Psychodynamic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to theories that emphasize the interplay of mental processes and emotions, they explore how unconscious motives influence behavior and personality development
2. This term encompasses frameworks in psychology that investigate the effects of unconscious influences on emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
3. It describes a perspective focused on the dynamics of mental processes and emotional experiences, particularly emphasizing the role of unconscious factors in shaping human behavior

Etymology: "Psychodynamic" is a compound built from two Greek-derived parts. The first, "psycho-", comes from Ancient Greek "psūkhḗ", meaning soul, breath or life, and reached English as a combining form for the mind. The second, "dynamic", goes back to Ancient Greek "dunamikós", meaning powerful or relating to force, from "dúnamis" (power). English took "dynamic" from French "dynamique", and it originally described physical forces before it was applied to human motivation. The word simply joins these two ideas: the mind considered as a system of forces pushing and pulling against one another. It is a technical coinage rather than an ancient term, so the Greeks never used it. The "dynamic" half reflects a model of the mind in which impulses, wishes and defences are in constant tension, and the approach is most closely associated with psychoanalytic thought.

Synonyms: psychological, mental, cognitive, emotional, behavioral

Antonyms: physical, biological, material, mechanical, objective