psychoprophylaxis means A method of preparing women for natural childbirth by means of special breathing, relaxation techniques and psychological conditioning, practiced without anaesthetics. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “psychoprophylaxis” is a great word
A method of preventing or mitigating physical distress, particularly the pain of childbirth, through psychological conditioning, controlled breathing, and learned relaxation. From the combining form psycho- (from Greek psykhē, meaning 'mind, soul') + prophylaxis (from Greek prophylassein, meaning 'to guard beforehand'), first recorded in English use in 1955–60, partly modelled on a Russian lexical item. Unlike anesthesia, which obliterates sensation chemically, or therapy, which addresses an existing malady, psychoprophylaxis is a pre-emptive architectural project of the mind. It is the measured breath rehearsed in a dim room, the conscious unclenching of a jaw against a gathering wave, the deliberate redirecting of focus from panic to a fixed point—a quiet assertion of forethought over primal reflex.
Etymology
From psycho- + prophylaxis.
noun
- A method of preparing women for natural childbirth by means of special breathing, relaxation techniques and psychological conditioning, practiced without anaesthetics.“The growing emphasis on the emotional aspects of the physical bearing of children has greatly changed the practice of obstetrics across the world — from psychoprophylaxis in Russia to natural childbirth in America.”
- The prevention of disease by psychological means.“The essence of psychoprophylaxis, as of psychotherapy and education, was to associate useful activities with agreeable feeling tones, and to disassociate from useless or injurious acts the agreeable feeling tones they might have acquired.”