WHAT IS PSYCHOANALYSIS?

•••• Although the term may refer to a body of theory and a method of investigation, when people ask, "What is psychoanalysis?" they usually want to know about treatment. As a therapy, psychoanalysis is based on the fact that individuals are often unaware of many factors that determine their emotions and behavior. These factors may create unhappiness, sometimes in the form of recognizable symptoms and at other times as troubling personality traits, difficulties in work or in love relationships, or disturbances in mood and self-esteem. Because these forces are often unconscious, the advice of friends and family, the readings of self-help books, or even the most determined efforts of will, often fail to provide relief.

Psychoanalysis is a method for treating a wide variety of emotional problems, such as anxiety, depression, difficulty with work or in relationships with other people. It is especially useful for exploring problems which are repetitive and which interfere with personal growth and development. The goal of psychoanalysis is to increase self-awareness and enhance the individual's ability to apply this awareness in his or her daily life. In order to achieve these goals, four or five psychoanalytic sessions per week over an extended period of time are essential.

•••• Psychoanalytic treatment helps the individual understand, emotionally as well as intellectually, unconscious motivations that lie behind distressing feelings and behavior, as well as their historical origins. In an ongoing close partnership with a psychoanalyst a sustained and often intense relationship develops in which the individual may re-experience underlying sources of difficulties in a way that is open to mutual and productive exploration. Through this process, the individual then is enabled to modify distressing patterns or reactions and thereby deal better with the realities of adult life. Psychoanalysis has also been adapted to the special capacities and vulnerabilities of children and adolescents through the use of developmental understanding and techniques suitable to their respective stages of life.

•••• Although some problems, such as reactions to stressful life events, can be handled effectively with short-term treatment, longstanding and complexly determined problems require long-term treatment. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a similar, though less intensive form of treatment than psychoanalysis, indicated and effective when more intensive treatment is not required. Both psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be combined with psychoactive medication, when appropriate.

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WHO IS A PSYCHOANALYST?

The designations "psychoanalyst" and "psychotherapist" are not protected by federal or state law: anyone, even an untrained person, may use the title. Any individual, regardless of whether they have had training or not, let alone formal psychoanalytic training, can refer to themselves as a psychotherapist or psychoanalyst. It is therefore important for persons seeking counseling, psychotherapy, or psychoanalysis to scrutinize the practitioner's credentials before beginning treatment

There are many psychoanalytic training centers in the United States, with varying requirements for graduation and with different theoretical orientations. Graduate psychoanalysts trained under the auspices of the American Psychoanalytic Association have had very rigorous and extensive clinical education.

Psychoanalysts undergo the most extensive and lengthy training of nearly any profession. The training typically lasts six or more years. Psychoanalysts are physicians, psychologists, clinical social workers and other mental health professionals who have completed their professional training before they undertake psychoanalytic training.  Psychoanalysts are the only mental health professionals for whom undergoing a personal psychoanalysis is a part of professional training

The members of the Florida Psychoanalytic Society are all graduates of psychoanalytic institutes affiliated with the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), an affiliate of the International Psychoanalytic Association, the original psychoanalytic association, founded in 1908. Graduates of institutes not accredited by The American Psychoanalytic Association but accredited directly by the International Psychoanalytic Association are also eligible for membership, though with certain restrictions. The Board on Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association oversees all of its component institutes to insure that they maintain the highest standards in both the selection and training of Candidates, as well as the quality of the curriculum.

Psychoanalysts have a genuine interest in why people think, feel, and behave as they do. The essential characteristics of the student of psychoanalysis are those of curiosity, coupled with a love for scientific scholarship, and a talent for the art of exploring and understanding human interactions, motivations, and meanings.

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WHO MAY STUDY TO BECOME A PSYCHOANALYST?

Candidates accepted for training at an APsaA accredited psychoanalytic institute must meet high ethical, psychological, and professional standards. Individuals seeking admission to an institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association must have an advanced degree--an M.D., a doctorate in psychology, or other advanced clinical degree. All must have had considerable experience in the mental health field. They must come highly recommended by previous teachers, supervisors, and colleagues with whom they have had professional contact. In addition, the prospective students undergo in-depth interviews with members of the faculty in which it is determined that they are psychologically sound, principled individuals with high ethical and moral standards.

These students, usually called Candidates, all must have had extensive clinical experience. In some institutes outstandingly qualified scholar-researchers, educators, and selected other professionals may also be approved for psychoanalytic training for the purpose of enhancing work in their selected fields. All accepted Candidates, whatever their background, then begin several years of psychoanalytic training.

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HOW IS ONE EDUCATED TO BECOME A PSYCHOANALYST?

Under the auspices of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Candidates at the Florida Psychoanalytic Institute undergo raining which consists of three interrelated and synergistic components.

Candidates:

  • undergo a personal analysis

  • attend classes in psychoanalytic theory and technique

  • conduct the psychoanalysis of at least three patients under the close and extended supervision of experienced analysts. Candidates who plan to treat children attend further classes and, with supervision, analyze young people ranging in age from toddlers to late adolescents. Child analytic training is offered in conjunction with another affiliate Institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA).

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Further Explanation

  • Undergo a personal analysis:

The purpose of Candidates' own analyses is to help them with overcoming any personal problems and to help them deal with any personality factors which would interfere with their conducting the best possible psychoanalyses. In addition, by undergoing the treatment that they themselves are going to practice, it affords the future analyst a greater empathy with patients and an intimate understanding of the psychoanalytic process.

  • Attend classes in psychoanalytic theory and technique:  

The academic program at the Florida Psychoanalytic Institute is given over a minimum five year period and takes the form of seminars.

The courses include:

  • history of psychoanalysis
  • child and adult development
  • psychoanalytic technique
  • issues of analyzability
  • psychoanalytic theory
  • psychopathology
  • gender and sexuality
  • object relations
  • dreams
  • clinical case conferences
  • continuing case conferences
  • problems in analysis
  • other periodic offerings
  • visiting analyst seminars

These courses are described more fully in our bulletin which we will be glad to send you.

  • Conduct the psychoanalysis of at least three patients under the close and extended supervision of experienced analysts :

After the Candidates have been in a personal analysis for a suitable time, and following the first semester of classes, they generally take their first patient into analysis. These patients are selected as being appropriate for a beginning analyst, keeping in mind that most Candidates have already had experience in treating patients. The Candidates' work is discussed weekly with a senior supervising analyst. If the Candidate's work with the patient proceeds satisfactorily he or she may take another case with a different supervisor. Ultimately the Candidate must have a minimum of three cases, both sexes represented, with three different supervisors, although a greater number than that is usual. Candidates remain in personal analysis to discuss and analyze any problems that occur in conducting their patients' analyses.

Upon the completion of the academic program and the personal analysis and when the faculty has determined that the Candidate can an independently conduct psychoanalysis, he or she is graduated. Training requires six or more years.

Because psychoanalysts are provided with the most thorough education available in normal and pathological development, their training enhances the quality of all their therapeutic work. Their education also informs their community activities as teachers, supervisors, consultants, and researchers in the many settings -- hospitals, medical schools, colleges, day-care centers -- where analysts may be located.

Besides conducting psychoanalysis, most graduate analysts also practice intensive and brief psychotherapy, sometimes prescribing medication if they have medical training. Many treat couples, conduct family or group therapy sessions, and work with the aging.

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WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE IN PSYCHOANALYSIS?

The patient, sometimes called an analysand, meets with the analyst frequently and regularly. The setting is quiet and private. The analyst helps the individual talk openly about thoughts, feelings and fantasies, including ones which are often hidden from the self. In this atmosphere of safety, one learns about the inner conflicts and roadblocks built up over the years. As he or she becomes aware of previously unknown restrictions and inhibitions, he realizes that other solutions may be possible for inner conflicts. He can become freer, more emotionally healthy and able to build and apply some newly discovered alternatives.

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WHAT KINDS OF PROBLEMS CAN PSYCHOANALYSIS HELP?

  • Troubled relationships
  • Poor self-esteem
  • Identity difficulties
  • Sexual troubles
  • Work and school inhibitions
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Obsessions and compulsions
  • Phobias
  • Psychosomatic conditions
  • Personality conflicts
  • Creative blocks
  • Developmental problems (children and adolescents)

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS? 


People find that they can improve their relationships and attain greater inner freedom. This leads to greater peace of mind. Their energy level is higher, and their creativity stronger. They choose realistic goals and work better to achieve them. Because of these changes psychoanalysis generally has a positive effect on the people close to them -- spouses, children, other family, friends, and colleagues at work.  Psychoanalysis can be especially helpful to those who work directly with other people, for example: teachers, nurses, social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals, administrators, ministers, lawyers, and physicians.

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WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM PSYCHOANALYSIS?

Because analysis is a highly individualized treatment, people who wish to know if they would benefit from it should seek consultation with an experienced psychoanalyst. Still, some generalizations can be made. The person best able to undergo psychoanalysis is someone who, no matter how incapacitated at the time, is basically, or potentially, a sturdy individual. This person may have already achieved important satisfactions --with friends, in marriage, in work, or through special interests and hobbies -- but is nonetheless significantly impaired by long-standing symptoms: depression or anxiety, sexual incapacities, personality problems, or physical symptoms without any demonstrable underlying physical cause. One person may be plagued by private rituals or compulsions or repetitive thoughts of which no one else is aware. Another may live a constricted life of isolation and loneliness, incapable of feeling close to anyone. A victim of childhood sexual abuse might suffer from an inability to trust others. Some people come to analysis because of repeated failures in work or in love, brought about not by chance but by self- destructive patterns of behavior. Others need analysis because of the way they are -- their personality —which substantially limits their choices and their pleasures. And still others seek analysis to resolve psychological problems that were only temporarily or partially resolved by other approaches.

Whatever the problem a person brings to the analyst, it can be properly understood only within the context of that person's strengths and life situation. Hence, the need for a thorough evaluation to determine who will benefit, and who will not, benefit from psychoanalysis.

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HOW MUCH DOES IT COST AND WHAT ARE THE AVAILABLE LOCATIONS?

The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute offers full-fee and reduced-fee psychoanalysis in private offices for children, adolescents, and adults. 

HOW DO I MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS?

Please call the Florida Psychoanalytic Institute voice mail at 305-669-4110 to leave a confidential message about your interest in psychoanalysis. An analyst will contact you promptly to arrange a consultation to help you decide if psychoanalysis is right for you. If not, the analyst will help you find the treatment you need.

THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION

The American Psychoanalytic Association was founded in 1911 and currently has a membership of about 3500 analysts. It includes accredited training institutes and affiliate psychoanalytic societies throughout the United States. Since its inception, it has been a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association, the official accrediting body for worldwide psychoanalysis.

One of the main functions of the American Psychoanalytic Association is scientific. It keeps members informed by providing forums for the exchange of new ideas and discoveries in areas such as practice, theory, and research. It holds two annual national meetings, and publishes the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Founded in 1953, the Journal is noted for the quality of its articles on all aspects of psychoanalysis, as well as articles relevant to other areas of mental health and the behavioral sciences, including the application of psychoanalysis to other fields. Through the national organization and its member institutes and societies, the Association engages in a wide variety of educational activities.

A major responsibility of the Association is that of creating and maintaining high professional standards. The process whereby a new training institute may be accredited by the Association is rigorous. Periodically the entire educational program at each member institute is re-evaluated to assure that these requisite standards are maintained. In addition, the Association evaluates graduates from approved institutes who wish to become certified members.

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