psychoanalyze
Examine the subconscious
To psychoanalyze is to examine someone's thoughts, feelings, and behavior through the lens of psychoanalytic theory—probing unconscious motivations, childhood experiences, and hidden conflicts.
In clinical settings, it describes formal therapeutic treatment.
More loosely, it means attempting to explain someone's actions through psychological interpretation: Stop psychoanalyzing me—I just don't like olives.
The casual use often carries a note of unwelcome intrusion.
Upholstered seating furniture
- sessionScheduled time for activity
- transferenceRedirecting feelings to substitutes
- countertransferenceTherapist's emotional response to patient
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
interpretation · insight · working through · free association · defense mechanisms · projection · rationalization · displacement
Not awake or aware
- idUnconscious instinctual drives
- egoOne's self-image
- superegoMind's moral overseer
- libidoInnate erotic drive
Oedipus · repression · psychosexual · oral stage · anal stage · castration anxiety · penis envy · pleasure principle
Scrutiny of one's thoughts
- self-analysisScrutinizing one's own psyche
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-awarenessInsight into one's psyche
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
introspection · soul-searching · self-inquiry · self-discovery · self-scrutiny · inner conflict · self-questioning · uncovering
Identification of illness
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- case studyResearched particular instance
- pathologyStudy of disease processes
- neurosisFunctional mental disorder
psychosis · anxiety · hysteria · obsession · compulsion · phobia · personality · disorders
couch
Upholstered seating furniture
- sessionScheduled time for activity
- transferenceRedirecting feelings to substitutes
- countertransferenceTherapist's emotional response to patient
resistance · interpretation · insight · working through · free association · defense mechanisms · projection · rationalization · displacement · regression
unconscious
Not awake or aware
libido · Oedipus · repression · psychosexual · oral stage · anal stage · castration anxiety · penis envy · pleasure principle · Electra complex
self-examination
Scrutiny of one's thoughts
- self-analysisScrutinizing one's own psyche
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-awarenessInsight into one's psyche
contemplation · introspection · soul-searching · self-inquiry · self-discovery · self-scrutiny · inner conflict · self-questioning · uncovering · excavating
diagnosis
Identification of illness
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- case studyResearched particular instance
- pathologyStudy of disease processes
neurosis · psychosis · anxiety · hysteria · obsession · compulsion · phobia · personality · disorders · symptoms
psychoanalyzemedicate
Administer pharmaceutical treatment
drug · hospitalize · sedate · lobotomize
psychoanalysis, psychoanalyzed, psychoanalyses, psychoanalyzing, psychoanalyse, psychoanalyzes, psychoanalysed, psychoanalysing