free association
Sign in to savetechnique used in psychoanalysis (and also in psychodynamic theory)
Key facts
- Mesh
- D005608
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
99,298 papers- Free Association and Inner Speech-On the Internal Form of Words.Integrative psychological & behavioral science · 2023
- Some Arguments About Free Association as a Technique.American journal of psychoanalysis · 2023
- Free association and changing models of mind.The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis · 1990
- Free association.Comprehensive psychiatry · 1960
- Play, Free Association, and Enactment.The Psychoanalytic quarterly · 2021
via PubMed
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Free association is the expression (as by speaking or writing) of the content of consciousness without censorship as an aid in gaining access to unconscious processes. The technique is used in psychoanalysis (and also in psychodynamic theory) which was originally devised by Sigmund Freud out of the hypnotic method of his mentor and colleague, Josef Breuer.
Freud described it as such: "The importance of free association is that the patients spoke for themselves, rather than repeating the ideas of the analyst; they work through their own material, rather than parroting another's suggestions."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “free association” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.