How can psychoanalysis help you?
You have a problem or symptom that is bothering you. If you want to become aware of and change the internal relationship patterns that are at the root of your symptoms, then you will need a very intensive treatment that allows these hidden patterns to become evident and available for change. That treatment is called psychoanalysis.
What does psychoanalysis involve?
Psychoanalysis is a very big commitment. You will settle into a routine of coming every day, weekdays, for a 50-minute session. Preferably you will lie on the couch and – to the extent that you can – you will talk to me, the analyst, about everything going through your mind. I will be listening to what you are telling me, and also listening on another level to sense how you are experiencing the session from one moment to the next and to how you seem to be perceiving me. Since I am not very visible for you, nor active, you will tend – with time – to involve me in your inner relationship patterns. This is unavoidable, it will happen no matter what, and it is perfectly all right. That is what will give both you and me the opportunity to get to know your inner world. It is a very subtle process and not apparent at first. It is also what allows needed changes to take place.
My job is to become aware of who I have become for you and to talk with you about it. Sometimes you will see me as exactly what you wish me to be; more often you will discover in me those patterns that are most difficult for you and that you need the most help with. You may feel as if I were deliberately and viciously attacking you. Perhaps I will even become the biting monster from a very archaic relationship pattern. If you did not receive enough help with it from an empathic mother way back then, you will still be in need of that help now. Over time, such help will, little by little, lead to change in that particularly difficult relationship pattern.
Why are there daily sessions and why does it take so long?
The relationship patterns that need our attention the most are also those that cause you the most pain and suffering. They are therefore also those that you will be guarding against the most. You are going to need time and a lot of my help to work through all of the feelings that will be coming up. You will need time to approach the difficult areas at your own pace, as you become slowly more able to do so. The high frequency of the sessions is necessary, for it is only then that the relationship patterns can become really evident and accessible.
How can you afford psychoanalysis?
Health insurance does not pay for psychoanalysis. I have a sliding scale, however, and we can try to work out a fee that will be affordable for you and acceptable for me. If your health insurance carrier allows you to choose an out-of-network provider, I will give you a statement of services with which you can seek reimbursement.