classical psychoanalysis

n. The psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud in which the therapeutic process occurs through a patient's saying whatever enters her/his mind without censorship (free association), which is interpreted by the therapist to the patient, who overcomes resistance to conscious acknowledgment of the interpretation using the energy of the emotional attachment (cathexis) he/she has transferred to the therapist; thus the patient becomes able to form new patterns of association which lead to better functioning.