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Medical Definition of Freudian psychoanalysis
1. The theory and practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy as developed by Freud, based on: 1) his theory of personality, which postulates that psychic life is made up of instinctual and socially acquired forces, or the id, the ego, and a superego, each of which must constantly accommodate to the other; 2) his discovery that the free association technique of verbalizing for the analyst all thoughts without censoring any of them is the therapeutic tactic which reveals the areas of conflict within a patient's personality; 3) that the vehicle for gaining this insight and next, on this basis, readjusting one's personality is the learning a patient does as he first develops a stormy emotional bond with the analyst (transference relationship) and next successfully learns to break his bond. (05 Mar 2000)