Psychoanalysis, often stereotyped in arts and literature as patients reclining on couches and talking about their mothers, is enjoying renewed scientific support. Studies have found that psychoanalytic therapies are evidence-based and lead to significant improvements in mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.According to recent research, psychoanalytic therapies achieve lasting results by exploring underlying causes of one’s mental health issues.
This deeper exploration gets to the root of a person’s symptoms and sets psychoanalysis apart from more superficial therapies that only treat symptoms. By looking closely at each person’s life, psychoanalytic therapies help one feel more understood as a unique individual, improve personal relationships, relieve painful emotional symptoms, and change life-long ways of coping.This is not your father’s psychoanalysis. In fact, in a 2019 survey conducted by PsychoanalysisNow, 400 psychoanalysts in the United States highlighted the realities of psychoanalysis and how it works. Almost all the professionals surveyed (96 percent) said they regularly conduct therapy either once or twice per week, which is feasible for most patients’ schedules.
