Psychoanalyst

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A professional who specializes in the study of the human mind and emotions uses techniques like free association and dream analysis to understand behavior and alleviate psychological distress
2. An expert in the therapeutic field who applies principles of psychoanalysis to assist clients in exploring unconscious influences on their feelings, thoughts, and actions
3. A trained individual engaged in analyzing psychological states and facilitating mental health treatments by interpreting an individual's desires and conflicts within the framework of psychoanalytic theory

Etymology: "Psychoanalyst" is a compound built from two Greek elements. The first, "psūkhē", originally meant "breath" or "life" and later came to mean the "soul" or mind, while "analysis" comes from the Greek "analusis", meaning "a loosening up" or "breaking down into parts." Put together, the word describes someone who examines the mind by breaking it down into its components. The word's form is a straightforward combination: the prefix "psycho-", from the Greek combining form "psūkho-", joined to "analyst," which describes a person who performs analysis. Because the first element is the same root found in "psychology" and "psychiatry," the three words share a common foundation, though each combines it with a different second element to name a different kind of expert.

Synonyms: therapist, analyst, psychologist, counselor, psychotherapist