Depression Psychoanalysts in Cape Town

Effective psychological treatments include behavioural activation and cognitive-behavioural therapy ¹. Interpersonal psychotherapy and problem-solving therapy are also used. In the World Health Organization's words: ‘Psychological treatments are the first treatments for depression.’ ‘They can be combined with antidepressant medicines in moderate and severe depression.’

Effective treatment exists for mild, moderate and severe depression. A depressive episode means low mood, or loss of interest in things you enjoyed. It lasts most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks.

Low mood after a loss or a hard year is not automatically a disorder, though support can help. Ask a practitioner what they would suggest, and why.

Everyone on this page describes their work as psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic therapy. You talk as freely as you can, and the analyst listens for patterns. The analyst also listens for how those patterns appear between you both.

Analysis usually means several meetings a week, agreed between you and the analyst. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy uses the same ideas once or twice a week.

The work runs open-ended rather than to a fixed number of sessions.

Groote Schuur Hospital - Psychiatry Outpatient Services. Phone +27 21 404 9111. Western Cape public hospitals charge on a means-tested scale. Patients in the lowest band pay nothing for specialist outpatient visits. Public patients are accepted by referral from a district or secondary service. Each specialty has its own eligibility criteria.

• Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town offers specialist psychiatric care by referral, including a service for persistent, difficult-to-treat depression.²

South Africa has no separate register for the title psychoanalyst. Ask a psychoanalyst whether they are registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), and as what. You can check a name on the HPCSA iRegister.