The Problem with Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Psychoanalysis and its later variants in the form of psychoanalytic psychotherapy are at a crossroads. For the last hundred years, they have been one of the dominant methods of treating a wide variety of mental illnesses and emotional problems. Today their very existence may be under threat from the demand for quick results and forms of treatment which claim to be evidence based . Should psychoanalytic forms of practice continue to be promoted? Do they deserve a continuing place in the pantheon of responses to emotional suffering?This is part of a series that sets out to look at a range of issues in psychotherapy briefly but fairly. The aim is not to do a hatchet job on a therapy or treatment. Rather, the book explains why psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been such a success and points out the problems associated with this treatment as it comes face-to-face with the demands for accountability that loom ever larger in 21st century life."