Psychoanalysis Vancouver

People in Vancouver are increasingly interested in insight-oriented approaches to talk therapy that aim to go beyond the surface. You may have heard of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy, two examples of depth-oriented approaches to help.

In my practice, I offer both psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic therapy derives from psychoanalysis. Both are exploratory approaches, but psychoanalysis is a more intensive process. You can learn more about psychodynamic therapy here.

Psychoanalysis is a form of talk therapy with a long history, having been developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its conjectures and insights concerning the human condition have stimulated many important intellectual debates of modern times, and it has had an influence reaching beyond medicine to include the creative arts, philosophy, and anthropology.

Psychoanalysis continues to be practiced by specialists – people with specialized training in psychoanalysis.

Because psychoanalysis is a very broad field, different psychoanalysts will approach the practice of psychoanalysis differently.

Here are some some ideas and concepts that guide my work when offering psychoanalysis.

Orientation towards truth

I think of psychoanalysis as oriented primarily towards truth. Through psychoanalysis, we get to know ourselves, including ways in which we may have become alienated from what we are most like and what we most desire. This alienation can occur through years of trying to fit in – both in ways we are aware of and ways we are not yet aware of – with others’ expectations of us.

It is legitimate to ask, is it always good to adapt to the norms or expectations that surround us? What may be lost, and in which ways might we become alienated, if we purely live in order to conform to what is around us and “function” and “perform” well?

This is not to say that analysis is completely distinct from functioning better or more adaptively in life. Many people find that analysis helps them free up creative energy and pursue fruitful projects or new directions in life that would not have been previously possible.

It is just that to be most transformative, the driving force of a psychoanalytic process must derive from an appreciation for truth.

New ways of relating to ourselves

Psychoanalysis also provides the opportunity to form new ways of relating to ourselves, to our symptoms, our bodies, our histories, and our desires. 

Emphasis on the unconscious

The unconscious is an aspect of ourselves which escapes our present awareness, but which is nonetheless deeply part of who we are as subjects. We want to connect to our unconscious in analysis in a way that is free, nonjudgmental, and even playful.

Authentic speech

My approach to the practice of psychoanalysis relies heavily on the careful attention to the analysand’s speech, since it is through our speech – both the things we intend to say, and the things that we say without intending to do so – that we become most connected to the unconscious and our desire.

There is a difference between the kind of speech in which we are “sounding good” and saying the things that we think are expected of us, and the kind of speech which is more closely connected with who we uniquely are and what we most desire. 

A humorous example of speech that “sounds good,” and that is often parodied on TV, is “therapy speech,” where the person in therapy is told to carefully curate what they say by prefacing all their statements with ‘I feel that you…’ even if this is not the way they would ever naturally speak outside of therapy.

While learning to exercise control over our speech can be important in functioning or adapting well in other areas of life, such as work and relationships, it can lead away from the subjective truth that is of concern in psychoanalysis.

Dreams

Dreams can be a very important way in which we arrive at truths about ourselves and what we desire, which is why dreams have always been very important part of a psychoanalytic process. Where there are dreams, we want to take the time to attend to the different elements and reflect freely on what they could be telling us about ourselves and the things we may or may not want for ourselves.

Experience of the analyst

A final thing to mention about psychoanalysis is that the analysand’s experience of the analyst and analytic process are also quite central. We use this experience, which unfolds in the here and now of the analytic process, as part of the pursuit of the subject’s truth. This also makes the process very much a real one versus one that is abstract or overly intellectual.

The analytic process

Because analysis is an intensive process, it normally involves several meetings per week, and the timeframe over which the process unfolds is long-term in nature.