Psychoanalytical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A method of psychological treatment and theoretical approach that examines unconscious mental processes, repressed thoughts, and childhood experiences to understand behavior and resolve emotional conflicts
2. relating to a therapeutic approach examining unconscious motivations, hidden desires, and past experiences to understand personality and emotional difficulties
3. pertaining to an investigative method that explores repressed impulses, mental conflicts, and formative influences to analyze human behavior and resolve internal struggles

Etymology: The word is a compound built from two parts. The first, "psycho-", comes from the Ancient Greek "psūkhḗ", meaning soul, breath or life, which later took on the sense of the mind. The second part, "analytical", comes from the Greek "analyein", meaning to loosen or break up into parts. Joined together, they describe something concerned with breaking the mind down into its component workings. The combination reflects the method behind the idea. The adjective describes a therapeutic approach that examines unconscious motivations, hidden desires and past experiences, so "psycho-" points to the mind and "analytical" to the process of taking it apart to see how it works. The form "psychoanalytical" is the adjectival version of "psychoanalysis", and the compound follows the same pattern as other English words that pair "psycho-" with a method or discipline.

Synonyms: psychodynamic, psychological