with the person. Psychoanalyst culls all possible information from a patient and also observes subtle characteristics of the person’s behavior to arrive at an integrated approach to address a patient’s psychological problems.

Dr. Sigmund Freud had advanced the theory of psychoanalysis in the late 19th century. He concluded that a person’s past traumatic and stressful experiences will have bearing on the person’s current disposition and demeanor. The ‘shock’ to the person’s psyche caused by these distressing experiences remains etched in the person’s mind and it will reflect in the person’s personality and conduct. Freud had put forward the assumption that the complexity of human mind is responsible for anti-social behavior and actions. Childhood trauma will reflect in adolescence and adulthood.

Who is a Psychoanalyst?

Long after Freud, the present day practitioners of psychoanalysis resort to ‘talk therapy’ aspect of Freud’s theory as it is considered the most effective therapy option for patients. In the current psychoanalysis therapy situations, patients are encouraged to share their inner thoughts, feelings, inhibitions, and traumatic experiences with a professional psychoanalyst. The trained therapist gently guides the conversation with the patients to discuss their innermost thoughts, guilty feelings, traumatic experiences, and any inhibitions that reside in their sub-conscious mind and which are causing misery to them.

A cure may arise when a psychoanalyst could make a patient recall a childhood incident to a present similar situation, which would make the patient to take the situation in the correct perspective. A similar embarrassing episode in earlier years can prepare a patient to face the present embarrassment without undue feeling of humiliation. Any suppressed thoughts or guiltiness will result in stifled personality if it goes unaddressed by a trained professional.

Thus, for a psychoanalyst, the work designation consists of:

Free association methodology to ascertain inner thoughts of patients.

Examination of the mind, particularly the study of the unconscious and sub-conscious mind.

Therapy for neurotic illnesses such as neurosis.

Conflict analysis and resolution in patients.

Talk therapy arising from the above analysis.

There are other ‘psyche’-related categories that deal with mental issues of people. Besides psychoanalysis, there are psychiatry and psychology that are mind-related. Psychiatrists and psychologists deal in separate ways, contributing in different manner.

Let us understand different working agendas of these other professionals.

Who is a Psychiatrist?

Plain and simple, a psychiatrist is a doctor whose job, besides prescribing medications, consists of avoidance, identification, and treatment of all mental illnesses and drug dependencies. Other medical professionals often ‘refer’ patients to the psychiatrists. They deal both with the physical and mental illnesses. They treat mentally ill patients as any normal physicians. These doctors often treat patients with schizophrenia and manic depression with proper medications. Psychiatry mainly concerns itself with medications. As a consequence, psychiatric training does not necessarily cover study of psychotherapy.

Psychiatry is the study of the origins, identification, and management of disorders of the mind, emotions, and behavior. It is associated with physiological, social, and psychological sources of mental illnesses. The many categories of psychiatry are social psychiatry, community psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and neuropsychiatry.

Who is a Psychologist?

Psychologists are different from psychiatrists in that they are not physicians. A practitioner of psychology is only associated with the science of mental developments and conduct. The psychologist is sort of a social scientist and deals with science and research. A psychologist studies a mental problem with a scientific approach and uses standard techniques to bring succor. A psychologist is research-oriented person and uses the results of research to solve mental issues.

A Comparison

Psychoanalysts are only concerned with sub-conscious mind and tackle emotional issues. They do not generally prescribe any medications. A person with a feeling of low self-confidence is an apt client for psychologist, but not a client for psychiatrist, because there is nothing physically wrong with the person in this case. A schizophrenic patient would obviously go to a psychiatrist because the patient would need medication treatment to address the chemical imbalance in the brain.

Whereas the a psychoanalyst uses Freudian and Jungian theories and conceptions such as analyzing dreams, personal symbolisms, unique personal dispositions, etc. A thoughtful and reflective investigation is employed to find out inner thinking processes in a person.