The definitions used in this glossary of terminology either have been provided by the authors of the articles, or have been extracted wholly or in part, or paraphrased from the following sources: The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine, Charles B. Clayman, MD, Medical Editor, Random House, New York, 1989; Biotechnology from A to Z, 2d Edition, William Bains, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2002; A Dictionary of Genetics, 6th Edition, Robert C. King and William D. Stansfield, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2002; Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 29th and 30th Editions, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 2000, 2003; Genes VII, Benjamin Lewin, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2000; The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, Volumes I and II, Stacey L. Blachford, Ed., Thomson Learning, New York, New York, 2002; The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1997; Molecular Biology of the Cell, 3rd Edition, Bruce Alberts, et al., Garland Publishing, 1994; The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Edition, 1966; Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1991.

DEFINITION:

psychoanalysis

1. A theory of human mental phenomena and behavior (Freud).
2. A method of investigation into the contents of the mind.
3. A therapeutic technique based on Freud's theory, focusing on the influence of such unconscious forces as repressed impulses, internal conflicts, and childhood trauma on the mental state. The therapist elicits from patients past emotional experiences and their role in influencing current mental life, so as to delineate the conflicts and mechanisms by which their pathologic mental state has been produced and furnish hints for psychotherapeutic procedures; the method employs free association, recall and interpretation of dreams, and interpretation of transference and resistance phenomena.