depth psychology

plural depth psychologies · alternative depth-psychology

1. uncountableusuallyAn approach to psychology which attempts to describe and explain the structure, content, and relationship of conscious and unconscious mental activity, and which is intended to serve as a basis for psychoanalytic therapies.

   Depth psychology now probably has more influence on the U.S. at large through business and advertising than through clinics or mental-health programs.

   1957 May 13, “Medicine: Psychology & the Ads”, in Time, retrieved 19 Sep 2015

   2 more examples

   Mr Waterfield's long book traces the history of hypnosis from its discovery by Franz Anton Mesmer . . . who has been both derided as a self-seeking charlatan and praised as the forerunner of depth psychology.

   2002 April 28, Anthony Daniels, "You won't feel a thing" (review of Hidden Depths by Robin Waterfield), Telegraph (UK) (retrieved 19 Sep 2015)

   [A] nucleus of thinkers at Columbia . . . formed a loose federation of like minds. . . . Most were influenced by European social science, in particular by psychoanalysis and depth psychology, which offered more fruitful diagnostic methods than the tired formulas of Marxism and the class struggle.

   2006 August 6, Sam Tanenhaus, “The Education of Richard Hofstadter”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 Sep 2015