In a nutshell, I begin with this assumption about anyone seeking help: that they’ve tried the best they can with what they know, but—of course—there are things they don’t know (including about themselves), and if those areas can be brought to further awareness, and worked through in some meaningful way, that new possibilities emerge. Along those lines, my job, then, is largely to help people to know more, most of all, about themselves and about their ways of relating (both to one's self and to others, the two often being intimately related). There is much that we can never control as human beings, and that will never change. But one thing we can invest in is to try to tap into ever larger conceptions and awareness of our experience— which is the one common denominator wherever we go, and whatever we do. Doing so can widen and empower what is still possible, and allow for mourning of what may not be. Psychoanalytic therapeutic approaches are one vehicle that that kind of psychological growth.
Furthermore, although the specific reasons for why someone seeks out therapy are as varied as individuals themselves (and as such, present an infinite variety), I do believe that there are some common threads amongst anyone seeking this form of help. One such common thread, I assume, is that a person has often found themselves trying to grow psychologically in some way, and thus far has not been able to manage it alone, or with the usual systems of support and guidance they’ve sought out up until now (including, perhaps, other forms of therapy). Many people make it to the office of a therapist or analyst knowing on some level that something is “off”, that there is pain and suffering of some kind that perhaps seems unremitting or at least that doesn’t seem to be transforming into something useful, and are often a bit (or much more than a bit) at a loss of what to do next. By my view and that of contemporary psychoanalytic thought, what often blocks a person from healing and growing is, indeed, that which evades one's usual consciousness; that which is on the fringes of, or sometimes completely outside of, standard and well-worn routes of thinking and feeling. This, in itself, can feel disturbing to recognize, but also potentially liberating. In my experience, this involves an ongoing and earnest commitment and partnership on behalf of therapist and patient, and can be the catalyst to an ongoing transformation that can potentially go far beyond symptom relief or mere passing comfort, and into the territory of that which could be aptly be called "life-changing".