Who alleviates mental suffering: Psychotherapist and psychotherapy on the couch?

Abstract

Unfortunately, for decades psychoanalysis has been little read and, even worse, little understood; this has led to confusions, for example, between sexuality and genitality. Freudian and orthodox psychoanalysis is an approach that aims to analyse the psyche of the patient, using the only means of communication we know: words, speech and preverbal expressions. Every patient who comes to psychotherapy does so because he is suffering and for no other reason: he is suffering, his life has become unbearable or his suffering is pathological and diametrically opposed to the necessary healthy suffering. Some patients simply want to solve a certain problem, be it a work conflict, a couple crisis, an imbalance in life, to mention a few dysfunctionalities. In these cases, the strategy is a different form of psychotherapy, focused and brief, neither deep nor regressive, which does not act on the internal structures of the patient.

We can broadly understand psychotherapy as the reconstruction and understanding of the patient’s own truth in order to establish his own reality: an inner peace that enables him to live in an environment of wellbeing with himself, with others and with his environment. Unfortunately, some psychotherapists often do not alleviate the psychological pain of their patients, but unconsciously seek to heal themselves through their patients. This is called «iatrogenic practice», as it causes psychological damage to the patient, which can lead to decompensation and even suicide. This is hardly ever reported, so very few «psychotherapists» are sanctioned. This article is a reflection on a question posed to me by a patient: who really cures my mental suffering: my psychotherapist, myself or the psychotherapeutic relationship I establish with him?