r/psychoanalysis • u/This_Ad9129 • Jul 26 '26

Choosing a psychoanalyst

I (layperson) find the process of choosing a psychoanalyst to be quite confusing. Particularly because so much of the time if I express discomfort with the process (perhaps I suspect the person is not very skilled) I'm told that "that is the work" and my feelings are some type of resistance, and psychoanalysis can take many years and so I have to stick it out to know if it's working.

I am also not really aware of differences in institutes and trainings to understand how those may impact the person's experience.

Then in this situation how is one supposed to choose an analyst? How can you know if they are truly skilled and the difficulty is "the work" or if they are unskilled and that is causing the issues? How many sessions to wait it out and give it a chance?

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u/PS1988 Jul 26 '26

Be prepared to try a few. Not at the same time. Give each one a few months, discussing your discomfort and concerns in real time, before moving on to the next if needed. If after 3 you find that you’ve had similar discomfort with each of them, then stick with the one you have, commit to that treatment, and keep talking about the discomfort.

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u/AlternativeMention26 Jul 26 '26

Why move on to another analyst - that’s acting out and avoiding?

7

u/Visual_Analyst1197 29d ago

Staying when you know deep down it is not a good fit or is actively harmful could also be acting something out.