The Function of the Psychotherapist/ Psychoanalyst in the Age of Self-Help

The Rise of Self-Help and Self-Improvement

We live in an age of great curiosity about the self and ones own wellbeing, and there is a movement towards self-help and self-improvement. This is noticeable in the vast amount of people who now engage in self-help activities such as journaling, meditation, mindfulness, exercise and so on.

As a psychotherapist I have recommended these activities to people who enter my practice who are struggling and in distress. They have an effect and can be beneficial in certain circumstances. However, these activities, while they are a great start they can only take you some of the way. This is because self-help activities are based on the premise that we are fully aware and have complete access to why we do what we do and why we say what we say. In other words, the underlying motives of our thoughts and our behaviours that govern our lives.

What is the Missing Chapter in the Self-Help Book? 

What this premise leaves out is the unconscious – which is the motive force of who we are and what we do. Unconscious ideas and motives are underneath a great deal of the psychical suffering people experience. ‘What you do, far from being a matter of ignorance, is always determined. Determined already by something which is knowledge, and that we call the unconscious’ – Jacque Lacan. Anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties and repetitive patterns all have an unconscious component to them.

The Function of the Psychoanalyst or Psychotherapist

‘Psychoanalysis has but one medium: the patient’s speech’ – Jacque Lacan

Language and speech carry a richness, and words are loaded with meaning. The famous ‘Freudian slip’, where we intended to say one thing but ended up saying something else is a great example and it can represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is working underneath. Additionally, when a person speaks about their symptom and begins associating to it a great deal can be unraveled provided one has the proper ears to hear it. This is why it is fundamental to choose a therapist or analyst who has a strong relationship to the work they do. There is so much that can be heard in what is said. For instance, the person who has unexplainable pain when they walk who then later comes to articulate that they feel helpless and cannot ‘take a single step forward’ or the binge eater who never speaks when upset and instead ‘swallows’ their feelings. A person's suffering can be unconscious, yet the symptom speaks and calls for the person with the proper ears to hear it.

When many people first think of therapy, they imagine receiving advice, strategies, or solutions to their problems. But in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the therapist serves a very different — and deeper — function. In this approach, the therapist does not direct, diagnose, or impose. Instead, they offer something much more vital: a space in which your words can unfold freely, and where hidden patterns begin to reveal themselves and the knots begin to loosen.

Why the Therapist Doesn’t Give You “The Answer”?

It can feel frustrating at first — especially if you come to therapy in pain — that the therapist won’t offer clear-cut advice or solutions. But this restraint is intentional. Psychoanalytic therapy recognises that your experience is singular, and what works for one person may not work for another. Instead of handing you answers, the therapist helps you to find your own language, your own understanding, and ultimately your own direction.

A Relationship That Makes Change Possible

Over time, the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a space of transformation. What is repeated in your life may begin to show up in the therapy — and it’s there, in the presence of someone who is listening carefully and consistently, that these patterns can be spoken and perhaps reconfigured. In that way, the function of the therapist is not just to "treat" you — but to be present with you in a way that allows something new to be created from your own speech.

The Value of Engaging with Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy or Psychoanalysis

An experienced psychoanalyst or psychotherapist will be able to listen for the fleeting moments that the unconscious emerges and allow for parts of your mental life to be loosened and worked through. This is something that can only be done with a psychoanalyst or a psychoanalytic psychotherapist as we are unaware of our own unconscious. Self-help activities focus on a knowledge you already know whereas when you work with a psychoanalytic psychotherapist there is a focus on what you don't know you know. This is a kind of speaking and a kind of listening that is worthwhile. By allowing a space for the unconscious to emerge and to be listened to, while focusing on the way in which things are spoken -  an engagement with psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy can allow for your psychical suffering to be loosened and worked through and enable you to take up a different position in your life.

Therapy in South Dublin and Dundalk

If you are looking for a therapist in South Dublin or Dundalk who works psychoanalytically, I offer individual therapy sessions that honour the complexity of your inner world. This is not a quick-fix approach. It is a process that invites you to slow down and listen — not only to what you are feeling, but to what those feelings might be trying to repeat or make known.

You are welcome to reach out to discuss beginning therapy.

If you would like to make the start with this important work, I welcome your call or email: https://www.niamhduffypsychoanalyticpsychotherapy.com/contact