free association
1
6.8
- noun
- /fri əˌsoʊsiˈeɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
asociación libre
- In psychoanalysis, free association helps uncover unconscious motives by allowing patients to speak freely.
- free association technique
Examples
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The artist wrote down her free association to capture the flow of creativity without interruption.
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You can observe the the patient, you can do free association, but dreams are the best way into it.
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How are they taking in the free association of their analysis and and making it a productive experience for both of them?
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And with this free association, you can dip into the unconscious.
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Based on the patient's free associations, Bose analyzed this as an expression of "a wish to be female."
Academic text (1990) -
From that time on, I devoted myself to reading the works of Freud until finally I discovered the method of free association as the foundation of psychoanalytic technique.
Academic text (1990) -
In free association, when asked to talk about anything that comes to mind, the image is presumed to be based on the most urgent need for that particular moment in time and to reveal important hidden yet ungratified needs (dissonance).
Academic text (1991) -
Freud introduced free association in The Interpretation of Dreams as a method to trigger expansive clusters of signification, often polyvalent and clashing in character, in order to unravel the import of a dream.
Academic text (2004) -
During our therapy sessions, we often use free association to explore hidden feelings and thoughts.
How Spontaneous
- Literature
7
8.1
- Specialized
1
6.8
- Specialized
93
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward modifier + noun combination: 'free' (unconstrained) + 'association' (linking of ideas), which directly yields the sense of unconstrained linking of thoughts. Although used as a technical psychoanalytic technique, its basic meaning is compositional and would be accessible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Free association comes from early therapy where patients were told to say whatever came into their mind, with free meaning no rules and association meaning ideas linking together, creating the image of a chain of thoughts. That's why it means 'a mental process in which one thought leads to another'.