psychoanalyze

American  

[sahy-koh-an-l-ahyz] / ˌsaɪ koʊˈæn lˌaɪz /

especially British, psychoanalyse

verb (used with object)

psychoanalyzed, psychoanalyzing

1. to investigate or treat by psychoanalysis.

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Other Word Forms

• psychoanalyzer noun

Etymology

Origin of psychoanalyze

First recorded in 1910–15; psycho- + analyze

Explanation

To psychoanalyze is to use a particular kind of psychiatric therapy to treat mental illness or disorders. When doctors psychoanalyze patients, they encourage discussion of their feelings, childhood, and dreams. If a therapist psychoanalyzes you, you'll probably sit in a chair or lie on a couch while you talk about your feelings. A doctor who practices this kind of therapy is called a psychoanalyst, and her goal may be to help you realize the unconscious conflicts that make it hard for you to feel happy. The first person to psychoanalyze a patient was the Austrian doctor Sigmund Freud, in the 1890s.

Example Sentences

“I don’t psychoanalyze the people who talk to me, just like I don’t psychoanalyze myself, thank God. Which you want me to do, I know, and I’m not going to.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025

“I don’t psychoanalyze my sources,” he says by phone from Washington, D.C., where he has long been based.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

Parson says she was acutely aware of the challenge of illustrating the interior lives of the women, but did not set out to psychoanalyze them in movement.

From Washington Times • Dec. 9, 2022

And she will psychoanalyze me, telling me I have mental problems.

From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2022

"Supposing I went to your father and had him psychoanalyze me and all," I said.

From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger