Sigmund Freud discovered the effect of talking and was the first to develop and establish a therapy based on it. Over a hundred years later we often encounter dismissive judgments about his person and method, despite the numerous influences of psychoanalysis on our society. The treatment itself has evolved and been developed by many psychoanalysts and psychotherapists — a necessary process, as our world has changed, and so have our problems.
Therefore, a few words about my psychotherapeutic orientation
and the psychoanalytic method are in order:
I'll start at the beginning.
How do human beings understand their world?
We perceive the external world through our sensory organs.
And what about the inner world?
We organize our sensations and emotions using language and connect them with our experiences of the outside world, which is also shaped by cultural codes. This interplay gives rise to our personal, subjective consciousness and the unconscious. The body itself plays a central role — it is the site where experiences, thoughts, and sensations converge. What we think and feel can, in turn, affect the body.
Symptoms or behaviors that cause suffering often indicate that something in this fabric has been disrupted, usually due to internal or external events.
The categorization of the symptoms may result in a diagnosis or classification as a mental illness, which can help guide the search for appropriate treatment. For conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychoses, behavioral addictions, and substance-related disorders, there are various treatments available, including medication, specialized practitioners, clinics, and psychotherapeutic approaches. Symptoms are tied to the lived experience of the individual who presents them. Although symptoms can be distressing, they are not without meaning and have a function for the psyche. The idea of eliminating them through medicine can indeed be a relieving treatment in some cases. However, some patients prefer not to take medication, may have tried it with little or overwhelming effects, or wish to combine different forms of treatment.
Psychotherapy, in particular the psychoanalytical approach, relies on the effect of words and talking.
What is the effect of words?
Bringing inner experiences into words can offer relief and create distance, allowing for a shift in perspective. There is a saying: ‘Getting something off your chest’, but psychoanalysis goes beyond this cathartic effect
Free association encourages patients to speak about whatever comes to mind — memories, events, dreams, fantasies. Along the way, defenses against unpleasant thoughts, inner conflicts, fears, and judgments often emerge. Unconscious dynamics that contribute to the person’s suffering tend to manifest in the therapeutic relationship itself. All of this can be explored within the psychoanalytic setting, whether the patient is sitting or lying on the couch.
In therapy, experiences can be processed differently than before which in turn affects the person’s suffering and behavior. Working through, reorganizing, repositioning oneself, grieving, accepting, letting go, making changes, taking decisions, healing,... — all of this takes time.
There is no standard solution for the subjective complexity of each individual's psyche. Psychotherapy is not a consumer product: we cannot predict how long such a personal process will take, nor can we guarantee what the outcome will come be. The human psyche is not a programmable machine with linear causal chains. What you expect from the treatment plays an important role, as do unconscious wishes that come along with it
I discuss the conditions of the treatment with each person individually in an initial consultation, sometimes over several preliminary meetings. This helps determine whether we are "a good fit" and whether this setting is appropriate for you.