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The Washington Psychoanalyst

A portal of information on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis for the intelligent consumer (and, mental health professionals, too.)
What Is Psychotherapy? A possible alternative to psychoanalysis
Are there less demanding and intensive treatments that might be useful to me?

Many people in distress benefit from a less intensive form of treatment, psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Ideally, the individual in psychoanalytic psychotherapy meets with their therapist two or three times a week. Unlike psychoanalysis which has the lofty goal of "personality reconstruction", the aim of psychotherapy is more modest: to help an individual to deal with a conflictual area. Often, this is the treatment of choice for the individual in the midst of a crisis or for the individual who has a situational difficulty.

These are not the only people best served in psychotherapy. Individuals with longstanding difficulties establishing and maintaining relationships, who are extremely emotionally volatile and or who are actively suicidal are often advised to begin intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy to work on these concerns. Sometimes, as they become healthier and more secure they can intensify their treatment.

Finally, people who are prone to extreme regression under periods of stress or who have difficulty discriminating reality from fantasy are encouraged to seek supportive therapy where they can be helped to deal with reality.

Those interested in learning more about the distinctions between psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalytically-informed, supportive therapy may wish to read: "Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic therapy and Supportive Psychotherapy".

Beyond this article (and, many others), Otto Kernberg has published several books on this subject.

 


©   Copyright © 2005 Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

This material is copyrighted. This blog is offered as a community service. You may transmit them free-of-charge. Feel free to forward these columns to anyone who you think might be interested, so long as not a single word is changed, added or deleted, inlcuding contact information. However, I ask that you adhere to copyright laws by providing, along with any column, all attached copyright information. It is a violation of copyright law to copy this column for commercial use and/or financial gain, to cut-and-paste this column or to use it without appropriate citation. I'll be glad to send these columns to anyone else who sends me email asking to be added to the dlist. While I invite you to link to this site, you may NOT reprint the material on a web site without my express written permission. Reprint permission will be freely granted, upon request, to student newspapers, universities and other non-profit educational organizations. Beyond this, advance written permission must be obtained prior to reprinting any of this material in modified or altered form. Thank you for your consideration.

A final word, nothing published in this blog should be construed as a substitute for clinical, consultative or supervisory advice. If you have a mental health concern, or require consultation or supervision, please seek a consultation from a knowledgeable, well-trained, clinician. If it is an emergency seek treatment at your local emergency room.



Copyright Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. (2005)