Skip to main content
psychoanalysis

psychoanalysis

14 8.1
A type of therapy where a trained person helps you find and understand hidden thoughts and feelings
  • noun
  • /ˌsaɪkoʊəˈnælɪsɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : psicoanálisis
  • He decided to start psychoanalysis to better understand his feelings and past experiences.
  • adaptation to psychoanalysis
  • reception of psychoanalysis
  • development of psychoanalysis

Because in in psychoanalysis, there's this notion of desire and drive.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Your dad's experience was at a time in psychiatry where psychoanalysis had taken over American psychiatry, and it was not good.

  • Upon returning to Japan, he became a staunch supporter of psychoanalysis at that university.

    Academic text (1990)
  • And this is where psychoanalysis was born.

  • And in fact today psychoanalysis has become largely dead for a number of reasons.

  • And he spent a lot of time in psychoanalysis trying to find out about these things.

  • So, you know, psychoanalysis is not the theory to tackle everything.

  • In the near future, one can bet that the public will meet psychoanalysis in three phases.

    Academic text (1990)
  • With its focus on the unconscious, psychoanalysis stands "outside the boundaries" of science.

    Academic text (1990)
  • That's the lesson of psychoanalysis, I think, more actual than ever today.

  • You know," he continued, "many people in my profession undergo psychoanalysis in their lifetimes.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

analysis
vspsychoanalysis
  • Specialized
52 6.8

A method of therapy that explores a person's hidden thoughts and childhood memories

is the full theoretical and therapeutic system behind those techniques
Freudianism
vspsychoanalysis
  • Specialized
1 8.4

Ideas and methods that explain people's behavior using the unconscious mind and childhood experiences

is the therapeutic system that applies those methods to treat disorders
Freudian psychology
vspsychoanalysis
  • Specialized
6.3

Ideas about the hidden part of the mind and early childhood that shape behaviour

is a specific therapeutic system combining those theories with clinical treatment

Antonyms

behavior therapy
  • Specialized
3 3.9

A treatment that helps people change actions they do not want by rewarding better ones

How Psychoanalytic

psychoanalysis
  • Specialized
14 8.1
psychoanalytical
  • Specialized
2 8.6
psychotherapy
  • Specialized
24 5.8

Surface Forms

psychoanalysis singular

Morphology

psychoanalysis = analysis (semi-transparent) = psycho + analysis

The word is clearly built from psycho- plus analysis, but the term names a specialized Freudian system rather than a fully literal 'mind analysis'.

Etymology

Psychoanalysis combines psycho- meaning 'mind' and analysis, the same root as the common word analyze, which means 'to break down or study carefully'. So, psychoanalysis is a way of 'studying the mind' by looking at its parts and hidden feelings to understand and help with mental problems.