<p>I often hear claims that psychoanalysis is ineffective, takes too long, is just pseudo-science, that other therapies such as cognitive-behavioural should be preferred or even that it should be entirely dismissed. In <a href="https://youtu.be/GOwJKbJxVUM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this talk</a> however, the speaker seems to claim that psychoanalysis has quite a bit of empirical evidence going for it, which surprised and confused me.</p>

<p>How strong is the research on psychoanalysis as a treatment for depression?</p>

<p>I am not sure if this is too opinion based, so please help me make it better if it is (e.g. 'what is some of the best evidence on psychoanalysis as a treatment for depression?')</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-11T21:31:35.100Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE.  There is a big discussion in meta concerning pseudoscience of psychoanalysis and that is at https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2242. There are also [limitations to CBT](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1977) along with many who regard CBT to not be as effective as portrayed. For CBT and depression there is https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/13516
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-12T12:14:51.323Z
@ChrisRogers thank you, I will look into those.
Giovani Granzotto
<depression><psychoanalysis>
How strong is the evidence for the effectiveness of psychoanalysis in the treatment of depression?
Giovani Granzotto
# How strong is the evidence for the effectiveness of psychoanalysis in the treatment of depression?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-07-11)

I often hear claims that psychoanalysis is ineffective, takes too long, is just pseudo-science, that other therapies such as cognitive-behavioural should be preferred or even that it should be entirely dismissed. In [this talk](https://youtu.be/GOwJKbJxVUM) however, the speaker seems to claim that psychoanalysis has quite a bit of empirical evidence going for it, which surprised and confused me.

How strong is the research on psychoanalysis as a treatment for depression?

I am not sure if this is too opinion based, so please help me make it better if it is (e.g. 'what is some of the best evidence on psychoanalysis as a treatment for depression?')

**Tags:** depression, psychoanalysis

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE.  There is a big discussion in meta concerning pseudoscience of psychoanalysis and that is at https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2242. There are also [limitations to CBT](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1977) along with many who regard CBT to not be as effective as portrayed. For CBT and depression there is https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/13516  
> **username_0**: @ChrisRogers thank you, I will look into those.  

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## 0 answers

