Psychotherapy for personal development

Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy is not only a psychotherapeutic treatment aimed at the alleviation of personal suffering, and emotional or mental distress. The practice cannot be limited to a ‘modality of therapy’ but offers a unique opportunity for you to get to know who you are in the contemporary world, where everything seems rootless and uncertain. It is an exploration of those aspects of ourselves and the mind which we usually push aside and filter out in our everyday lives, but which if given a sustained central focus can be seen to condition our moods and thinking, our stance in the world and relationships with others.

Psychoanalytic therapy offers one of the few spaces in which you are encouraged to practice ‘free speech’, to follow trains of thought and experience, and investigate your dreams and fantasies. It is also a space in which the big questions can be raised about your life, your ideas and ideals, loves and hates, with respect to what has contributed to your present state, and the envisioning of a possibly different future. Psychoanalysis can open up new horizons and uncover the hidden barriers to personal growth and development.

An in depth and sustained personal psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic therapy experience is crucial to psychoanalytic training, and is required for most other forms of psychotherapy and counselling training as well. Such psychotherapy for personal development and growth is fundamental both for understanding oneself sufficiently and for an in depth experience of the clinical practice. However, psychoanalytic therapy can also be highly recommended for anyone interested in enhancing their human potential, their creativity, or depth of sensitivity to themselves and the world.