Psychoanalysis

“Psychoanalysis is about saying what has always seemed unsayable.” – Bruce Fink

Psychoanalysis is a theory about human subjectivity and a therapeutic approach for addressing the problems and difficulties that cause us suffering in life. Founded by Sigmund Freud in Vienna, Austria, in the late 20th century, psychoanalysis has a long and rich history and remains an alive and dynamic field today.

The psychoanalytic framework emphasises that:

• Each individual is singular and unique.
• There are unconscious factors outside of our conscious awareness that influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
• Our past shapes and influences our experience but does not define it. 
• The problems, questions, and conflicts we experience in life are significant (or meaningful), and by exploring them and what underlies them, we can gain a new understanding of ourselves and what we want in life. 
• Speaking and being heard is a simple yet profound act that can facilitate meaningful change in one’s life.
  

I work with an approach to psychoanalysis pioneered by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. In a Lacanian orientation, we emphasise the foundational role of speech and language in shaping human experience, the centrality of desire as a driving force in our lives, and our relationship to jouissance (satisfaction in suffering).

Analysis with me

I am based in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, and conduct consultations in person & remotely (online). I am able to work with people locally and internationally. I run a socially engaged practice and work with people at a sliding scale rate that is negotiated relative to their financial means and circumstances.

I have an academic background in the humanities that gives me an awareness of the way that social and cultural factors such as class, race, and gender shape our experience.

Please contact me to organise a preliminary session to discuss the offer of psychoanalysis.

As an analyst-in-training I operate under the auspicious of the Centre for Lacanian Analysis Aotearoa.

Richard B. Keys
Psychoanalyst-in-training 
Doctor of Philosophy
Member of the Centre for Lacanian Analysis Aotearoa
& the International Forums of the Lacanian Field
richard.benjamin.keys@gmail.com
+6421994509