In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is transactional analysis. Transactional analysis (TA) is a theory developed by psychoanalytic psychiatrist Dr. Eric Berne. This may not be the least bit relevant, but it helps set the scene—he has a pipe in his mouth in the …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms This week’s term is the anal triad. I originally intended to do this post on stubbornness. I couldn’t find much interesting on that, but it led me to obstinacy, which in turn led to the anal triad. We have Sigmund Freud’s …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is containment. British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion first proposed containment to describe a pattern of communicating mental experiences. Another researcher later suggested that Bion’s traumatic experience fighting in World War I influenced the development of his theory. Early life containment …
I had never heard of the notion of depression being anger turned inward until I heard about it indirectly while I was in hospital after a suicide attempt. My primary nurse kept asking me what I was angry about. She was insistent that I must have been angry about something to have tried to kill …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is not so much a single term as a group of terms that fall within the umbrella of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Love him or hate him, Sigmund Freud was quite remarkable in terms of his impact on the …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week, we’re looking at repression vs. suppression. Suppression and repression are examples of Freudian defense mechanisms. They serve the purpose of removing unwanted information from conscious awareness. Suppression involves consciously pushing distressing thoughts, emotions, or memories or unacceptable urges or …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is defense mechanisms. The concept of defense mechanisms was originally proposed by Sigmund Freud. They’re strategies that are used unconsciously in order to protect the ego when faced with uncomfortable feelings. Freud identified a number of defense mechanisms, as …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s terms are ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic. The terms ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic come from the field of psychoanalysis, and they were coined by Sigmund Freud in 1914. Ego-syntonic ideas match up with the ego’s needs, view of the self, and personality. Ego-dystonic …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is psychodynamic psychotherapy. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a type of talk therapy that does a deep dive into the past to help uncover what’s going on in the unconscious mind in order to figure out problems in the person’s life. It’s …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s terms are transference and countertransference. The concept of transference was first proposed by Sigmund Freud. In therapy, it occurs when a client unconsciously redirects feelings associated with one person, often an important figure in the earlier part of their …
