Glossary of Terms

Terms commonly used in reference to psychoanalytic education and accreditation.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a specific form of individual psychotherapy that aims to bring mental elements and processes that are unavailable to conscious awareness into awareness in order to expand an individual’s self-understanding, enhance adaptation in multiple spheres of functioning, alleviate symptoms of mental disorder and facilitate character change and emotional growth. Psychoanalytic work is characterized by depth and intensity achieved in the context of frequent treatment sessions over a long term.