in these internal conversations, and for analyzing their effects on our external transactions with others, as well as on the course of our lives. Among its other advantages, TA terminology is graphic , catchy and easy for people to understand.

Psychoanalysis

This is the original psychotherapy developed by Sigmund Freud. The patient lies on a couch with the analyst out of sight behind him or her. There is a, probably apocryphal, story that Freud developed this arrangement because he was uncomfortable looking his patients in the eye. Be that as it may, in this position, the patient cannot respond to the analyst’s facial or bodily expression, and feels alone in her/his own space. This stimulus deprivation makes it easier for the patient to be in touch with inner mental, emotional and physiological processes. The patient is instructed to say anything that comes to mind, no matter how absurd or embarrassing it might be. From time to time, the analyst interjects “interpretations”. Sessions are usually held two or three times weekly. Early analysts saw their patients five or more times weekly. The analyst thinks in terms of Freudian concepts, such as, the id, the ego, and the superego, and the developmental stages, oral, anal, latent, and genital. Central to the analysis is the transference. This is the way the patient projects figures from the past onto the analyst. That is, the patient relates to the analyst in ways that he used to relate to his parental figures. This is facilitated by keeping the analyst’s personality vague through use of the couch. Most modern analysts have modified or eliminated many of Freud’s ideas, including his male chauvinism, that were outgrowths of the time and place in which he lived. Furthermore, analysis has developed in many directions. Even in Freud’s time, Adler and Jung developed competing “schools” of analysis. There are still analysts who follow the ideas of Jung and of Adler, as well as many newer thinkers, such as, Kohut, Winnecott, and Anna Freud.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is somewhat watered down psychoanalysis. It uses the intellectual ideas of psychoanalysis (e.g., the id, ego, and superego, the developmental stages, and the transference) but not some of the outward trappings, such as, the couch or sessions several times weekly.

Short-term or Time-limited Psychotherapy

When time is limited by circumstances or design, therapists and clients often try to focus on specific therapeutic tasks or areas that could be dealt with in the available time. In some situations this may be useful, but it is important to remember that nobody has really developed any technique for making therapy go faster.