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psychoanalysis
(si″ko-ә-nal´ĭ-sis)
a system of theoretical psychology and psychotherapy formulated by Sigmund Freud to analyze mental processes and mental disorders, based on recognition of unconscious mental processes such as resistance, repression, and transference, and of the importance of infantile experience as a determinant of adult behavior. Techniques used include free association, interpretation, and analysis of dream analysis. This theory has increased the understanding of the causes of many different mental phenomena, such as neuroses and personality disorders. Called also psychoanalytic psychotherapy. adj., psychoanalyt´ic., adj.

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