The pontiff confessed he sought help at the age of 42 to “clarify a few things” while he was head of the Jesuit order in his native Argentina.
It is believed to be the first time that a head of the Roman Catholic Church has admitted to undergoing some form of psychological therapy.
The frank admission is included in a new book by French sociologist Dominique Wolton, who conducted a dozen extensive interviews with Pope Francis, 81.
In the book, Pope Francis: Politics and Society, the head of the Vatican says: “For six months, I went to her home once a week to clarify a few things.
“She was a doctor and psychoanalyst. She was always there.
“In those six months she really helped me. She was a wonderful person.”
The pope, who was known by his birth name Jorge Mario Bergoglio, did not reveal the reason why he sought help, or the name of his psychoanalyst.
But he added: “Then one day, before she died, she called me.
“Not to receive the sacraments – because she was Jewish – but for a spiritual dialogue. She was a good person.”
The news has come as a surprise to some in the Vatican, according to Robert Mickens, editor of the English version of Catholic daily newspaper La Croix.
He told the Telegraph: “I suppose there may have been oddball popes in the Middle Ages who sought advice from seers or something, but nothing like this.
“Bergoglio is a person with his feet on the ground, but he realises that you can’t pray away all your problems.
“That said, he would be the first to say that analysis is no subsitute for spirituality.”
Pope Francis also hits out at “rigid priests who are afraid of communicating”.
“It’s a kind of fundamentalism,” he tells Wolton.
“When I come across someone rigid, especially if they are young, I say to myself that they are sick.
“In reality, they are looking for security.”
Psychoanalysis is hugely popular in Argentina, and it is not unusual for people to openly discuss their visits to a therapist.
At the time Pope Francis he would have sought help, between 1978 and 1979, Argentina was rule by a brutal military junta.
It is believed around 30,000 people were “disappeared” during the regime, and the then Father Bergoglio has been accused of effectively handing over two Jesuit priests to the authorities by failing to endorse their social work in the slums of Beunos Airies.
Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics were kidnapped in 1976 and tortured for several months during what became known as Argentina’s “Dirty War”
The vatican has always vigorously denied Pope Francis was guilty of any wrongdoing.