What is psychotherapy in general, and what is Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in particular?
● Psychotherapy is an interaction between a trained therapist and someone who is seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.
● Psychoanalysis is a theory of personality and a therapeutic technique that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. According to psychoanalysis, psychological problems can be resolved if the analyst helps the patient bring the repressed, unconscious conflicts and impulses of childhood into the conscious mind.
● Psychoanalytic theory is criticized because of its assumption of repression, its expense to patients, and the irrefutable nature of its conclusions. Current therapists modify traditional psychoanalytic theory, using psychodynamic assumptions to understand unconscious drives and conflicts.