ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Edna O'Shaughnessy

Edna O'Shaughnessy was a smart lady who helped people who were feeling sad or confused. Sometimes, when we have big feelings or things happen in our lives that we don't understand, we can get really stuck and not know how to feel better. That's where Edna came in!

She was trained to listen very carefully to what people were saying and help them understand their emotions better. She would ask them questions and help them think about things in new ways, so they could come up with their own solutions to their problems.

Edna used a special kind of therapy called psychoanalysis, which sounds like a big, scary word, but really just means that she talked to people a lot and tried to help them understand why they were feeling the way they were. She believed that if we could understand ourselves better, we could make changes in our lives that would help us feel happier and more fulfilled.

Even though Edna was helping people for many years and became very well-known, she always stayed humble and focused on making a difference in people's lives. And that, my young friend, is why she is a hero to many people in the world of psychology!