1. generally, the investigation or exploration of the self for the purpose of better understanding personal thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Self-analysis occurs consciously and nonconsciously in many contexts of daily life, and with assistance from the therapist, it is a crucial process within most forms of psychotherapy.

2. an attempt to apply the principles of psychoanalysis to a study of one’s own drives, feelings, and behavior. Early in his career, Sigmund Freud proposed self-analysis as part of the preparation of an analyst, and much of his early psychoanalytic theory was based on his own self-analysis as described in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). He later dropped the idea in favor of a training analysis. Nonetheless, most psychoanalysts conduct an ongoing self-analysis to monitor for countertransference and blind spots as they work with patients. —self-analytic adj.