Washington Psychoanalytic Legislative Work Group

The Washington Legislative Psychoanalytic

Work Group (WPLWG) was created in June of 2006 to develop materials that could be used to explain psychoanalytic therapy to legislators and the public. Washington legislators and state mental health agencies have had misunderstood the wide range of current psychoanalytic theory and practice.

WPLWG’s goal is to incorporate psychoanalytic practice into the mental health treatment options available to Washington citizens and to show that psychoanalytic treatment is cost effective,

research-based in terms of efficacy and

effectiveness, and a valuable component

of available mental health treatment options.

Mission of WPLWG

For many years, psychoanalytic treatment has been increasingly disparaged and misunderstood. The Washington Psychoanalytic Legislative Work Group offers answers here to the most prevalent myths about psychoanalytic treatment.

Psychoanalytic therapy provides emotional

relief for many complex mental health problems and should be considered when these problems arise.

Psychoanalysis and analytic psychotherapy have evolved for over 100 years. During that time the basic principles of psychoanalysis and the way it is used as a mental health treatment have changed in many ways.