Free Association (psychology)
Free association is a technique used in psychoanalysis (and also in psychodynamic theory) which was originally devised by Sigmund Freud out of the hypnotic method of his mentor and coworker, Josef Breuer.
'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'. James Strachey considered free association as 'the first instrument for the scientific examination of the human mind'.
Read more about Free Association (psychology): Origins, Characteristics, Freudian Approach, Further Developments, Criticism, Coda
Famous quotes containing the words free and/or association:
“When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers, suffers most i’ the mind,
Leaving free things and happy shows behind.
But then the mind much sufferance doth o’er skip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed August 1789, published September 1791)