I view the distress that motivates one to seek treatment as rooted in difficult to recognize and unconscious ideas and/or memories about ones self. The process of learning the self-defeating or self-destructive ways in which one avoids or defends against these troubling ideas and the process of coming to a deeper understanding of them reduces the grip they have on ones life. I maintain this perspective whether I am seeing someone for psychological testing, twice a week psychotherapy, or four times a week psychoanalysis.