Psychoanalysis is a form of talk therapy designed to relieve emotional distress by increasing the person's self-awareness.  This specialized form of treatment is based upon the observation that unconscious fantasies have a significant influence upon the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of human beings.  In collaboration with the psychoanalyst, the patient works to discover his own particular fantasies and their influence in his life. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for the analyst and patient to meet regularly and frequently in a quiet, private setting.  The analyst invites the patient to lie on a couch and talk freely about everything that comes to mind. By observing his free associations and analyzing his dreams, feelings and thoughts, the patient uncovers his unconscious feelings and fantasies.  He traces their vicissitudes throughout his development and studies their influence on his current feelings, relationships and patterns of behavior. In addition, the patient often becomes aware of his hidden feelings and expectations as they emerge in relationship to the analyst. Thus the patient becomes familiar with his unconscious mind not only intellectually, but - most significantly - emotionally, as he comes to experience his feelings and expectations in relationship to the analyst.