will therapy

a form of psychotherapy based on the theory that neuroses can be avoided or overcome by asserting the will (or “counterwill”) and by achieving independence. According to this theory, will is central to personality formation and to the struggle to separate oneself from the mother psychologically, just as one is physically separated from her during birth. Also called Rankian therapy. See also birth trauma. [developed by Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank (1884–1939)]

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Psychology term of the day

January 26th 2025

sexually dimorphic nucleus

a nucleus of the central nervous system that differs in size between males and females. In humans, for example, a nucleus in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus that synthesizes gonadotropin-releasing hormone tends to be larger and more active in males than in females because gonadotropin release is continuous (it is cyclical in females). In songbirds whose males sing more than females, several brain nuclei associated with both song learning and song production are larger in males than in females.