Psychoanalytic Therapy Delves Into the Past to Understand the Present

A Florida State University student, Madison Leigh Gerhard is an undergraduate majoring in psychology. In working toward her degree, Madison Leigh Gerhard studies the fundamentals of a discipline that includes interventional approaches such as psychoanalytic therapy.

Focused on the often-unexplored drives and impulses that make up the subconscious, psychoanalysis provides a pathway for understanding a person’s present state by delving into the past. Through in-depth talk therapy, the client relates memories and formative experiences to the analyst over a series of sessions. Often, these experiences date from childhood, and the therapist must help contextualize them and their impact on the client’s current behavior and thoughts.

There are several techniques of psychoanalytic therapy, including free association, in which the therapist says a word, and the client responds with the first word that occurs to them. Over a series of such spontaneous word associations, the therapist finds and interprets patterns that lead to insights. Another common technique is dream analysis, which looks for symbols in a client’s dreams that may point out repressed feelings.