Why do psychoanalysts use an analytic couch?
The analytic couch is a tool that facilitates a deepening of the process of psychoanalysis for many patients. How the couch works is that it tends to relieve the analyst and the patient of the usual orientation to conversational dynamics that are typical when we talk to others face to face.
What results instead when patients lie on the couch with the analyst somewhat or entirely out of sight behind him or her is a freedom and a spaciousness that frequently allows patients to more freely associate to the contents of their thoughts and feelings. This is important in that unconscious dynamics are more available in these associations. In addition, without seeing the reactions of the analyst directly, sometimes it can be easier to imagine various reactions which allows the dyad the possibility of exploring a wider range of internal dynamics that are important to deepening and developing lasting change.
The couch needn’t be used, however, to free associate. And the couch also needn’t be used to explore one’s internal world. In some cases, the couch can be a hinderance or can evoke various problematic feelings that make its use contraindicated for a period of time or altogether. It is merely a tool that can be used. Many people use it and many people use it sometimes and just as many people do not use it and instead prefer to work face-to-face sitting up. An analyst will likely analyze the ways the couch is used or not and think with you about your preferences and choices toward deepening the process and making lasting changes.
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