Marcos Alencar | My Journey

I am a psychoanalyst and psychologist, offering in-person sessions in São Paulo and online sessions. My journey began at the age of 17, when I entered the Jean Piaget Institute. It was there that my interest in the study of the human mind first emerged—an interest that, over the years, deepened through psychoanalysis and clinical practice. Since then, the learning has never stopped: a university degree, several postgraduate programs—including Preventive Medicine, which broadened my understanding of health beyond illness—and decades of study, along a path that continues to evolve.

Education and Influences

My work is rooted in the psychoanalytic tradition and has gradually expanded through dialogue with different authors and clinical experiences. Freud's work remains a fundamental reference for understanding the unconscious and the practice of clinical listening. Jung broadened my perspective on the symbolic dimension of psychic life and the idea that symptoms may represent an attempt at transformation. Lacan deepened my attention to language and to the ways it both reveals and conceals aspects of human experience. Through body-oriented therapies and group processes, I learned that psychological life extends beyond words. These perspectives inform my work, but they are not applied as a fixed method. Every person brings a unique history, and it is within the therapeutic encounter that each path gradually takes shape.

From Executive Career to Clinical Practice

Before dedicating myself fully to psychotherapy, I built a career as an executive and entrepreneur, complemented by studies in technology and innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I experienced firsthand the demands of leadership, high performance, decision-making under pressure, and the constant changes of the professional world. I understand the emotional cost these demands can impose because I have lived them myself. This experience allows me to understand, with genuine proximity, the conflicts many people face between professional life, relationships, personal choices, and the search for a more meaningful life.

On the Other Side of the Couch

I was in therapy for many years, so I also know this process from the perspective of someone seeking help: the hesitation before starting, the time some words take to emerge, the periods of doubt, and the relief of finding a space where one can be heard without haste, without judgment, and without the demand for immediate answers. This experience has deeply shaped the way I welcome and listen to those who come to my practice. I offer sessions in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, in person in São Paulo and online. If something you have read here resonates with what you are going through, perhaps we could begin with an initial conversation. an initial conversation..