analytical psychology

noun

variants or less commonly analytic psychology

: an approach to psychology and psychotherapy that is based on the theories and methods of Carl Gustav Jung and represents a modification of Freudian psychoanalysis which adds to the concept of the personal unconscious a collective unconscious and the process of individuation (see individuation sense 1c) and advocates that psychotherapy be conducted in terms of the patient's present-day conflicts and maladjustments

Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, observed that his least-happy patients were always the most self-absorbed, and the most happy were those most interested in other people and the world around them.

—Gyles Brandreth

… Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology who had a famous break with Sigmund Freud over the role of the unconscious mind in aberrant behavior.

—Jeffrey Mullins

Examples of analytical psychology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Brazilian internet quickly seized on it as a visual demonstration of stray-dog-ism at its purest. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology, is credited with theorizing that while people can have complexes, complexes can have people. —Shannon Sims, New Yorker, 30 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for analytical psychology

• neuropsychopharmacology
• aetiology
• anthropology
• archaeology
• archeology
• audiology
• cardiology
• climatology
• cohomology
• cosmetology
• criminology
• demonology

Medical Definition

analytical psychology

noun

variants also analytic psychology

: an approach to psychology and psychotherapy that is based on the theories and methods of C. G. Jung and represents a modification of Freudian psychoanalysis which adds to the concept of the personal unconscious a collective unconscious and the process of individuation (see individuation sense 1) and advocates that psychotherapy be conducted in terms of the patient's present-day conflicts and maladjustments

Jungian psychoanalysts apply the insights of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who lived from 1875 to 1961 and founded analytical psychology.

—Chicago Tribune

… Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology who had a famous break with Sigmund Freud over the role of the unconscious mind in aberrant behavior.

—Jeffrey Mullins, Elko (Nevada) Daily Free Press