An armchair, a lamp, and the length of one session.

This is the psychology and psychoanalysis practice of Daniela Pinheiro, in Savassi, in the centre of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The page sets out, without hurry and without promises, what happens before, during and after a session here, so that nobody arrives not knowing what to expect.

One session, in three parts

Ibefore

What happens before the first session?

It starts with a short message. Whoever is looking for the practice writes an e-mail or calls, says in a few words that they would like a first conversation, and hears back with the times that are free that week. There is no screening, no form and no questionnaire to fill in beforehand: the first contact is nothing more than a brief exchange to settle a day and an hour.

The first session exists so that the person can say what brought them, in whatever way they manage to say it, and so that both sides can tell whether going on makes sense. That is also where the rest gets agreed: how often, at what fee, and at which fixed hour. None of it appears on this page because none of it is the same for everyone.

Nobody needs to bring a diagnosis, a referral or a ready explanation of themselves. Arriving with a vague unease is as good a start as arriving with a precise complaint. The listening begins wherever the person is.

IIduring

What is a session like, hour by hour?

A session is a conversation at a reserved time, in a closed room, with one person at a time. Whoever is in the armchair talks about whatever they wish, in whatever order it comes, and the psychologist listens, asks, and now and then points at something that went by unnoticed. The work is psychoanalytic in its orientation: speaking freely is the method, and silence, when it comes, is part of it.

There is no list of advice, no homework and no assessment at the end. Nothing is recorded, nothing is written down while the person is talking, and what is said in the room is covered by the professional confidentiality laid down in the Brazilian code of ethics for psychologists. The only exception is the one the law requires, and it is explained to the person at the very beginning, before anything else is said.

The length of each meeting is agreed in the first session and then kept. It begins and ends on time, including on days when the subject seems to ask for more: the limit on time is part of the frame, not an oversight.

IIIafter

And once the session is over?

The person leaves the room with what they heard and what they said, and the work carries on by itself in the gap before the next session, at whatever pace is theirs. There is no target number of meetings and no end date: to continue, to pause or to stop is always the decision of the person in analysis, talked through openly in the session, never imposed from outside.

The practice does not promise an outcome, does not sell packages and does not make a set number of sessions a condition of anything. It also does not issue reports, opinions or documents about the people it sees, unless the person asks for one and the profession allows it.

Between one session and the next, contact is limited to whatever is needed to reschedule or to give notice of an absence, through the same channels as the first message.

Letters from the Fifth Floor

Besides the room with the armchair, the practice keeps a small page of reading in English: three letters, written here on the fifth floor, about ordinary habits of the mind. They are reading, not care, and nobody becomes a patient of the practice by opening them.

To arrange a first conversation

contato@dancraz.com
+55 (31) 3054-1141

This page carries no form. The address above opens your own e-mail application, and nothing you write passes through this site. We answer by the same e-mail, with the free hours of the week.