Psychoanalysis is a theory of mind and a method of psychological treatment originating in the 1890s with the work of Austrian physician Sigmund Freud. It emphasizes unconscious mental processes, conflict, and symbolic meaning, employing techniques such as free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of transference in intensive, multi‑session therapeutic settings. The field subsequently diversified into multiple schools and institutions and remains the subject of ongoing empirical evaluation and philosophical debate.
Freud’s formative clinical work built on collaboration with Josef Breuer—notably the studies of hysteria in the 1890s—and led to the replacement of hypnosis with the technique of free association. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [Studies on Hysteria](book://Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud|Studies on Hysteria|Hogarth Press|1955 [1895]).
Freud systematized his dream theory and method of interpretation in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), arguing that dreams reveal disguised wish fulfillment and unconscious conflict. [The Interpretation of Dreams](book://Sigmund Freud|The Interpretation of Dreams|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1953 [1900]).
In 1909 Freud and Carl Jung presented lectures at Clark University that helped introduce psychoanalysis to a broader American audience. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
To organize training and standards, the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) was founded in 1910 and evolved into the principal international accrediting body for psychoanalysis. International Psychoanalytical Association; IPA: Our History.
In the United States, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) was established in 1911 to promote education, research, and standards of practice. About APsA – American Psychoanalytic Association.
Core concepts and clinical method
Psychoanalytic theory posits that mental life is shaped by unconscious processes and internal conflict among drives, defenses, and ideals, which manifest in symptoms and everyday slips, fantasies, and dreams. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Freud’s later structural model describes the id, ego, and superego as interacting agencies of the psyche, organized around drive, reality-testing, and internalized norms. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Ego and the Id](book://Sigmund Freud|The Ego and the Id|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1957 [1923]).
A central technique is free association: the patient is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind so that unconscious meanings, conflicts, and defenses can be inferred and interpreted. Encyclopaedia Britannica; APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Dream interpretation, analysis of parapraxes (slips), and exploration of fantasies and early relational patterns serve as additional routes to unconscious material. [The Interpretation of Dreams](book://Sigmund Freud|The Interpretation of Dreams|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1953 [1900]); Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The clinical relationship is analyzed through transference (the patient’s displacement of past relational expectations onto the analyst) and countertransference (the analyst’s emotional responses), which are used to illuminate and modify entrenched patterns. About Psychoanalysis – APsA; APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Defense mechanisms—such as repression, denial, and projection—are conceptualized as ego functions that manage anxiety but can distort experience and behavior when rigidly deployed. [The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence](book://Anna Freud|The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence|Hogarth Press|1937).
Classical technique often employs a couch to minimize distraction and facilitate free associative speech, with analysis occurring several times per week over multiple years; many institutes specify 45–50‑minute sessions at a frequency of three to five weekly meetings as the preferred analytic frame. IPA: Psychoanalytic Treatment; IPA Procedural Code – Requirements; About Psychoanalysis – APsA.
Schools and later developments
Psychoanalysis diversified beyond Freud’s early formulations into multiple theoretical traditions, including ego psychology (emphasizing adaptive functions of the ego), object relations theories (foregrounding internalized relationships and early attachment), self psychology (centering on self‑cohesion and empathy), and Lacanian approaches (language, desire, and subjectivity). Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis](book://Jacques Lacan|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis|W. W. Norton (English trans.)|1978 1973).
Contributors such as Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Heinz Kohut reshaped clinical technique and developmental theory, while Jacques Lacan reinterpreted psychoanalysis through structural linguistics and postwar continental philosophy. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis](book://Jacques Lacan|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis|W. W. Norton (English trans.)|1978 1973).
Child and adolescent psychoanalysis developed distinctive methods (including play technique) to explore unconscious meaning in development. Encyclopaedia Britannica; APsA – Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis.
Meta‑analytic and review evidence indicates that psychodynamic treatments (a broader family of therapies based on psychoanalytic principles) are generally effective for several common mental disorders, with particularly strong support for longer‑term treatments in some personality disorders; however, superiority over other active treatments is rarely demonstrated and findings vary by diagnosis. World Psychiatry review; Cochrane Review – Short‑term Psychodynamic Psychotherapies.
A widely cited synthesis reported effect sizes for psychodynamic psychotherapy comparable to other evidence‑based modalities and suggested that gains may continue after treatment, though subsequent commentaries highlighted methodological constraints and the need for cautious interpretation. American Psychologist (Shedler 2010); JAMA critique.
For psychosis and schizophrenia, Cochrane reviews have not found clear evidence supporting individual psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, and recommend against its use in hospitalized populations absent stronger trials. Cochrane Review – Schizophrenia and Severe Mental Illness.
Naturalistic and health‑system analyses suggest potential sustained reductions in health‑care utilization and costs after psychodynamic psychotherapy, though causal inferences are limited and findings depend on design and population. Health‑care utilization study.
Long‑term observational comparisons between psychoanalysis and long‑term psychodynamic psychotherapy have reported differential change trajectories and possible delayed advantages for higher‑frequency analysis on some personality and social functioning measures, underscoring the need for designs that better address selection and allegiance effects. Long‑term follow‑up study; World Psychiatry review.
Beyond treatment, psychoanalysis functions as a research method (clinical inference from process and material) and a framework for interpreting literature, art, and culture, a remit emphasized in institutional summaries and educational programs. IPA – About Psychoanalysis; About APsA.
Contemporary psychoanalytic organizations sponsor congresses, webinars, and training that reflect theoretical pluralism and ongoing engagement with social issues and allied sciences. IPA – Past Congresses; IPA Journal Club.
Psychoanalysis is a theory of mind and a method of psychological treatment originating in the 1890s with the work of Austrian physician Sigmund Freud. It emphasizes unconscious mental processes, conflict, and symbolic meaning, employing techniques such as free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of transference in intensive, multi‑session therapeutic settings. The field subsequently diversified into multiple schools and institutions and remains the subject of ongoing empirical evaluation and philosophical debate.
Freud’s formative clinical work built on collaboration with Josef Breuer—notably the studies of hysteria in the 1890s—and led to the replacement of hypnosis with the technique of free association. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [Studies on Hysteria](book://Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud|Studies on Hysteria|Hogarth Press|1955 [1895]).
Freud systematized his dream theory and method of interpretation in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), arguing that dreams reveal disguised wish fulfillment and unconscious conflict. [The Interpretation of Dreams](book://Sigmund Freud|The Interpretation of Dreams|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1953 [1900]).
In 1909 Freud and Carl Jung presented lectures at Clark University that helped introduce psychoanalysis to a broader American audience. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
To organize training and standards, the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) was founded in 1910 and evolved into the principal international accrediting body for psychoanalysis. International Psychoanalytical Association; IPA: Our History.
In the United States, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) was established in 1911 to promote education, research, and standards of practice. About APsA – American Psychoanalytic Association.
Core concepts and clinical method
Psychoanalytic theory posits that mental life is shaped by unconscious processes and internal conflict among drives, defenses, and ideals, which manifest in symptoms and everyday slips, fantasies, and dreams. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Freud’s later structural model describes the id, ego, and superego as interacting agencies of the psyche, organized around drive, reality-testing, and internalized norms. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Ego and the Id](book://Sigmund Freud|The Ego and the Id|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1957 [1923]).
A central technique is free association: the patient is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind so that unconscious meanings, conflicts, and defenses can be inferred and interpreted. Encyclopaedia Britannica; APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Dream interpretation, analysis of parapraxes (slips), and exploration of fantasies and early relational patterns serve as additional routes to unconscious material. [The Interpretation of Dreams](book://Sigmund Freud|The Interpretation of Dreams|Standard Edition, Hogarth Press|1953 [1900]); Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The clinical relationship is analyzed through transference (the patient’s displacement of past relational expectations onto the analyst) and countertransference (the analyst’s emotional responses), which are used to illuminate and modify entrenched patterns. About Psychoanalysis – APsA; APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Defense mechanisms—such as repression, denial, and projection—are conceptualized as ego functions that manage anxiety but can distort experience and behavior when rigidly deployed. [The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence](book://Anna Freud|The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence|Hogarth Press|1937).
Classical technique often employs a couch to minimize distraction and facilitate free associative speech, with analysis occurring several times per week over multiple years; many institutes specify 45–50‑minute sessions at a frequency of three to five weekly meetings as the preferred analytic frame. IPA: Psychoanalytic Treatment; IPA Procedural Code – Requirements; About Psychoanalysis – APsA.
Schools and later developments
Psychoanalysis diversified beyond Freud’s early formulations into multiple theoretical traditions, including ego psychology (emphasizing adaptive functions of the ego), object relations theories (foregrounding internalized relationships and early attachment), self psychology (centering on self‑cohesion and empathy), and Lacanian approaches (language, desire, and subjectivity). Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis](book://Jacques Lacan|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis|W. W. Norton (English trans.)|1978 1973).
Contributors such as Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Heinz Kohut reshaped clinical technique and developmental theory, while Jacques Lacan reinterpreted psychoanalysis through structural linguistics and postwar continental philosophy. Encyclopaedia Britannica; [The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis](book://Jacques Lacan|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis|W. W. Norton (English trans.)|1978 1973).
Child and adolescent psychoanalysis developed distinctive methods (including play technique) to explore unconscious meaning in development. Encyclopaedia Britannica; APsA – Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis.
Meta‑analytic and review evidence indicates that psychodynamic treatments (a broader family of therapies based on psychoanalytic principles) are generally effective for several common mental disorders, with particularly strong support for longer‑term treatments in some personality disorders; however, superiority over other active treatments is rarely demonstrated and findings vary by diagnosis. World Psychiatry review; Cochrane Review – Short‑term Psychodynamic Psychotherapies.
A widely cited synthesis reported effect sizes for psychodynamic psychotherapy comparable to other evidence‑based modalities and suggested that gains may continue after treatment, though subsequent commentaries highlighted methodological constraints and the need for cautious interpretation. American Psychologist (Shedler 2010); JAMA critique.
For psychosis and schizophrenia, Cochrane reviews have not found clear evidence supporting individual psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, and recommend against its use in hospitalized populations absent stronger trials. Cochrane Review – Schizophrenia and Severe Mental Illness.
Naturalistic and health‑system analyses suggest potential sustained reductions in health‑care utilization and costs after psychodynamic psychotherapy, though causal inferences are limited and findings depend on design and population. Health‑care utilization study.
Long‑term observational comparisons between psychoanalysis and long‑term psychodynamic psychotherapy have reported differential change trajectories and possible delayed advantages for higher‑frequency analysis on some personality and social functioning measures, underscoring the need for designs that better address selection and allegiance effects. Long‑term follow‑up study; World Psychiatry review.
Beyond treatment, psychoanalysis functions as a research method (clinical inference from process and material) and a framework for interpreting literature, art, and culture, a remit emphasized in institutional summaries and educational programs. IPA – About Psychoanalysis; About APsA.
Contemporary psychoanalytic organizations sponsor congresses, webinars, and training that reflect theoretical pluralism and ongoing engagement with social issues and allied sciences. IPA – Past Congresses; IPA Journal Club.
