Standard Lemma guide

psychotherapy

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • sīkōthĕr'əpē
  • /ˌsaɪkoʊˈθɛɹəpi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S AY2 K OW0 TH EH1 R AH0 P IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The treatment of people diagnosed with mental and emotional disorders using dialogue and a variety of psychological techniques.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: therapy

Narrower terms: behavior therapy, behavior modification, client-centered therapy, crisis intervention, group therapy, group psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, play therapy, psychoanalysis, analysis, depth psychology, self-analysis

3

noun

Meaning 3

the branch of psychiatry concerned with psychological methods

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: psychotherapeutics, mental hygiene

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: psychiatry, psychopathology, psychological medicine

Narrower terms: clinical psychology, Freudian psychology, Jungian psychology

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek ψῡχή (psūkhḗ) Ancient Greek ψῡχο- (psūkho-)der. English psycho- Proto-Indo-European *treb-der.? Ancient Greek θερᾰ́πων (therắpōn) Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús) Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō) Ancient Greek θεραπεύω (therapeúō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh2 Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) Ancient Greek θεραπεία (therapeía)bor. New Latin therapīabor. English therapy English psychotherapy From psycho- + therapy.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: psikoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Armenian: հոգեթերապիա (hogetʻerapia) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Asturian: sicoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Azerbaijani: psixoterapiya — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Belarusian: псіхатэрапі́я (psixaterapíja) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Bulgarian: психотерапия (psihoterapija) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Catalan: psicoteràpia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心理療法 /心理疗法 (xīnlǐ liáofǎ) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心理治療 /心理治疗 (xīnlǐ zhìliáo) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精神療法 /精神疗法 (jīngshén liáofǎ) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精神治療 /精神治疗 (jīngshén zhìliáo) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Czech: psychoterapie — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Danish: psykoterapi — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Dutch: psychotherapie — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Estonian: psühhoteraapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Finnish: psykoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • French: psychothérapie — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Galician: psicoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Georgian: ფსიქოთერაპია (psikoteraṗia) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • German: Psychotherapie — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Greek: ψυχοθεραπεία (psychotherapeía) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Gujarati: માનસોપચાર (mānsopcār) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Hebrew: טיפול נפשי — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Hindi: मनोचिकित्सा (manocikitsā) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Hungarian: pszichoterápia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Irish: síciteiripe — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Italian: psicoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Latin: psychotherapīa — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Latvian: psihoterapija — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Macedonian: психотерапија (psihoterapija) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Polish: psychoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Portuguese: psicoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Russian: психотерапи́я (psixoterapíja) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Spanish: psicoterapia — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Swedish: psykoterapi — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Telugu: మానసిక చికిత్స (mānasika cikitsa) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Thai: จิตบําบัด (jìt-bam-bàt) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Turkish: psikoterapi — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Ukrainian: психотерапі́я (psyxoterapíja) — treatment of those with mental illness
  • Vietnamese: tâm lý trị liệu — treatment of those with mental illness
Real reading context

psychotherapy in complete knowledge articles