ABSTRACT
In October 2009, a meta-analysis of twenty-three studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy was more effective than short-term treatments. Such studies imply that psychoanalysis is replicable, scientific, a materialist field of study rather than a doorway to the unconscious with its obscure and often disturbing communications and connections. However complex and distinct their particular nuances, all psychoanalytic theories are essentially attempts to make sense of our ongoing, ultimately irresolvable relationships with one another. However objective or scientific its disguise, psychoanalysis is, at heart, a matter of faith. And as with all the best spells and prayers, if the believers (both analyst and analysand) are faithful enough, it works. At its best, psychoanalysis can provide real insights and deep epiphanies. Psychoanalysis is about the shape of our relationships, not just with the present and the living, but with the past and the dead.
