In the
Ethics of Psychoanalysis, Thomas Szasz describes psychotherapy as a social action, not as healing. Conceived in this way, psychoanalytic treatment is characterized by its aim--to increase the patient's knowledge of themself and others and hence freedom of choice in the conduct of their life; by its method--the analysis of communications, rules, and games; and lastly, by its social context--a contractual, rather than a therapeutic, relationship between analyst and the one being analyzed.
The Ethics of Psychoanalysis remains one of the most concise, precise, and lucid expositions of the nature, possibilities, and limitation of psychoanalytic treatment to be found anywhere.