The psychoanalytic method, ‘the talking cure’, addresses problems of life through speaking. It seeks to attend to each person’s singularity through an exploration of their history, speech, and desires.

Psychoanalysts undergo rigorous training which includes many years of personal analysis of multiple times per week and weekly clinical supervision, whilst undertaking theoretical and clinical studies in psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis differs from manualised therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Whilst these modalities can teach skills that aim to correct thoughts or behaviours, symptoms and mental health difficulties are seen as mistakes to be avoided. In psychoanalysis, symptoms and difficulties are understood as bearers of truth and as openings toward the possibility of change.

In the lacanian orientation, the practitioner is oriented to listening deeply to each person and the words of their unique speech. Just as slips of the tongue, bodily symptoms or psychological symptoms, dreams are privileged expressions of the unconscious governed by the laws of language that reveal deeper truths.

The work begins with preliminary sessions of speaking together about the presenting concerns and difficulties. As the process of analysis unfolds, the person has the opportunity to explore and interrogate their history and unique difficulties that operate within the unconscious, profoundly affecting their decisions and actions. Over the course of treatment, the patient can develop a deeper understanding of life-long patterns of thinking, feeling and experiencing and how these are defined and regulated by one’s unconscious.