Psychoanalytic

Let me help you untangle some of what is going through your mind, and help you find hidden meanings and thought patterns to your awareness and reframe them.

I practice psychoanalytically-informed psychotherapy, primarily in the traditions of British Object Relations and relational psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic means my attention leans towards the world of inner emotional experience; the nature of one's pain and one's relationship to it; patterns of relating to self/other; early formative experience and impact; and a respect for the unconscious as a creative canvas of emotional expression (e.g. dreams).

Modern psychoanalysts recognize the individuality of each person. We aim to understand the unconscious forces that may interfere with living fulfilling lives. By creating a non-judgmental space, the analyst helps people talk about feelings, thoughts and fantasies they may not have known they had. By accepting all these thoughts and feelings as valuable information, the analyst helps people learn to tolerate painful feelings and accept the disturbing and sometimes intriguing parts of themselves.

Why psychodynamic/analytic therapy? The here and now psychotherapy relationship opens a stunning window into past, present, and future; into the deep wisdom of the unconscious; and into a creative flexibility that brings more and more wholesomeness, freedom, intimacy, and flourishing of the soul. I have doctoral and postdoctoral training in various contemporary analytic approaches, and I practice from a liberatory, feminist, relational stance.

I approach therapy through a Contemporary Psychoanalytic Lens to understand what is being communicated through one's behaviors and understand how past experiences influence current relationships. As we form a relationship, I have found individuals develop stronger insight, aiding with a deeper understanding of self, and experiencing more lasting and sustainable relief.

At Michelle Harwell Therapy, our practice is based in Psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalytic therapy explores the unconscious and how it is impacting the way we interact with other, have relationships, your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. We will dive into your childhood to gain a deeper understanding of why you are the way you are and through processing and meaning making, emerge with a new sense and better understanding of yourself.

The psychoanalytic theory says that our childhood experiences and unconscious desires influence behavior. In essence, personalities have memories, beliefs, urges drives, and instincts that we are not always aware of and that make up this unconscious. SoulPath what we are experiencing in the moment has less to do with what is happening and more to do with what has happened that causes us to think, feel, react and respond. The psychoanalytic approach is key to our treatment of our clients.

Psychoanalytic approach explores how the unconscious mind influences your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Specifically, it examines how your experiences (often from childhood) may be contributing to your current experience and actions.

Psychoanalysis basically means a kind of talk therapy that helps you discover the deepest core meaning to you behaviors, emotions, and problems. Often these reasons are deep in the unconscious or outside of your awareness. We work together to help figure out what those unconscious things are so you have more control over them.

Attachment Theory and Relational psychology has its roots in Kleinian, Winnicottian, Lacanian, Intersubjective psychologies and the sciences of neurobiology and neuropsychology. Attachment and Relational work explores development in early and important relationships, how that influences our perception of self and others in relationships, and it's impacts. (See John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Mary Main, Donald Winnicott, and more recently, Philip M. Bromberg, Thomas Ogden, Christopher Bollas.)

I specialize in Jungian Psychoanalytical Therapy model. I facilitate my clients to understand the root causes of their behaviors, negative beliefs related to childhood and relationships. I teach concepts and tools for building a strong confident Self, awareness of Shadows and complexes, and teach Integration for Psychological Wholeness and Full Individuation.

My background is in Modern Psychoanalysis. I have participated in trainings at the Center for Modern Psychoanalysis in NCY, The Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis in Livingstone, NJ and through the Center for Group Studies in NCY since 2001. I continue to participate in in trainings and workshops offered thru CMPS and CGS in order to keep those approaches active in my practice.

Carefully listening to the conflicts and desires hidden within your story, through which we can establish new ways for you to live and thrive.

While many psychoanalytic concepts can feel dated, psychoanalysis has grown up and can be incredibly helpful. For example, psychoanalysis has great respect for the influence that our past has on our present and on our future. It gives us tools for thinking about how our minds take in information and how we make use of it. Perhaps most importantly, psychoanalysis has great respect for our unconscious minds and seeks to help us understand what might be going on "underneath the surface."

At Michelle Harwell Therapy, our practice is based in Psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalytic therapy explores the unconscious and how it is impacting the way we interact with other, have relationships, your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. We will dive into your childhood to gain a deeper understanding of why you are the way you are and through processing and meaning making, emerge with a new sense and better understanding of yourself.