Psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the

unconscious mind The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations. Even though these processes exis ...

, and which together form a method of treatment for

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

A

Acathexis Acathexis is a psychoanalytic term for a lack of emotional response to significant memories or actual interactions, where such a response would normally be expected. The term also refers more broadly to a general absence of normal or expected feeli ...

Afterwardsness In the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, afterwardsness is a "mode of belated understanding or retroactive attribution of sexual or traumatic meaning to earlier events... rom the German word''Nachträglichkeit'', translated as deferred action, retro ...

Anal eroticism Anal eroticism, in psychoanalysis, is sensuous pleasure derived from anal sensations. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, hypothesized that the anal stage of childhood psychosexual development was marked by the predominance of anal erot ...

Anal expulsiveness Anal expulsiveness is the state of a person who exhibits cruelty, emotional outbursts, disorganization, self-confidence, artistic ability, generosity, rebelliousness and general carelessness. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis theory claims the ana ...

Anal retentiveness An anal retentive person is a person who pays such attention to detail that it becomes an obsession and may be an annoyance to others. The term derives from Freudian psychoanalysis. Origins In Freudian psychology, the anal stage is said to follow ...

Anticathexis In psychoanalysis, anticathexis, or countercathexis, is the energy used by the ego to bind the primitive impulses of the Id. Sometimes the ego follows the instructions of the superego in doing so; sometimes however it develops a double-countercath ...

* Antinarcissism *

Aphanisis In psychoanalytic theory, aphanisis (; from the Greek ἀφάνισις ''aphanisis'', "disappearance") is the disappearance of sexual desire. The etymology of the term refers to it as the absence of brilliance in the astronomical sense such as the ...

B

* Basic hostility *

Body cathexis Body cathexis is defined as the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction one feels towards various parts and aspects of their own body.Jourard, S. M., & Secord, P.F. (1955). Body cathexis and the ideal female figure. The Journal of Abnormal and Soc ...

C

Cassandra (metaphor) The Cassandra metaphor (variously labeled the Cassandra "syndrome", "complex", "phenomenon", "predicament", "dilemma", "curse") relates to a person whose valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others. The term originates in Greek mytholo ...

Catharsis Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...

Cathexis In psychoanalysis, cathexis (or emotional investment) is defined as the process of allocation of mental or emotional energy to a person, object, or idea. Origin of term The Greek term ''cathexis'' (κάθεξις) was chosen by James Strachey ...

Censorship (psychoanalysis) Censorship (psychoanalysis) () is the force identified by Sigmund Freud as operating to separate consciousness from the unconscious mind. In dreaming In his 1899 ''The Interpretation of Dreams'', Freud identified a force working to disguise the d ...

Complex (psychology) A complex is a structure in the unconscious that is objectified as an underlying theme—like a power or a status—by grouping clusters of emotions, memories, perceptions and wishes in response to a threat to the stability of the self. In p ...

Condensation (psychology) In Freudian psychology, a condensation (german: Verdichtung) is when a single idea (an image, memory, or thought) or dream object stands for several associations and ideas. In dreams/symptoms/jokes Freud considered that "dreams are brief, meagre ...

* Construction (psychoanalysis) *

Counterphobic attitude Counterphobic attitude is a response to anxiety that, instead of fleeing the source of fear in the manner of a phobia, actively seeks it out, in the hope of overcoming the original anxiousness. Contrary to the avoidant personality disorder, the co ...

D

Death drive In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive (german: Todestrieb) is the drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.Eric Berne, ''Wha ...

Decathexis In psychoanalysis, decathexis is the withdrawal of cathexis from an idea or instinctual object. Decathexis is the process of dis-investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea. Narcissism In narcissistic neurosis, cathexis ...

Decompensation In medicine, decompensation is the functional deterioration of a structure or system that had been previously working with the help of compensation. Decompensation may occur due to fatigue, stress, illness, or old age. When a system is "compensate ...

Defence mechanism In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism (American English: defense mechanism), is an unconscious psychological operation that functions to protect a person from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and ou ...

Deferred obedience Deferred obedience is a psychological phenomenon first articulated by Sigmund Freud, whereby a onetime rebel becomes subservient to the very rules and standards against which they had previously been rebelling. To father figures Deferred obedience ...

Delayed gratification Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, is the resistance to the temptation of an immediate pleasure in the hope of obtaining a valuable and long-lasting reward in the long-term. In other words, delayed gratification describes the pro ...

Demand (psychoanalysis) In the theory of Jacques Lacan, demand (french: demande) represents the way instinctive needs are inevitably alienated through the effects of language on the human condition. The concept of demand was developed by Lacan in parallel to those of need ...

Displacement (psychology) In psychology, displacement (german: Verschiebung, lit=shift, move) is an unconscious defence mechanism whereby the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for goals felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable. Freud The ...

Drive theory In psychology, a drive theory, theory of drives or drive doctrine is a theory that attempts to analyze, classify or define the psychological drives. A drive is an instinctual need that has the power of driving the behavior of an individual; an " ...

E

Electra complex In neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Jung in his ''Theory of Psychoanalysis'', is a girl's psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of her father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the c ...

Eros (concept) Eros (, ; ) is a concept in ancient Greek philosophy referring to sensual or passionate love, from which the term '' erotic'' is derived. ''Eros'' has also been used in philosophy and psychology in a much wider sense, almost as an equivalent ...

F

Fixation (psychology) Fixation (german: Fixierung) is a concept (in human psychology) that was originated by Sigmund Freud (1905) to denote the persistence of anachronistic sexual traits. The term subsequently came to denote object relationships with attachments to peo ...

Foreclosure (psychoanalysis) In psychoanalysis, foreclosure (also known as "foreclusion"; french: forclusion) is a specific psychical cause for psychosis, according to French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. History According to Élisabeth Roudinesco, the term was originally int ...

Four discourses Four discourses is a concept developed by French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. He argued that there were four fundamental types of discourse. He defined four discourses, which he called Master, University, Hysteric and Analyst, and suggested tha ...

Freudian slip In psychoanalysis, a Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought. Classical examples involve slips of t ...

G

Gaze In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the gaze (French ''le regard''), in the philosophical and figurative sense, is an individual's (or a group's) awareness and perception of other individuals, other groups, or oneself. The concept ...

Gender inequality Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empi ...

Graph of desire The graph of desire (french: graphe du désir) is a conceptual tool in Lacanianism. History Lacan devised numerous quasi-mathematical diagrams to represent the structure of the unconscious and its points of contact with empirical and mental reali ...

I

Id, ego and super-ego The id, ego, and super-ego are a set of three concepts in psychoanalytic theory describing distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus (defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche). The three agents are theoretical const ...

Identification (psychology) Identification is a psychological process whereby the individual assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed wholly or partially by the model that other provides. It is by means of a series of identifications that ...

* Identification with the Aggressor *

The Imaginary (psychoanalysis) The Imaginary (or Imaginary Order) is one of three terms in the psychoanalytic perspective of Jacques Lacan, along with the Symbolic and the Real. Each of the three terms emerged gradually over time, undergoing an evolution in Lacan's own devel ...

Intellectualization In psychology, intellectualization (intellectualisation) is a defense mechanism by which reasoning is used to block confrontation with an unconscious conflict and its associated emotional stress – where thinking is used to avoid feeling. It invol ...

Interpellation (philosophy) In Marxist theory, interpellation is the process by which we encounter a culture's or ideology's values and internalize them. It is associated in particular with the work of French philosopher Louis Althusser.(Verso: 1970, p.11) According to A ...

Introjection In psychology, introjection is the unconscious adoption of the thoughts or personality traits of others. It occurs as a normal part of development, such as a child taking on parental values and attitudes. It can also be a defense mechanism in sit ...

* Inversive

J

Jocasta complex In psychoanalytic theory, the Jocasta complex is the incestuous sexual desire of a mother towards her son. Raymond de Saussure introduced the term in 1920 by way of analogy to its logical converse in psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex, and it ma ...

Jointness (psychodynamics) Jointness is a termR. Solan 1991 in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory, describing a new look at normal object relation that takes place from the beginning of life. Till nowadays symbiosis (propounded by Margaret Mahler 1968, 1975) is the co ...

Jouissance ''Jouissance'' is a French term meaning "enjoyment", which in Lacanianism is taken in terms both of rights and property, and of sexual orgasm. The latter has a meaning partially lacking in the English word "enjoyment". The term denotes a transgre ...

L

Lack (psychoanalysis) In Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic philosophy, lack (french: manque) is a concept that is always related to desire. In his seminar ''Le transfert'' (1960–61) he states that lack is what causes desire to arise. Types of lack Lacan first designate ...

Laius complex The Laius complex revolves around the paternal wish for filicide, particularly for the extinction of the male heir, in an attempt to ensure one will have no successors. Mythological background Indo-European mythology contains a number of stories of ...

Lapsus In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking. Investigations In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and K ...

Libido Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act up ...

Love and hate (psychoanalysis) Love and hate as co-existing forces have been thoroughly explored within the literature of psychoanalysis, building on awareness of their co-existence in Western culture reaching back to the “odi et amo” of Catullus, and Plato's ''Symposium''. ...

M

Madonna–whore complex In psychoanalytic literature, a Madonna–whore complex, also called a Madonna–mistress complex, is the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving relationship. First identified by Sigmund Freud, under the rubric of ''psychic ...

Matheme The matheme (from el, μάθημα "lesson") is a concept introduced in the work of the 20th century French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. The term matheme "occurred for the first time in the lecture Lacan delivered on November 4th, 1971 ..Betwee ...

Medusa complex Medusa complex is a psychological complex revolving around the petrification or freezing of human emotion, and drawing on the classical myth of the Medusa. Origins The term Medusa Complex was coined in 1948 by Gaston Bachelard to cover the feeling ...

Mirror stage The mirror stage (french: stade du miroir) is a concept in the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. The mirror stage is based on the belief that infants recognize themselves in a mirror (literal) or other symbolic contraption which induces apper ...

Mortido In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive (german: Todestrieb) is the Drive theory, drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructive behavior, ...

N

Name of the Father The name of the father ( French ') is a concept that Jacques Lacan developed from his seminar ''The Psychoses'' (1955–1956) to cover the role of the father in the Symbolic Order. Lacan plays with the similar sounds in French of ' (the name of th ...

Narcissistic defences Narcissistic defenses are those processes whereby the idealized aspects of the self are preserved, and its limitations denied. They tend to be rigid and totalistic. They are often driven by feelings of shame and guilt, conscious or unconscious. Or ...

Narcissistic elation Narcissistic elation or narcissistic coenaesthetic expansion were terms used by Hungarian psychoanalyst Béla Grunberger to highlight 'the narcissistic situation of the primal self in narcissistic union with the mother'. Narcissistic elation has ...

Narcissistic injury Narcissistic injury, also known as "narcissistic wound" or "wounded ego" are emotional traumas that overwhelm an individual's defense mechanisms and devastate their pride and self worth. In some cases the shame or disgrace is so significant that t ...

* Narcissistic mortification *

Narcissistic neurosis Narcissistic neurosis is a term introduced by Sigmund Freud to distinguish the class of neuroses characterised by their lack of object relations and their fixation upon the early stage of libidinal narcissism. The term is less current in contemporar ...

Narcissistic personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, a diminished ability or unwillingness to empathize with other ...

Narcissistic supply In psychoanalytic theory, narcissistic supply is a pathological or excessive need for attention or admiration from codependents, or such a need in the orally fixated, that does not take into account the feelings, opinions or preferences of other ...

Narcissistic withdrawal In psychology, narcissistic withdrawal is a stage in narcissism and a narcissistic defense characterized by "turning away from parental figures, and by the fantasy that essential needs can be satisfied by the individual alone". In adulthood, it is ...

Negative transference Negative transference is the psychoanalytic term for the transference of negative and hostile feelings, rather than positive ones, onto a therapist (or other emotional object). Freud's preference In his pioneering studies of transference phenomena, ...

O

Objet petit a In the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, ''objet petit a'' stands for the unattainable object of desire, the "a" being the small other ("autre"), a projection or reflection of the ego made to symbolise otherness, like a specular image, as ...

Oceanic feeling In a 1927 letter to Sigmund Freud, Romain Rolland coined the phrase "oceanic feeling" to refer to "a sensation of 'eternity, a feeling of " being one with the external world as a whole", inspired by the example of Ramakrishna, among other mysti ...

Oedipus complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...

* Ophelia complex *

Organ language According to the psychoanalytic explanation of psychosomatic illness, organ language is the bodily expression of an unconscious conflict as a form of symbolic communication. It is also called organ-speech, a term that Sigmund Freud uses in his 1915 ...

Overdetermination Overdetermination occurs when a single-observed effect is determined by multiple causes, any one of which alone would be sufficient to account for ("determine") the effect. That is, there are more causes present than are necessary to cause the e ...

P

Pansexuality , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heteroflex ...

Parataxic distortion Parataxic distortion is a psychiatric term first used by Harry S. Sullivan to describe the inclination to skew perceptions of others based on fantasy. The "distortion" is a faulty perception of others, based not on actual experience with the ot ...

Parataxical Integration {{essay-like, date=July 2011 First used by Irish-American psychoanalytic psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan in the 1940s, Parataxical Integration (a combination of terms) refers to the mutual condition of parataxic distortions (another concept of S ...

Penis envy Penis envy (german: Penisneid) is a stage theorized by Sigmund Freud regarding female psychosexual development, in which young girls experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a penis. Freud considered this realization a defining m ...

Phaedra complex The Phaedra complex (pronounced ) is an informal, non-scientific designation to the sexual desire of a stepmother for her stepson, though the term has been extended to cover difficult relationships between stepparents and stepchildren in general. O ...

Pleasure principle (psychology) In Freudian psychoanalysis, the pleasure principle (german: Lustprinzip) is the instinctive seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain to satisfy biological and psychological needs. Specifically, the pleasure principle is the driving force guiding t ...

Polymorphous perversity Polymorphous perversity is a psychoanalytic concept proposing the ability to gain sexual gratification outside socially normative sexual behaviors. Sigmund Freud used this term to describe the sexual disposition from infancy to about age five. Fre ...

Postponement of affect Postponement of affect is a defence mechanism which may be used against a variety of feelings or emotions. Such a 'temporal displacement, resulting simply in a later appearance of the affect reaction and in thus preventing the recognition of the m ...

Preconscious In psychoanalysis, preconscious is the loci preceding consciousness. Thoughts are preconscious when they are unconscious at a particular moment, but are not repressed. Therefore, preconscious thoughts are available for recall and easily 'capable ...

Primal scene Primal may refer to: Psychotherapy * ''Primal'', the core concept in primal therapy, denotes the full reliving and cathartic release of an early traumatic experience * Primal scene (in psychoanalysis), refers to the witnessing by a young child of ...

Projective identification Projective identification is a term introduced by Melanie Klein and then widely adopted in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Projective identification may be used as a type of defense, a means of communicating, a primitive form of relationship, or a ro ...

Psychic apparatus The term psychic apparatus (also psychical apparatus, mental apparatus) denotes a central, theoretic construct of Freudian metapsychology, wherein an implicit intake and processing of information takes place, and thereby acts on said information ...

Psychical inertia Psychical inertia is a term introduced by Carl Jung to describe the psyche's resistance to development and change. He considered it one of the main reason for the neuroticism, neurotic opposing, or shrinking from, his or her age-appropriate tasks ...

Psychological projection Psychological projection is the process of misinterpreting what is "inside" as coming from "outside". It forms the basis of empathy by the projection of personal experiences to understand someone else's subjective world. In its malignant forms, i ...

Repression (psychoanalysis) Repression is a key concept of psychoanalysis, where it is understood as a defence mechanism that "ensures that what is unacceptable to the conscious mind, and would if recalled arouse anxiety, is prevented from entering into it." According to psyc ...

Psychological resistance Psychological resistance, also known as psychological resistance to change, is the phenomenon often encountered in clinical practice in which patients either directly or indirectly exhibit paradoxical opposing behaviors in presumably a clinically ...

R

Rationalization (psychology) Rationalization is a defense mechanism (ego defense) in which apparent logical reasons are given to justify behavior that is motivated by unconscious instinctual impulses. It is an attempt to find reasons for behaviors, especially one's own. Ration ...

Reaction formation In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation (german: Reaktionsbildung) is a defense mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency. ...

The Real In continental philosophy, the Real refers to the remainder of reality that cannot be expressed, and which surpasses reasoning. In Lacanianism, it is an "impossible" category because of its opposition to expression and inconceivability. In ...

Regression (psychology) Regression (german: Regression), according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses more adaptive ...

* Reparation (psychoanalysis) *

Repetition compulsion Repetition compulsion is the unconscious tendency of a person to repeat a traumatic event or its circumstances. This may take the form of symbolically or literally re-enacting the event, or putting oneself in situations where the event is likely ...

Repressed memory Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of ...

Resistance (psychoanalysis) Resistance, in psychoanalysis, refers to oppositional behavior when an individual's unconscious defenses of the ego are threatened by an external source. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic theory, developed his concept of resistance as ...

S

Screen memory A screen memory is a distorted memory, generally of a visual rather than verbal nature, deriving from childhood. The term was coined by Sigmund Freud, and the concept was the subject of his 1899 paper "Screen Memories". Childhood origins Freud was ...

* Self-envy *

Signorelli parapraxis The Signorelli parapraxis represents the first and best known example of a parapraxis and its analysis in Freud's ''The Psychopathology of Everyday Life''. The parapraxis centers on a word-finding problem and the production of substitutes. Freud co ...

Sinthome ''Sinthome'' () is a concept introduced by Jacques Lacan in his seminar ''Le sinthome'' (1975–76). It redefines the psychoanalytic symptom in terms of the role of the subject outside of analysis, where enjoyment is made possible through creativ ...

Sublimation (psychology) In psychology, sublimation is a mature type of defense mechanism, in which socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, possibly resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial ...

Symbolic equation Symbolic equation is the term used in Kleinian psychoanalysis for states of thinking which equate current objects with those of the past, rather than finding a ''resemblance'' between the two sets. Origins Hanna Segal developed the concept of the ...

The Symbolic The Symbolic (or Symbolic Order of the Borromean knot) is the order in the unconscious that gives rise to subjectivity and bridges intersubjectivity between two subjects; an example is Jacques Lacan's idea of desire as the desire of the Other, ...

T

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

Transference Transference (german: Übertragung) is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which the "feelings, attitudes, or desires" a person had about one thing are subconsciously projected onto the here-and-now Other. It usually concerns feelings from a ...

Transference neurosis Transference neurosis is a term that Sigmund Freud introduced in 1914 to describe a new form of the analysand's infantile neurosis that develops during the psychoanalytic process. Based on Dora (case study), Dora's case history, Freud suggested t ...

True self and false self The true self (also known as real self, authentic self, original self and vulnerable self) and the false self (also known as fake self, idealized self, superficial self and pseudo self) are a psychological dualism conceptualized by English psychoa ...

U

Uncanny The uncanny is the psychological experience of something as not simply mysterious, but creepy, often in a strangely familiar way. It may describe incidents where a familiar thing or event is encountered in an unsettling, eerie, or taboo context. ...

Unconscious cognition Unconscious cognition is the processing of perception, memory, learning, thought, and language without being aware of it. The role of the unconscious mind on decision making is a topic greatly debated by neuroscientists, linguists, philosophers, ...

Unconscious mind The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations. Even though these processes exis ...

Undoing (psychology) Undoing is a defense mechanism in which a person tries to cancel out or remove an unhealthy, destructive or otherwise threatening thought or action by engaging in contrary behavior. For example, after thinking about being violent with someone, one ...

Y

* Vanishing mediator

References

{{Reflist Glossaries of medicine

Terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wor ...

Psychological concepts Wikipedia glossaries using unordered lists

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

Y

See also

References