active analytic psychotherapy
the therapeutic approach of Viennese psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) in which the analyst takes a much more active role than prescribed in classical psychoanalysis and gives more attention to intrapsychic conflicts in the patient’s current life than to exploring early childhood experiences. The therapist intervenes in the process of free association to discuss important issues, confronts the patient’s resistances directly, offers advice and exhortation, and helps the patient interpret his or her dreams intuitively in the light of current attitudes and problems. Through these methods, and by avoiding many of the Freudian steps such as analysis of transference, Stekel sought to shorten the therapeutic process considerably. Also called active analysis.