Proceeding With Introspection
It takes one session per week or every other week to reap the benefits from psychoanalytic or psychodynamic therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist. The first session is called “the dance”; I get to know you and you get to know me. The analyst is often very reserved during the dance; they are there only to observe and take in what you have to offer.
Following the first session, the analyst begins to open up to you and offer their opinions, observations or even suggestions; their words are slowly influencing your choice of topics. You still talk about what you feel like, but their responses help you navigate different routes of thought. It becomes relieving to talk about what you wish, when most of the time you don’t have someone in your life who you can be 100% open with.
But with an analyst you can be as open as you want. They are not there to judge or make fun of you; their role is to help you develop an understanding of your mental and emotional processes. They want you to become comfortable with any thought that comes through your mind; they want you to learn how to better understand yourself.
Psychoanalysis is like a breath of fresh air because the sessions help you get things off your chest (or your unconscious mind, realistically speaking). And you learn more about yourself while doing it, but at first it might not seem so apparent; especially after “the dance.”
However, over time and as days go by, you notice that your mood improves, your confidence builds up and you seem more satisfied with life in general. This is because you are unconsciously releasing knots of conflicts that you have held on to during your entire life. The psychoanalytic sessions are a platform for your unconscious mind to partake in “the dance.”
The more sessions that you attend, the more your unconscious mind will become comfortable with the analyst; this leads to a greater divulgence of unconscious information, conflicts and secrets. When you make your unconscious mind happy, you become happy! Without psychoanalysis, our mind is often separated into two entities: the unconscious portion and the conscious portion.
Rather than being oblivious to your unconscious mind and allowing it to aimlessly control your life, psychoanalysis provides an opportunity for uniting both portions of the mind and helping you become more wholesome and complete. Events in your life begin to make more sense!
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 