Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a collaborative, necessarily inventive form of work. It takes place in the relationship between someone who talks and someone who listens. The conversation is confidential, non-judgemental and supportive.
Sessions take place regularly, at least once a week and last 50 minutes. The number of sessions per week may vary between individuals and at different stages of treatment. Twice or three times a week is not unusual. Therapy may be a short-term, time-limited or open-ended process.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapists accept and encourage therapeutic engagement with
…an unconscious mental life which is alive, active, and often full of conflicts, and which constantly influences our thinking and behaviour. — Nina Coltart