Psychoanalytic Principles

Some people seem to arrange their lives around disappointment. They choose partners who cannot love them well, sabotage success just as it arrives, or feel most at home when they are suffering. From the outside this can look like bad luck or poor judgment. Psychoanalysis offers a deeper and more compassionate explanation: emotional masochism, an…

Few figures have shaped how we understand childhood, parenting, and the growth of the self as profoundly as Donald Winnicott. A pediatrician who became one of the most original psychoanalysts of the twentieth century, Winnicott brought warmth and common sense to psychoanalysis, and gave us a vocabulary, the good enough mother, the holding environment, the…

The worn blanket that cannot be washed without protest. The teddy bear that must come everywhere. The particular scrap of fabric your child cannot fall asleep without. To a tired parent these attachments can seem puzzling, even worrying, but to the pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott they were something remarkable: evidence of a child’s healthy…

If you have ever lain awake replaying a moment when you felt you fell short as a parent, you are in good company, and you may be reassured to know that one of the most respected thinkers in child development believed your imperfection is not a problem to solve. It is part of how children…

Almost everyone has noticed it in someone, or in themselves: the same painful relationship arriving in a new disguise, the same argument with a different partner, the same self-defeating turn taken at the same crossroads. Freud gave this pattern a name. The repetition compulsion is the unconscious tendency to re-create, again and again, the emotional…

Flight into illness is a psychoanalytic concept that describes the tendency of individuals to unconsciously use physical or psychological symptoms as a means of avoiding deeper emotional conflicts. Sigmund Freud observed this phenomenon and described how patients might use their distress or illness to shield themselves from confronting painful truths. By focusing on the illness…

Flight from insight describes a phenomenon where patients resist confronting new self-knowledge during therapy. This resistance can occur when the insights shared by a therapist are introduced prematurely, before addressing the patient’s underlying resistance. This concept, rooted in psychoanalysis, highlights the delicate balance required in timing therapeutic interventions. In Chicago, experienced therapists understand the nuances…

The concept of enactment plays a critical role in psychoanalysis, offering profound insights into the dynamics between patients and therapists. While it may not have one universally agreed-upon definition, enactment generally describes unconscious behaviors or interactions that reveal underlying emotional material. It bridges the gap between thought and action, providing a unique lens to understand…

The double bind is a communication pattern that creates confusion and emotional paralysis. This phenomenon occurs when a person receives contradictory messages, leaving them unable to resolve the conflict or respond effectively. Originating as a concept in family dynamics, particularly in studies related to schizophrenia, the double bind can deeply affect relationships and mental health….