What is Psychoanalysis?
There are times when something does not shift.
A pattern returns.
A feeling persists.
A way of relating begins to repeat itself.
Psychoanalysis is a way of approaching these moments.
It is a form of therapy that explores how unconscious processes shape thoughts, feelings, and relationships, including those aspects of experience that are not fully known, but continue to have an effect upon us.
Rather than focusing only on what is already clear, this work makes space for what is not yet fully understood to emerge and to be changed.
A Living Practice
Psychoanalysis began with Sigmund Freud, and continues to evolve. It is not a fixed method, but a living practice that has been developed over time.
At the Underthought, my work is informed by Freud as well as the teaching of Jacques Lacan, whose approach emphasises the role of language and the significance of what is said and not yet said.
In this sense, psychoanalysis is not about returning to the past, but about engaging differently with what continues to repeat in the present.
Who Psychoanalysis is For
People come to this work for different reasons. Sometimes it is anxiety, depression, difficulties in relationships, or other form of emotional distress.
Sometimes It is less defined, a sense that something is not quite right, or a feeling that something continues without being able to say exactly what it is. And sometimes, it is simply a question that does not go away.
If something in your experience feels familiar in this, it is worth looking into.
How Psychoanalysis Works
The work begins with speaking. You do not need to know what to say, only a willingness to start it. There is no expectation to present yourself in a particular way.
As you speak about yourself and events that you have been through, connections begin to form between past and present, between what is experienced and what may not be fully clear.
This a process of discovering the place suffering has come to occupy in your life, through your own words. And through this, what repeats can begin to shift.
Psychoanalysis in Relation to Other Therapies
Many forms of therapy focus on managing symptoms or developing strategies to cope them. Psychoanalysis takes a different approach.
It is concerned with how a difficulty or suffering comes to take shape, and why it continues. By approaching it in this way, change is not only about managing what appears like symptoms, but about altering what sustains it.
An Invitation to Begin Psychoanalysis
If something in this way of approaching your experience resonates with you, it may be the right moment to start.
You do not need to have everything clear to begin.
I will respond to you personally within 24 hours.