Be sure to bookmark this page and return again soon. In the meantime, please contact NAAP with any questions you might have about psychoanalysis or psychanalytic training. Psychoanalysis is a comprehensive, theoretical framework which, when applied to a treatment process, consists of an intensive verbal, therapeutic relationship between an analyst and an analysand which aims for symptom relief, emotional growth, and personal integration. The psychoanalytic treatment process includes, but is not limited to, the recognition of unconscious processes and conflicts, the significance of developmental influences, and the impact of resistance, defense, transference and countertransference phenomena. Treatment is enhanced by an understanding developed in the analyst's training and personal analysis of unconscious manifestations, such as dreams, slips of the tongue, fantasies and day dreams.
Psychoanalytic technique varies in relation to theoretical orientation.
As a theory of mental functioning, psychoanalysis offers an understanding of hidden motivations that lead to destructive behavior in our society. As a therapeutic process, psychoanalysis offers a means of resolving unconscious obstacles to successful living so as to maximize individuals capacity for growth and development. NAAP, through a variety of educational means, brings before the public the history, nature, and function of psychoanalysis and defines and clarifies its role in present day society.