why is a psychiatrist also called a shrink ?

Answer 1

Why is a psychiatrist called a shrink? The term is a clipping of headshrinker, a US slang term that dates to 1950. It is based on a metaphor that evokes the image of a head-hunter who preserves shrunken heads. The idea is that a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst messes or screws with your head.

Answer 2

I don't usually chime in when the right answer has been given, but you've been given a great mish-mosh of right and wrong here. Originally the expression was "headshrinker" -- like the cultures that would physically shrink the heads of enemies they'd killed. That got shortened to "shrink" -- if you watch old movies, you'll see the original term used; over time, it got shortened. I think the "mumbo-jumbo" thing is what was originally behind it. Interesting, isn't it, how the original sense got lost. I'm pretty sure it wasn't anything about making your mind smaller by getting rid of tangles and puzzles, or actually physically shrinking your brain from electro-shock, but more the mumbo-jumbo aspect. The idea that you could talk out serious mental problems seemed absurd and like magic to people. Since you've gotten such a hodge-podge of answers, you might want to try other sources, such as an on-line dictionary -- heck, maybe an actual, physical dictionary, one of the good ones with detailed etymologies.

Answer 3

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RE:
why is a psychiatrist also called a shrink ?

Answer 4

Calling a psychiatrist a shrink came about from a comparison between psychiatrists and headshrinkers - a term give to tribal members from way back in the day who shrunk the heads of their enemies after they killed them. So, I guess you could say it is a derogatory term to use when referencing psychiatrists - implying that they "screw with your head".

Answer 5

I believe that the term Shrink for a psychoanalyst is derived from their training and penchant for shrinking of the ego (often thought of as "the self"). My negative opinion of standard and rigid psychoanalysis is that it is a process of diminishing what a psychiatrist believes to be a false construct of the patient's self/ego.

Answer 6

First of all people call psychiatrists shrinks because they are making fun of them. It is usually used in a humerous manner. People go to psychiatrists because they may have problems that they want to go away, disappear or no longer exist. That is where shrink comes into the picture. Shrinks means to make the problem smaller or less upsetting.

Answer 7

I guess if you think that your emotional problems are so big they are overwhelming you, talking to the psychiatrist will shrink them down to manageable.

Answer 8

Because as time goes by they tend to shrink you brain with all of the medications.

Answer 9

Originally, the word "shrink" referred primarily to psychiatrists, but over the last 20 years its meaning has broadened and now it can be used with respect to just about any professional who does counseling or psychotherapy.

"Shrink" likely originated from a commingling of the two words "head shrink" and the single word "headshrinker," indicating that it likely originated as a disparaging reference comparing the process of psychotherapy to primitive tribal practices of shrinking the heads of enemies. Reportedly, "shrink" was first used in literature by Thomas Pynchon in his book The Crying of Lot 49 published in 1966. It figures that "shrink" had its literary birth out of the consciousness-expanding atmosphere of the 1960s.

"Shrink" has paradoxical meanings and uses and, by all analytical standards, has classic potential for connoting ambivalence (a favorite shrink word!). "Shrink" allows us to compare psychotherapy to primitive rituals, shamanism, and "sorcery" while still recognizing the more modern and scientific principles of mental wellness. "Shrink" attempts to create a balance between respect and irreverence, between affection and distancing -- can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

To me, that is the essence of a good word -- one that has many flavors. What sweet and sour are for taste buds, paradoxes are for the mind.

I invite you to think of "shrink" as an appropriate, minor term of endearment -- a way of saying "psychiatrist" without creating that feeling that you are just being examined and not appreciated. After all, "psychiatrist" is not only a "big" word, but also a word that has potential for connoting a profession, which is mostly scientific and not very related to the humanities. As much as we psychiatrists would like to believe that psychiatry is mostly a science, by definition, since psychiatry deals with the mind at least as much as the brain, it has very little hope of being as scientific as, let's say, microbiology.

The term "shrink" really does have its fair share of different belief systems. A posted e-mail follow-up at www.psychiatry.com (no longer available) suggested that the term simply refers to the idea that psychiatrists have the ability to reduce or "shrink" one's mind into an understandable concept. Therefore, they are shrinks.

Answer 10

they toys with your feelings.