Psychoanalysis is a long-term, in-depth treatment that helps to uncover the unconscious factors that underlie emotional issues and difficulties in life. Psychoanalysis provides an explorative and experiential setting in which the individual, along with their psychoanalyst, can begin to identify and understand how unconscious areas of mental life shape their engagement with reality and relationships in the present – an in-depth exploration of the self.

Contemporary psychoanalysis consists of meeting with a psychoanalyst on a regular basis, up to five times a week, for sessions that last fifty minutes. This reliable and confidential setting allows the individual and their psychoanalyst the space to make sense of experiences that are often difficult to understand and put into words. Although the process takes time, psychoanalysis can enable long-lasting change, and allow individuals to experience a greater sense of well-being, leading richer and fuller lives.

Experiences in early life and childhood are important in the process of understanding where the individual comes from and how that might be impacting on their life today. Psychoanalysis explores how the individual experiences the analysis and reflects on how unconscious beliefs and expectations influence relationships in the present. Sessions of up to five times a week are offered because this gives the psychoanalyst and individual the time and space to examine how the analytic relationship develops. The experience is different for each person.