Psychologist Cem Guner

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"Healing isn't about feeling nothing; it's learning how to carry what you feel."

What is Dynamic Psychotherapy?

Effective Therapy Focusing on Unconscious Processes

Dynamic psychotherapy is a therapeutic approach that addresses the roots of an individual's current psychological problems through early life experiences, relational experiences, and unconscious processes. This method aims not only to reduce existing symptoms but also to help the individual understand themselves at a deeper level and create lasting internal change.

In dynamic psychotherapy, work is focused on the client's past relationships, repetitive behavioral patterns, emotional conflicts, and unconsciously maintained defense mechanisms. The relationship between the therapist and the client is one of the most vital elements of the therapy process. The emotions and interaction styles that emerge during sessions provide valuable clues for understanding the patterns in the individual's daily life.

This therapeutic approach provides effective psychological support for many issues, such as depression, anxiety, relationship problems, self-esteem issues, post-traumatic stress, personality patterns, and life-cycle crises. Depending on the client’s needs, dynamic psychotherapy can be applied as short-term focused therapy or planned as a more comprehensive, long-term psychotherapy process.

In conclusion, dynamic psychotherapy is a scientifically grounded and well-established method that helps individuals better understand their emotions, build healthy relationships, resolve internal conflicts, and lead a more balanced life. If you wish to know yourself better and strengthen your mental and emotional well-being, dynamic psychotherapy can be an effective option.

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“It is a joy to be hidden, but disaster not to be found.” Donald W. Winnicott
(Saklanmak bir neşe kaynağıdır; fakat bulunmamak bir felakettir.)

“The only way to deal with fear is to face it — to look at it directly.” Irvin D. Yalom
(Korkuyla başa çıkmanın tek yolu, onunla yüzleşmektir — doğrudan ona bakmak.)

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Jacques Lacan: The Mirror Stage — The Reflection of the Self

In Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory, the 'mirror stage' describes the developmental period in which the individual recognizes themselves as a whole for the first time and begins to construct their sense of 'self.' This stage is not merely a psychological process, but also the foundation of the relationship the human being establishes with themselves and the world.

In the first months of life, the infant cannot experience physical wholeness; their arms and legs feel scattered and uncontrolled to them. However, when they see their own reflection in the mirror, they begin to perceive these parts as a whole. This 'illusion of wholeness' is the first seed of the 'self-image'.

According to Lacan, the human self is not an internal reality, but is constructed from the outside—that is, through a reflection. The child claims the image they see in the mirror: 'That is me.' But paradoxically, that image is not themselves; it is merely a reflection.

For this reason, Lacan views the 'mirror stage' as a moment of illusion and alienation. The individual finds their own self in an 'external' image and continues to seek the approval of this reflection throughout their life. In fact, the 'external construction of the self' in childhood explains, at least to some degree, our lifelong curiosity about how we appear in the eyes of others.

The mirror is not merely a glass surface—it is also the gaze of society and others. Even when we become adults, who we are is largely determined by this 'gaze.' The desire for approval, admiration, and acceptance; these are all extensions of the 'mirror stage' in adult life.

The subject, unable to define themselves without the gaze of another, constantly reconstructs the self through reflections coming from the outside world. For this reason, according to Lacan, a human being is never fully 'complete'—because the perception of self is always dependent on someone else. In essence, every human exists through the gaze of others and is 'in need of the gaze of the other.

The mirror stage, while constructing the self on one hand, creates its fragility on the other. The individual becomes dependent on the gazes and judgments originating from the outside world. Praise inflates the perception of self; rejection destroys it. Therefore, Lacan’s subject is an incomplete being—constantly lacking, constantly searching. In truth, the identity we establish through reflection is, at the same time, an identity distorted by reflection.

In today's world, Lacan's 'mirror' is not merely an object; it is screens, social media profiles, photographs, and virtual identities. Every 'like' and every 'comment' we receive offers a new reflection—and the individual redefines themselves through these reflections, just as they did in childhood.

Modern man transforms into a subject fixated on his own image: a self that strives to 'look like himself,' but is, in reality, a prisoner of that image.

Lacan’s 'mirror stage' is not merely a moment belonging to childhood; it is a process that continues throughout life. Every relationship, every gaze, and every encounter in daily life is a new reflection. A human being’s attempt to understand themselves is—at its deepest level—an attempt to decipher the relationship they have established with these reflections.

Perhaps this is why Lacan’s subject can never fully be 'I'; because the subject always exists, at least partially, in the eyes of others.

^*Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (1901–1981), Fransız psikiyatrist ve psikanalisttir.

References
Evans, D. (2006). An introductory dictionary of Lacanian psychoanalysis.
Lacan, J. (1949/2010). The mirror stage…
Miller, P. (2002). Pure psychoanalysis…