When I studied psychology, I learned about psychoanalysis as the id, ego, and superego, the mind depicted as an iceberg, with the subconscious submerged beneath the surface. We covered psychosexual development and the Oedipus complex. Some of it seemed relevant, and other parts seemed overly speculative. Mostly, though, it was presented as part of the history of psychotherapy—a relic of the past that had been absorbed into mainstream thought and then largely been replaced by more targeted, manualized treatments.
And then I met Denise, who is now my supervisor, during a job interview. Denise made the bold claim that if Freud had lived another 200 years, he would have discovered everything we now know about psychotherapy. Her office had an entire shelf filled with volumes of Freud’s work, and she had studied psychoanalysis intensively, part of which included undergoing her own psychoanalysis. Denise shared books and articles where I could read about contemporary psychoanalysis and I began to see how it overlaps with the somatic, embodied approaches I am most drawn to.
In this episode, Denise shares how and why she was drawn to psychoanalysis. We talk about the role of the unconscious, symptom management vs. root causes, the somatic experience, the therapeutic relationship, and whether or not the therapist is actually a blank slate. We touch on the setting where the patient lies on the couch and spills out the contents of their mind, and discuss psychosexual development, the Oedipus complex, and erotic transference.
This episode isn’t specifically about eating disorders, but more broadly about psychoanalysis.
Denise is a psychotherapist, practice owner, and certified psychoanalyst. She specializes in working with adults and adolescents dealing with depression, stress and anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, PTSD, relationship concerns, and attachment issues. She also offers couples counseling, family therapy, and parenting support.
Denise earned her Master of Social Work from Loyola University and a graduate certificate in adult psychoanalysis from the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute, where she now teaches. She also supervises psychology graduate students at Northwestern University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in engineering.
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