r/psychoanalysis

14K archived posts · Aug 2008 – Sep 2026

Psychoanalysis

r/psychoanalysis

All things pertaining to what is called "the talking cure".

Created Aug 30, 2008

65KMembers (last snapshot)

14KArchived posts

##Welcome to r/Psychoanalysis!

The basic tenets of psychoanalysis include the following:

beside the inherited constitution of personality, a person's development is determined by events in early childhood;
human behavior, experience, and cognition are largely determined by irrational drives;
those drives are largely unconscious;
attempts to bring those drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defense mechanisms;
conflicts between conscious and unconscious (repressed) material can result in mental disturbances such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.;
the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance).

Under the broad umbrella of psychoanalysis there are at least 22 theoretical orientations regarding human mental development. The various approaches in treatment called "psychoanalysis" vary as much as the theories do. The term also refers to a method of studying child development.

#Interesting Links

An Introduction into Psychoanalysis
Where to begin with Psychoanalysis?
The Interpretation of Dreams on Bartleby (1899)
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905)
Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)
The Ego and the Id (1923)

#Rules

Post quality: This is a place of news, debate, and discussion. Please read the sticky for full guidelines.
Self-help posts and disclosure:: Please do not disclose or solicit advice regarding personal situations, symptoms, dream analysis, or commentaries on your own analysis.
Etiquette: Users are expected to help to maintain a level of civility when engaging with each-other, even when in disagreement. Please read the sticky for more information
Clinical material: Under no circumstances may users share unpublished clinical material on this sub.
Copyrighted material: Please refrain from posting links to copyrighted material or sites distributing such.

#Influential psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic thinkers

Alfred Adler
Salman Akhtar
Michael Balint
Wilfred Bion
Josef Breuer
Joan Copjec
Nancy Chodorow
Max Eitingon
Erik Erikson
Ronald Fairbairn
Paul Federn
Otto Fenichel
Sándor Ferenczi
Bruce Fink
Anna Freud
Sigmund Freud
Erich Fromm
Edward Glover
Felix Guattari
Harry Guntrip
Karen Horney
Ernest Jones
Carl Jung
Otto Kernberg
Melanie Klein
Heinz Kohut
Julia Kristeva
Jacques Lacan
Jean Laplanche
Ronald David Laing
Margaret Mahler
Jacques-Alain Miller
Fritz Perls
Adam Phillips
Otto Rank
Sandor Rado
Wilhelm Reich
Joan Riviere
Isidor Sadger
James Strachey
Ernst Simmel
Harry Stack Sullivan
Susan Sutherland Isaacs
Donald Winnicott
Slavoj Zizek
Alenka Zupančič

#Schools of Thought

#Related Subreddits

Other communities

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