Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious. Psychoanalysis is both a theory of how the mind works and a treatment. In recent years, both have yielded to more mainstream, research-driven approaches, but psychoanalysis is still a thriving field.Modern psychoanalysis emphasizes the importance to mental health of attention to the subjective and relational dimensions of life. Psychoanalytic research has demonstrated that being emotionally attended to, treated as subject, not merely an object, for example, has calming and healing properties.Psychoanalysis is a method of treating emotional difficulties that involves communication between a psychoanalyst and an individual, with the goal of gaining insight into the individual's inner world and how it affects his or her emotions, behavior, and relationships. Psychoanalysis is also a system of ideas about the human mind and personality. Although both the method and the theory have advanced since Freud's day, some of his basic ideas continue to shape our thinking about human behavior and functioning.