depth psychology

See also: depth-psychology

English

Alternative forms

• depth-psychology

Etymology

From the German Tiefenpsychologie, reportedly coined by Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939).

Noun

depth psychology (usually uncountable, plural depth psychologies)

1. An approach to psychology which attempts to describe and explain the structure, content, and relationship of conscious and unconscious mental activity, and which is intended to serve as a basis for psychoanalytic therapies.
   • 1957 May 13, "Medicine: Psychology & the Ads," Time (retrieved 19 Sep 2015):

     Depth psychology now probably has more influence on the U.S. at large through business and advertising than through clinics or mental-health programs.

   • 2002 April 28, Anthony Daniels, "You won't feel a thing" (review of Hidden Depths by Robin Waterfield), Telegraph (UK) (retrieved 19 Sep 2015):

     Mr Waterfield's long book traces the history of hypnosis from its discovery by Franz Anton Mesmer . . . who has been both derided as a self-seeking charlatan and praised as the forerunner of depth psychology.

   • 2006 Aug. 6, Sam Tanenhaus, "The Education of Richard Hofstadter," New York Times (retrieved 19 Sep 2015):

     [A] nucleus of thinkers at Columbia . . . formed a loose federation of like minds. . . . Most were influenced by European social science, in particular by psychoanalysis and depth psychology, which offered more fruitful diagnostic methods than the tired formulas of Marxism and the class struggle.

Hyponyms

• Freudianism
• Jungianism

See also

• behaviorism

Further reading

• “depth psychology”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.