Meaning & use
psychoanalyzing
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“psychoanalyzing” is a form of “psychoanalyze”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitive
Treating someone with psychoanalysis, a deep talking therapy that explores hidden feelings and past experiences.
Grammar: Takes an object: psychoanalyzing a patient. Often used in the continuous form for an action happening now.
Patterns
- psychoanalyzing someone
- be psychoanalyzing someone
The therapist is psychoanalyzing her patient to uncover the roots of his anxiety.
He felt as if his friends were psychoanalyzing him at dinner.
After months of psychoanalyzing the child, the doctor finally understood the cause of the nightmares.
Word forms
| third person singular | psychoanalyzes |
|---|---|
| past tense | psychoanalyzed |
| past participle | psychoanalyzed |
| -ing form | psychoanalyzing |
Common combinations
- psychoanalyzing a patient
- The young doctor spent hours psychoanalyzing a patient with severe depression.
- psychoanalyzing someone's dreams
- She was psychoanalyzing her own dreams to understand her fears.
- begin psychoanalyzing
- They began psychoanalyzing the character in the novel as if he were real.
Synonyms and how they differ
- analyzing
- More general; can mean studying anything, while psychoanalyzing specifically uses Freudian or similar therapeutic methods.
- treating
- Broader medical term; psychoanalyzing is one specific kind of psychological treatment.
Word family
- psychoanalysis noun
- The therapy method itself.
- psychoanalyst noun
- A person who practices psychoanalysis.
- psychoanalytic adjective
- Relating to psychoanalysis.
- psychoanalyze verb
- Base form of the verb.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The verb takes a direct object without a preposition: psychoanalyzing her patient. The other options wrongly add prepositions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “psychoanalyzing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.