Psychoanalysis is the name of the discipline developed by Sigmund Freud at the end of the 19th century. It offers an experience based on a matrix of interlocution designed to generate or produce certain psychic manifestations in one of its members, the analysand, while the other member listens in a psychoanalytic way and produces interpretations around those manifestations. Transference is central to its endeavor. Interpretations are based on early experiences and on notions such as sexuality, repression, trauma, repetition, and the unconscious. It is oriented to offer some form of cure to the suffering of the analysand by making conscious what is unconscious, and in that process, resolve symptoms and inhibitions, increasing the analysand’s capacity for love, work, and creation. It is, at the same time, a research device developed to study the psyche and the unconscious. Freud’s theory evolved from an initial focus on trauma to an emphasis on drives, fantasy, and infantile sexuality. Memory holds a central position, as temporal dimensions, re-signification, and construction are fundamental to both theory and practice. Post-Freudian contributions gave rise to different schools, among them the British School, the Lacanian School, and Self Psychology. Psychoanalytic concepts have been applied to art, literature, and religion. The scientific status of psychoanalysis remains debated: some view it as scientifically grounded, others question its disciplinary criteria, while still others consider it hermeneutic.