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free association

  1. Psychoanalysis the technique of having the patient talk spontaneously, expressing without inhibition whatever ideas, memories, etc. come to mind: used to discover repressed material in the unconscious
  2. any process of mental association in which spontaneous or nonlogical linking takes place

See free association in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. A spontaneous, logically unconstrained and undirected association of ideas, emotions, and feelings.
  2. A psychoanalytic technique in which a patient's articulation of free associations is encouraged in order to reveal unconscious thoughts and emotions, such as traumatic experiences that have been repressed.

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