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Glossary
Definitions spanning depth psychology, neuroscience, addiction recovery, and convergence psychology.
Addiction Recovery
Abstinence Violation Effect
The abstinence violation effect (AVE) is G. Alan Marlatt's term for the cognitive and emotional cascade triggered when an individual committed to tota…
Addiction RecoveryCross-Addiction
Cross-addiction is the clinical phenomenon in which an individual who achieves abstinence from one substance or behavior transfers the addictive patte…
Addiction RecoveryEarned Secure Attachment
Earned secure attachment is the developmental achievement by which an individual who experienced insecure or disorganized attachment in childhood deve…
Addiction RecoveryEmotional Sobriety
Emotional sobriety is a term introduced by Bill Wilson in 1958 to describe the capacity for genuine emotional maturity and balance in recovery from ad…
Addiction RecoveryPost-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome
Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) is the constellation of neurobiological and psychological symptoms — including insomnia, anhedonia, cognitive im…
Addiction RecoverySelf-Medication Hypothesis
The self-medication hypothesis is Edward Khantzian's clinical framework proposing that individuals do not become addicted to substances at random but …
Addiction RecoverySomatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented psychotherapy developed by Peter Levine for the resolution of traumatic stress. SE treats trauma not as a…
Alchemy
Albedo
Albedo — from the Latin for "whiteness" — is the second stage of the alchemical opus, following the nigredo. In Jungian depth psychology, it correspon…
AlchemyCalcinatio
Calcinatio is the alchemical operation of sustained heating — burning and drying matter until only a fine powder remains. In Jungian depth psychology,…
AlchemyCitrinitas
Citrinitas — from the Latin for "yellowness" — is the transitional stage of the alchemical opus between the albedo and rubedo. Often omitted in later …
AlchemyCoagulatio
Coagulatio is the alchemical operation of solidification — the process by which diffuse, fluid psychic contents are given concrete form. It is the opp…
AlchemyConiunctio
The coniunctio — Latin for "conjunction" or "union" — is the supreme symbol of alchemical philosophy and the central image of psychological wholeness …
AlchemyLapis Philosophorum
The lapis philosophorum, or philosopher's stone, is the ultimate goal of the alchemical opus — the achievement of complete psychic wholeness. In Jungi…
AlchemyMassa Confusa
The massa confusa is the confused, chaotic mass that constitutes the starting condition of the alchemical opus. Psychologically, it represents the und…
AlchemyMortificatio
Mortificatio is the alchemical operation of killing — the deliberate destruction of an existing form so that transformation can proceed. It is the dar…
AlchemyNigredo
Nigredo — from the Latin for "blackness" — is the first stage of the alchemical opus. In Jungian depth psychology, it corresponds to the ego's confron…
AlchemyOpus
The opus, or Great Work, is the entire alchemical process of transformation from prima materia to lapis philosophorum. In Jungian psychology, the opus…
AlchemyPrima Materia
Prima materia is the raw, undifferentiated starting material of the alchemical opus — the base substance from which the philosopher's stone is extract…
AlchemyRubedo
Rubedo — from the Latin for "redness" — is the final stage of the alchemical opus, following the nigredo and albedo. In Jungian depth psychology, it r…
AlchemySeparatio
Separatio is the alchemical operation of division and differentiation — the deliberate separation of a mixed substance into its distinct components. P…
AlchemySolutio
Solutio is the alchemical operation of dissolving solid matter in water. In Jungian depth psychology, it corresponds to the dissolution of rigid ego s…
AlchemySolve et Coagula
Solve et coagula — "dissolve and coagulate" — is the master formula of alchemical transformation. It describes the fundamental rhythm of the opus: the…
AlchemySublimatio
Sublimatio is the alchemical operation of elevation and spiritualization — the raising of a dense, earthbound substance into a higher, more refined st…
AlchemyUnus Mundus
The unus mundus, or "one world," is Jung's concept of a unitary reality underlying both psyche and matter. Developed in his late work on alchemy, it r…
Convergence Psychology
Affect Regulation
Affect regulation is the capacity to modulate the intensity, duration, and expression of emotional states — a capacity that is not innate but forged t…
Convergence PsychologyBiopsychosocial-Spiritual Model
The biopsychosocial-spiritual model extends George Engel's original biopsychosocial framework by adding a fourth dimension — the spiritual — to the un…
Convergence PsychologyConvergence Psychology
Convergence psychology is a clinical framework that draws psychodynamic, somatic, and neuroscientific approaches into a single treatment model. Rather…
Convergence PsychologyEpistemic Trust
Epistemic trust is Peter Fonagy's term for the capacity to regard knowledge transmitted by another person as relevant, generalizable, and trustworthy.…
Convergence PsychologyThumos
Thumos (θυμός) is the most prominent psychic entity in the Homeric corpus, appearing over 750 times. Derived from the verb thuō ("to seethe"), it deno…
Convergence PsychologyTop-Down vs. Bottom-Up Regulation
Top-down regulation operates from the prefrontal cortex downward, using cognitive strategies — reappraisal, verbal processing, insight — to modulate e…
Depth Psychology
Active Imagination
Active imagination is a method developed by C.G. Jung in which a person deliberately engages unconscious contents — images, figures, affects — while m…
Depth PsychologyAnima
The anima is Jung's term for the autonomous soul-image in a man's psyche — the archetype that personifies his relationship to the unconscious. The ani…
Depth PsychologyAnimus
The animus is Jung's archetype of unconscious logos — conviction, opinion, and discriminating judgment operating autonomously within the psyche. In cl…
Depth PsychologyArchetypal Psychology
Archetypal psychology is a post-Jungian tradition founded by James Hillman that shifts psychology's center of gravity from ego, development, and diagn…
Depth PsychologyArchetype
An archetype, in C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, is an inherited, purely formal pattern within the collective unconscious that organizes human perc…
Depth PsychologyCollective Unconscious
The collective unconscious is Carl Jung's term for the deepest stratum of the psyche — a transpersonal layer that is not built from personal experienc…
Depth PsychologyComplex PTSD
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is a trauma-related condition resulting from prolonged, repeated interpersonal traumatization — most often childhood abuse, negl…
Depth PsychologyDepth Psychology
Depth psychology is a clinical and theoretical tradition that treats the unconscious not as a repository of repressed material but as a structured, pu…
Depth PsychologyEgo (Jungian Depth Psychology)
The ego is the central complex in the field of consciousness — the seat of identity, memory, and will. In Jungian psychology, the ego is not the total…
Depth PsychologyEgo-Self Axis
The ego-Self axis is the dynamic channel of communication between the ego — the center of conscious awareness — and the Self, the archetype of wholene…
Depth PsychologyEnantiodromia
Enantiodromia (Greek: ἐναντιοδρομία, "running counter to") is a concept in Jungian depth psychology describing the principle that any extreme psycholo…
Depth PsychologyFeeling-Toned Complex
A feeling-toned complex is a cluster of emotionally charged ideas, memories, and images organized around a central affect. First identified by Carl Ju…
Depth PsychologyIndividuation
Individuation is C.G. Jung's term for the lifelong developmental process through which a person differentiates from collective norms and integrates un…
Depth PsychologyInflation (Jungian Depth Psychology)
Inflation is the expansion of the ego beyond its proper limits through identification with an archetype, the persona, or unconscious contents. Jung de…
Depth PsychologyParticipation Mystique
Participation mystique is a term Jung borrowed from the French anthropologist Lucien Lévy-Bruhl to describe a state of unconscious identity between a …
Depth PsychologyPersona (Jungian Depth Psychology)
The persona is Jung's term for the functional psychic structure that mediates between the ego and the external social world. Derived from the Latin wo…
Depth PsychologyPsychological Projection
Psychological projection is an unconscious process in which an internal psychic content — whether personal or archetypal — is perceived as belonging t…
Depth PsychologyShadow (Jungian Depth Psychology)
The shadow is the unconscious counterpart of the ego — a functional complex containing traits, desires, and qualities that consciousness has rejected …
Depth PsychologyShadow Work
Shadow work is the sustained clinical and personal practice of confronting, differentiating, and integrating the contents of the Jungian shadow — the …
Depth PsychologySoul-Making
Soul-making is the central aspiration of James Hillman's archetypal psychology. Borrowed from the poet John Keats, the term designates the psyche's fu…
Depth PsychologySynchronicity
Synchronicity is a term coined by Carl Gustav Jung to designate a meaningful coincidence between a psychic event — a dream, vision, or premonition — a…
Depth PsychologyTemenos
In Jungian depth psychology, temenos refers to a sacred, bounded space that contains and protects the process of psychological transformation. Borrowe…
Depth PsychologyThe Numinosum
The numinosum is the felt charge of the sacred — the raw affective power that archetypal images carry and that seizes the ego in encounters with force…
Depth PsychologyThe Self
The Self is the central organizing archetype of the psyche in Jungian analytical psychology — the totality of the psychic system, encompassing both co…
Depth PsychologyTranscendent Function
The transcendent function is Jung's term for the psyche's self-regulatory process by which a sustained tension between conscious and unconscious posit…
Depth PsychologyWindow of Tolerance
The window of tolerance is a concept introduced by Daniel Siegel describing the optimal zone of autonomic arousal within which a person can process co…
Neuroscience
Allostatic Load
Allostatic load is the cumulative physiological toll exacted by chronic stress on the body's regulatory systems — the price the organism pays for sust…
NeuroscienceAmygdala Hijack
Amygdala hijack is Daniel Goleman's term for the phenomenon in which the amygdala — the brain's threat-detection center — triggers a fight-flight-free…
NeuroscienceDefault Mode Network
The default mode network (DMN) is a constellation of brain regions — principally the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and a…
NeuroscienceDopamine Reward Deficit
Dopamine reward deficit describes the neurobiological state in which chronic substance use downregulates the mesolimbic dopamine system, producing a b…
NeuroscienceEmbodied Cognition
Embodied cognition is the principle that cognitive processes — perception, reasoning, emotion, decision-making — are fundamentally shaped by the body'…
NeuroscienceInteroception
Interoception is the process by which the nervous system senses, interprets, and integrates signals originating from within the body — including heart…
NeuroscienceNeuro-Psychoanalysis
Neuro-psychoanalysis is an interdisciplinary field that integrates psychoanalytic theory with affective neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neur…
NeuroscienceNeuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is the brain's intrinsic capacity to reorganize its synaptic architecture in response to experience, learning, injury, and sustained b…
NeurosciencePolyvagal Theory
Polyvagal theory is Stephen Porges's neurobiological framework proposing that the autonomic nervous system operates through three phylogenetically ord…