Psychotherapy 2.01

At Lumina we work as psychoanalysts (or psychoanalytic psychotherapists). Psychotherapy can be described as any non-medical attempt to help with a psychological problem. Psychoanalysis is the original ‘Talking Cure’ – it is as relevant and effective now as it was 100 years ago.

Psychoanalysis is unique. It places the highest values on a persons speech. The analyst listens to the words used, the slips of the tongue, mistakes, humour… as well as what people don’t say. The psychoanalyst helps the client to question their own position and values in order that they might understand the issues they have presented with. Someone who chooses psychoanalysis is trying to understand how their presenting symptom clashes with their conscious wishes. This wish/desire may be conscious or unconscious, or both. For example a smoker realizes the object they enjoy is damaging to their health, or a student who wishes to finish their degree and is unable to study, or someone who is depressed is ambivalent about their reasons for living. The role of the analyst is to hear the client, without having any investment in a particular answer.

The therapist brings no prejudice. A client may have an immediate and pressing challenge or symptom such as stress or anxiety. Or may want to gain a deeper understanding of the unconscious factors which inhibit them from making useful change and progress in their lives. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is equally effective in both situations.

Everyone goes through periods of their lives when symptoms interfere. This may be as simple as feeling exhausted or angry, or something as serious as a lack of will to live.
Because psychoanalysts think differently to practitioners of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or psychologists we understand and can work with the unconscious motivating factors which underlie symptoms and prevent or inhibit us in our conscious lives—when a conscious resolve or promise to change seems impossible.
Psychoanalysis allows one to find the mental space to manage a symptom. It allows a revival of desire and energy, a new perspective. As everyone has their own story analysts don’t believe that there is a single solution or a simple beginning to any symptom – rather your speech will unveil the why’s of a problem.