psychic apparatus

American  

[sahy-kik ap-uh-rat-uhs, -rey-tuhs] / ˈsaɪ kɪk ˌæp əˈræt əs, -ˈreɪ təs /

noun

Psychoanalysis.

1. the mind considered as a collection of structures and mechanisms, such as ego, superego, and id.

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Etymology

Origin of psychic apparatus

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

The dream, which in fulfilling its wishes follows the short regressive path, thereby preserves for us only an example of the primary form of the psychic apparatus which has been abandoned as inexpedient.

From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Freud, Sigmund

If we now follow our scheme of the psychic apparatus, we can localize a wish of the first order in the system Forec.

From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Freud, Sigmund

In the psychoses these modes of operation of the psychic apparatus, which are normally suppressed in the waking state, reassert themselves, and then betray their inability to satisfy our wants in the outer world.

From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Freud, Sigmund

We may say that the psychic apparatus serves the purpose of mastering and bringing to rest the mass of stimuli and the stimulating forces which approach it.

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund

His psychic apparatus never failed in letting him know the proximity of an incarnate or discarnate being.

From Three More John Silence Stories by Blackwood, Algernon