What is psychoanalysis? 

While this question should seem to beg a straightforward answer, many psychoanalysts are still discussing and sometimes arguing over what in fact constitutes psychoanalysis. From its early conception as a unique healing theory and technique by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s, psychoanalysis has evolved and developed into a complex and fascinating study of what it means to be human. It delves into and has developed understandings of how as human beings we relate to ourselves and to others. It has shaped our understanding of how we develop into the people we are and how we come to see ourselves as we do. 

One agreed-upon aspect of psychoanalysis is that as people we are all unconscious of a significant portion of our experiences. What motivates us? How have we come to think as we do? Why do we feel the way we do? While we are also, and very often are, rational and conscious beings dealing with our families, our loves, and our passions in work and play, we are also unaware of the many complexities that make us tick. We are drawn to things and people, we choose things against our other "better" judgments, we feel things we do not want to feel, we become afraid, sad, or anxious and don't often know why.  

While psychoanalysis does not profess to know the answers in any definitive and authoritarian way, it offers directions, thinking points, curiosities, and an opportunity for us to investigate some of those very important questions in the context of a safe environment. Therapy offers a place to speak about that which concerns you most. It asks of people to be courageous in looking at and speaking about their lives. The real disappointments, sometimes even traumas, of our pasts that make us shy away from certain things, from certain experiences in our lives now, can be looked at, understood, confronted, and even changed. In the context of the safe, honest, and authentic relationship with a therapist, you will be able to look at, be curious about, and address the past injuries that hinder you and, find a healing new experience.