Is Psychoanalysis Useful? A Practical Look for Rational Minds

Let me be blunt.
If you’re a project manager with a high ‘Engineer’ temperament (like me)—someone who thrives on data, logic, and structure—you’ve probably looked at psychoanalysis and thought: What does lying on a couch and talking about dreams have to do with getting things done?
Good question.
Let’s cut through the fluff and take a rational, results-focused look at psychoanalysis—its usefulness (or lack thereof), especially for those of us wired to think practically and act efficiently.
What Is Psychoanalysis, Really?
Psychoanalysis was developed over a century ago by Sigmund Freud. Its central idea is that unconscious childhood conflicts drive much of our adult behavior. Therapists using this model encourage patients to free associate, explore dreams, and analyze past traumas in long, open-ended sessions.
In 2025, this is still happening. Don’t believe me? Read the piece “The Current State of Psychoanalysis in Society, Culture and the Clinic”. It’s still very much alive in academia and niche clinics. But it’s clear: this is less about outcomes and more about culture and theory.
Now, here’s the problem: If you ask for hard evidence that psychoanalysis consistently improves mental health, performance, or emotional intelligence in a practical timeframe—you’ll struggle to find it.
And as someone who spent a career in corporate management and venture capital, I don’t buy into anything that doesn’t show results.
What the Research Actually Says
Even seasoned psychotherapists are raising the red flag. Joel Paris, a psychiatrist with decades of experience, wrote a scathing critique in Aeon. He called much of psychodynamic theory “nonsense” and admitted he became a better therapist after abandoning it.
Why? Because it doesn’t work fast enough—or at all—for many people.
Paris isn’t alone. Numerous controlled studies show limited benefit of long-term psychoanalytic therapy compared to modern alternatives like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is faster, goal-oriented, and evidence-based.
For Engineer types? The verdict is clear. You want results. You want frameworks. You want things that work now—not after 200 sessions of introspection.
Enter the Socratic Method
Now contrast Freud with Socrates.
In a recent Psychology Today article, the Socratic Method is described as a process of asking disciplined questions to uncover truth. Sound familiar? That’s essentially how Engineers operate: they test, verify, and analyze.
The Socratic method gets people thinking about their own thoughts logically. It’s structured. It’s repeatable. And most importantly—it can be taught and applied in a business environment.
This makes it ideal for building emotional intelligence in logic-driven professionals—without sounding like a therapy session.
Why Emotional Intelligence Still Matters (Even If You Hate Talking About Feelings)
Let me be crystal clear: emotional intelligence (EQ) isn’t fluff. It’s a business asset.
Low EQ in a manager leads to poor team dynamics, unresolved conflict, and high staff turnover. All of which cost time and money.
I’ve built my own EQ framework, the 7MTF/Humm-Wadsworth model, around this principle. It’s simple: people are driven by 7 temperament components. The Engineer is one of them. It’s the most logical and least emotional. Useful for analysis. Not so great for managing people.
If you’re high Engineer and low in EQ, the good news is you can develop emotional intelligence like any other skill—provided it’s taught the right way.
This is where EmotionalIntelligenceCourse.com comes in. We don’t do therapy. We do strategy. We teach emotional intelligence in a language that makes sense to logical people using proven models, personality typing, and practical scenarios.
Can Psychoanalysis Help with EQ? Technically Yes. Practically, Not Really.
Now, let’s be fair to Freud. The idea of exploring your unconscious patterns can lead to self-awareness. And self-awareness is the first pillar of EQ.
But here’s the problem: psychoanalysis is inefficient. Most people don’t have years to unravel their childhood memories in the hope of eventually becoming a better listener at work.
Engineer temperament types want frameworks. They want to understand themselves in 90 minutes—not 90 weeks.
Psychoanalysis might work for some. But it’s not built for business. It’s not scalable. It’s not practical.
What Should We Use Instead?
Use Socratic questioning to challenge your emotional assumptions.
Use the 7MTF model to quickly understand your emotional blind spots.
Use short, structured training—not therapy—to build practical EQ.
And if you want to reflect on childhood trauma, do it on your own time.
Psychoanalysis is fine for academic debates. But if you’re managing people, running projects, or trying to lead effectively—you need a toolkit that works now.
So, Is Psychoanalysis Useful?
Here’s the honest answer: not really, unless you’re:
• A literary theorist.
• A tenured professor in a psychology department.
• Or you have lots of time and money and want to explore your dreams.
For everyone else—especially practical project managers—your time is better spent learning actionable emotional intelligence using models like the 7MTF.
You don’t need a therapist. You need a translator. Someone who can take emotional complexity and make it understandable, measurable, and useful.
That’s what I do. That’s what EmotionalIntelligenceCourse.com does.
Because in the real world, insight without action is just expensive navel-gazing.

For more information watch this 4-minute video introduction to the 7MTF.  If that whets you appetite  sign up to my Introduction to the 7MTF online-video course that takes only 5 hours to complete and an investment of only A$25.  The 7MTF model of temperament is the secret to lifting your emotional intelligence.  If you complete the basic 7MTF course you will dramatically increase your EQ competency in days.

Or if you want a more personal touch where you and I meet on-line for six coaching sessions read what is offered here.

Finally, if you enjoyed this article create a backlink from your website or LinkedIn profile and I will send you a free hard copy (RRP A$20) of The Humm Handbook: Lifting your level of Emotional Intelligence.