Psychoanalytic Training InstitutePsychoanalysis requires multiple meetings per week, and often includes the use of the couch. Discovering how conflicts emerge in the relationship with the analyst provides the opportunity to understand and change habitual patterns and create more rewarding ways of engaging in life.
The CFS is committed to offering the highest quality treatment services on a sliding fee scale, including psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults, parent guidance, couples treatment, and parent-infant treatment.
- For confidential help in the greater Washington DC area, use these links to Find a Therapist or Make a Referral.
- For confidential help in the New York area, use these links to Find a Therapist or Make a Referral.
- When indicated, we also offer psychoanalysis to both adults and children, at a reduced fee through our Psychoanalytic Training Institute.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is an evidence-based, time tested approach to treatment within the context of a healing relationship between patient and therapist. There are many varieties of psychotherapy. At the CFS we offer psychodynamic psychotherapy. What makes psychodynamic psychotherapy effective, as demonstrated empirically, (Shedler, 2009) is the unique way the therapist has been trained to listen and understand what the patient is communicating. At the CFS, we tailor treatment to the individual, and no two people are the same. In good therapy, the patient will be able to speak freely without fear of being judged; the therapist communicates her understanding by listening in an active, attentive, and attuned manner.
What is the difference between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are not all that different, but when someone has the sense that their difficulties are due to internal discontent, a struggle to engage in relationships that feel satisfying, and problems in regulating moods, anxiety or negative impulses, they may profit from a deeper form of treatment. Psychoanalysis requires multiple meetings per week, and often includes the use of the couch. Discovering how conflicts emerge in the relationship with the analyst provides the opportunity to understand and change habitual patterns and create more rewarding ways of engaging in life.
Is there any proof that this works?
The theories underpinning psychoanalysis have evolved over time. The Contemporary Freudian Society is named to honor the legacy of Sigmund Freud, who developed the fundamental principles upon which all psychoanalysis is based. Yet, Freud himself corrected and changed his own theories repeatedly as evidence grew to support or cause him to question them. Today, the field of psychoanalysis has grown and evolved in response to the accrual of contemporary clinical and scientific data. Fortunately, there are a number of well-respected studies of high caliber devoted to this question, which have demonstrated the efficacy of long-term psychodynamic treatments.
How do I know my therapist will be well trained?
One would be hard pressed to find therapists who have as much training and clinical experience as most psychoanalysts do. Becoming a psychoanalyst is a rigorous process. However, not all psychoanalytic institutes hew to the same standards and not all training is standardized. At the Contemporary Freudian Society, training is under the auspices of the International Psychoanalytic Association, which sets the “gold standard” of training guidelines. Beyond the graduate training and licensure many professionals have obtained before starting to train to become a psychoanalyst, those trained with the Contemporary Freudian Society engage in four years of intensive coursework, hundreds of hours of one-on-one clinical supervision with highly trained psychoanalysts, as well as their own personal psychoanalysis. In addition, psychoanalysts typically are deeply involved in continuing education activities, often obtaining far more than what might be required to maintain professional licensure.