Psychoanalyst

A Psychoanalyst is someone trained to practice psychoanalysis (the form of therapy developed by Sigmund Freud). Psychoanalysis explores the effects of unconscious factors, past experiences, and repressed thoughts and feelings on a client’s current relationships, behaviors, and sense of self. The psychoanalyst helps the client indentify factors and patterns they might not be aware of, through free association, dream interpretation, transference, and other techniques. For example, a psychoanalyst may try to help a male client relieve his anxieties about his girlfriend by better understanding his relationship with his mother.