How Freud cured his patients The “psychoanalytic therapy” created by Sigmund Freud is the world’s first and most specialized set of psychotherapeutic methods with a theoretical basis and specific operational techniques. What is psychoanalytic therapy? In simple terms, it is a set of clinical psychotherapy methods created by Freud; in serious terms, it is the practice of psychotherapy under the guidance of psychoanalytic theory. According to Freud, psychoanalytic therapy is to raise the subconscious to the level of consciousness and turn it into something conscious. That is, the “consciousness” of the subconscious. On an operational level, Freud defined psychoanalytic therapy in his later years, as long as empathy and impedance are addressed in the treatment. How does psychoanalytic therapy work to treat mental disorders? What is the mechanism? Initially, Freud, back from his studies in France, used hypnosis to treat hysteria (hysteria), which also achieved dramatic results, but was prone to relapse. Freud then wondered: Why does hypnosis work? What is its active ingredient? Later, he adopted the technique of free association, which also had a dramatic effect and, moreover, was long-lasting and not prone to relapse. Freud analyzed the key ingredient of its effectiveness, not “hypnotic suggestion”, nor “emotional catharsis”, but subconscious “consciousness”. Freud wrote in his book “The Study of Hysteria”: “Let the patient recall clearly the event and evoke the emotions accompanying it, and let him describe the details of the event and the accompanying emotions in words to the best of his ability; if we succeed in doing this, then every symptom of hysteria will disappear immediately, and forever.” The key in the above text is to be able to verbalize it on top of recalling it. Once the words are spoken, the subconscious trauma or repressed desire rises to the conscious level and is able to be realized by the patient and naturally healed. This method of operation is mainly applicable to patients with “neurosis”. The main psychological characteristic of neurotic patients is that repression leads to “forgetfulness” (dissociative symptoms) and psychological conflicts. Freudian psychoanalytic treatment is to release the repression through various methods, including dealing with empathy and impediment, and to gain understanding, which can be effective. How can a therapist help a neurotic patient who is not self-aware of his subconscious, let alone unable to name his subconscious feelings and desires? The therapist may encourage the patient to do free association, dream interpretation, or, for example, a projective test. By doing so, the therapist first understands the client’s subconscious symptoms, and then, when the patient is unable to speak, the therapist gives a “psychoanalytic interpretation” of what he understands about the patient’s subconscious, which he presents to the patient. After listening to these explanations, the patient, combined with his or her own perceptions, suddenly becomes enlightened, the subconscious mind is “conscious”, and the symptoms immediately disappear. In this process, the key is not the explanation given by the therapist, but the creation of a psychoanalytic situation that is “safe” and “gives freedom and autonomy to the patient’s mind”. With the help of this situation, the patient can withdraw his attention from the outside and turn it to his own heart, so that he can feel again the emotions, traumas and desires that have been repressed deep inside and denied, neglected and forgotten, and release the repression and liberate his mind. The psychoanalytic therapy created by Freud is not so much a treatment for neurotic symptoms as it is a psychological method of “spiritual liberation”. Freud would allow each person receiving psychoanalytic treatment to become self-aware, self-pleasing, and no longer stifle themselves, to regain freedom of mind and inner freedom and openness, to bring into play the original inner growth power of life, not only to eliminate symptoms, but also to improve personality, to bloom the glory of humanity, to promote the self-realization of humanity, so that people can live sincerely and happily.