Practicing Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychotherapies in Developing Societies

Vital to the contemporary exercise of psychiatry is the biopsychosocial approach, with psychotherapy as its well-defined, and requisite, constituent. The key objectives of psychoanalysis and other related therapies are the amelioration of symptoms and modification of character by probing the unconscious. But the practice of psychoanalysis and similar insight-oriented techniques is in developing nations is different from developed countries due to cultural and educational reasons, along with a shortage of required facilities. The result often is ignorance of exploratory techniques and the substitution of approaches, such cognitive and behavior therapies, which operate at the conscious and subconscious levels of mind. Additionally, decreased implementation of psychotherapy by psychiatrists in industrialized countries may discourage its use by therapists in developing societies. This article is devoted to developing, traditional, or conservative societies and the obstacles confronted in the progression of applied (clinical) psychoanalysis and related methods in the classroom and practice. Possible solutions also are discussed briefly.