North Star Conversations Transcript: Different Ways Therapy Approaches Suffering—Alan Levy, PhD

Brandon Gimbel (00:00)

I value a lot of the other therapies: CBT, DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ERP. I find them compelling and useful and helpful. And they are more goal-directed. Someone goes to a CBT or a DBT therapist and they say, "I am suffering in this way. I need help." And the specialist will say, "okay, there is a path to relieving your symptoms, to alleviating your suffering. Let's go on this path together. And this is how we do it." What you're describing psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy preserves is a less linear path. It is "I am suffering, I don't know exactly what is causing my suffering, and I would like help both exploring and eventually, hopefully, finding relief."

Alan Levy (00:49)

Well, sure. And what's relief? Certainly symptom alleviation is important. And that's something that would be a goal too. But often the goal is if you live more deeply and if you understand yourself and your life, there's a lessening of symptoms. In analytic work, the symptom is just that: a symptom. Depression is a symptom that something is depressing. We look at symptoms as signs that there's something deeper that also needs to be addressed. Something is not right, and it's not just the symptom. The symptom's important, but that's not all.