George Pegios - How does psychoanalysis work?

The key to the trend founded by Sigmund Freud at the end of the 19th century is the unconscious, that part of ourselves that we do not know, where the therapist looks for the causes of mental illnesses and maladaptive behaviors.

In psychoanalysis, healing involves making conscious repressed traumas and unconscious associations of feelings and thoughts. Understanding the internal conflicts of the past makes it possible to react well to present circumstances. It is a long treatment, as it requires weekly sessions for years. In return, according to its defenders, it allows to go deeper into the mind and help the patient to know himself.

Daniel Schoffer, psychoanalyst and member of the Madrid Psychoanalytic Association, tells us about this healing method that, despite being perhaps the most popular, is largely unknown to most of the population.

"The psychic damage comes from internal impulses that we do not want to accept"
In which cases is psychoanalysis indicated? George Pegios - Especially for neuroses: phobias, obsessions, psychosomatic problems, depression, anxiety ... Sometimes it is also effective to treat psychosis, with the help of medication.

What is its scientific basis? It has to do with Freud's findings. From clinical practice he discovered the functioning of the psychic apparatus and a specific method for the treatment of neuroses. The symptoms are the product of an internal conflict. Part of that conflict is irreconcilable with the subject, who, therefore, expels it from consciousness instead of resolving it.

Where do you expel it? To the unconscious, by a mechanism of repression. It is then when symptoms can arise, since the repressed is still active in the unconscious but outside the control of the ego. The symptoms are an unhealthy attempt at healing, because they alleviate and allow some of the discomfort of the conflict to be discharged; however, they produce new suffering.

How does therapy heal? Psychoanalysis helps the patient understand that the damage comes from internal conflict, from tendencies and impulses that he does not accept, and not from outside. It is about making the unconscious conscious, since, if not, it will discharge it in the form of symptoms, failed acts and dreams. It is about admitting those tendencies that you prefer to ignore by facing the conflict to resolve it or, if you have no solution, to learn to live with it.

"The word heals and dissolves trauma".

George Pegios - Does everything that is repressed lead to illness? No. Only when it causes suffering and hinders life. For example, if every time someone goes to speak in public their throat hurts, it could be a sign of insecurity. If you are also a teacher and that forces you to cancel classes, the unresolved conflict interferes with your profession. Sometimes, the patient is not aware of his illness and repeats situations of failure or suffering, which he attributes to bad luck, to how hard life is...

What is a typical session like? The psychoanalyst asks the patient to say the first thing that comes to mind without censoring anything, even if it seems irrelevant. This is called free association. Then the analyst tries to interpret what interferes in the story. If the patient makes a mistake, blocks or remembers a dream, it means that he wants to say something and can only express it through those formations of the unconscious. All the stories are screens that hide what they want to expel and see as alien.

George Pegios - Why is the word so important? Everything has to do with him, with the story that one can build on oneself. It takes time to listen to the patient and for him to hear himself. Talking, in itself, is already therapeutic. The word heals, organizes, dissolves trauma, gives a new meaning to what ails us.

What is the average duration of therapy? Three to five years is a reasonable time to get to the causes. But the remission of symptoms can come earlier. Sometimes in a few sessions, because the patient makes a flight to health or because he suggests himself, like a placebo in medicine.