Definitions for psychoanalysis
ˌsaɪ koʊ əˈnæl ə sɪspsy·cho·ana·ly·sis

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. psychoanalysis, analysis, depth psychologynoun

   a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud

   "his physician recommended psychoanalysis"

GCIDERate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Psychoanalysisnoun

   The theory of human psychology which is the foundation for the psychoanalytic therapy, which explores the relation between conscious and unconscious mental processes in motivating human behavior and causing neuroses.

2. Psychoanalysisnoun

   A method or process of psychotherapeutic analysis and treatment pf psychoneuroses, based on the work of Dr. Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) of Vienna. The method rests upon the theory that neurosis is characteristically due to repression of desires consciously rejected but subconsciously persistent; it consists in a close analysis of the patient's mental history, effort being made to bring unconsciuos and preconscious material to consciousness; the methods include analysis of transferance and resistance. In some variants, stress is laid upon the dream life, and of treatment by means of suggestion.

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. psychoanalysisnoun

   a family of psychological theories and methods within the field of psychotherapy that work to find connections among patients' unconscious mental processes

2. Etymology: From psycho- + analysis, after German Psychoanalyse.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Psychoanalysis

   Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders. The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, who developed the practice from his theoretical model of personality organization and development, psychoanalytic theory. Freud's work stems partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Psychoanalysis was later developed in different directions, mostly by students of Freud, such as Alfred Adler and his collaborator, Carl Gustav Jung, as well as by neo-Freudian thinkers, such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Harry Stack Sullivan.Freud distinguished between a conscious and unconscious mind, arguing that the unconscious mind largely determines behaviour and cognition owing to instinctual unconscious drives. Freud observed that attempts to bring such drives into awareness triggers resistance in the form of defense mechanisms, particularly repression, and that conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result in mental disturbances. He also postulated that unconscious material can be found in dreams and unintentional acts, including mannerisms and Freudian slips. Psychoanalytic therapy developed as a means to improve mental health by bringing unconscious material into consciousness. Psychoanalysts place a large emphasis on early childhood in an individual's development. During therapy, a psychoanalyst aims to induce transference, whereby patients relive their infantile conflicts by projecting onto the analyst feelings of love, dependence and anger.During psychoanalytic sessions a patient traditionally lies on a couch, and an analyst sits just behind and out of sight. The patient expresses their thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst infers the unconscious conflicts causing the patient's symptoms and character problems. Through the analysis of these conflicts, which includes interpreting the transference and countertransference (the analyst's feelings for the patient), the analyst confronts the patient's pathological defence mechanisms to help the patient understand themselves better.Psychoanalysis is a controversial discipline, and its effectiveness as a treatment has been contested, although it retains influence within psychiatry. Psychoanalytic concepts are also widely used outside the therapeutic arena, in areas such as psychoanalytic literary criticism, as well as in the analysis of film, fairy tales, philosophical perspectives as Freudo-Marxism and other cultural phenomena.

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Psychoanalysis

   Psychoanalysis is a psychological and psychotherapeutic theory which has its roots in the ideas of the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Since then, psychoanalysis has expanded and been revised, reformed and developed in different directions. This was initially by Freud's colleagues and students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung who went on to develop their own ideas independently from Freud. In the line with Freudian thought, psychoanalysis was revised and developed by neo-Freudians such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan and Jacques Lacan. The basic tenets of psychoanalysis include the following: ⁕besides the inherited constitution of personality, a person's development is determined by events in early childhood; ⁕human behavior is largely influenced by irrational drives; ⁕irrational drives are unconscious; ⁕attempts to bring these drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defense mechanisms; ⁕conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result in mental disturbances such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.; ⁕the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the consciousness.

U.S. National Library of MedicineRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Psychoanalysis

   The separation or resolution of the psyche into its constituent elements. The term has two separate meanings: 1. a procedure devised by Sigmund Freud, for investigating mental processes by means of free association, dream interpretation and interpretation of resistance and transference manifestations; and 2. a theory of psychology developed by Freud from his clinical experience with hysterical patients. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996).

How to pronounce psychoanalysis?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

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   Fred

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   Tessa

   South African

How to say psychoanalysis in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of psychoanalysis in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of psychoanalysis in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of psychoanalysis in a Sentence

1. Fritz Perls:

   To mature means to take responsibility for your life, to be on your own. Psychoanalysis fosters the infantile state by considering that the past is responsible for the illness.

2. Germaine Greer:

   Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.

3. Marlon Brando:

   Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis.

4. Jacques Derrida, Quoted in New York Times, January 23, 1994:

   But psychoanalysis has taught that the dead—a dead parent, for example—can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary, than the living. It is the question of ghosts.

5. G.K. Chesterton:

   Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution.

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