psychodynamics

[ sahy-koh-dahy-nam-iks ]

noun

, (used with a singular verb)

1. any clinical approach to personality, as Freud's, that sees personality as the result of a dynamic interplay of conscious and unconscious factors.
2. the aggregate of motivational forces, both conscious and unconscious, that determine human behavior and attitudes:

   Mythologists see the myths as having developed through the psychodynamics of the human social psyche.

psychodynamics

/ ˌsaɪkəʊdaɪˈnæmɪks /

noun

1. functioning as singular psychol the study of interacting motives and emotions

Derived Forms

• ˌpsychodyˈnamic, adjective
• ˌpsychodyˈnamically, adverb

Other Words From

• psy·cho·dy·nam·ic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychodynamics¹

First recorded in 1870–75; psycho- + dynamics

Example Sentences

In my psychotherapy practice of 30-plus years, I have not seen such a common theme of existential anxiety created not by individual psychodynamics but by profound fear about the state of the Earth.

From Seattle Times

You will gain a far better understanding of the psychodynamics of how police agencies impose their will by sitting through “Is This a Room” than you would most streamed crime procedurals.

From Washington Post

Allen and Schuur committed to delivering the same pleasures of the original — the radical intimacy, the hyper articulacy, the intense focus on the psychodynamics of two people in a nice room.

From New York Times

In the real-time argument that ensues — punctuated by shouts, murmurs, microaggressions and micro-reconciliations — Marie will give voice to everything from the invisibility of women’s emotional labor to the psychodynamics of the artist-muse hierarchy.

From Washington Post

There was not any one thing in the book that surprised me about Trump's psychology or psychodynamics.

From Salon