title: Chaotic analysis in psychology and psychoanalysis.
abstract: The rise of chaos theory in physics has been accompanied by attempts to use chaos as an explanatory tool in psychology. A review of how chaos theory is used in psychology reveals two relatively distinct efforts: chaos as a mathematical model of psychological phenomena and chaos as a metaphor for psychological phenomena. A discussion of recent articles reveals that most chaotic analysis fails to respect the minimum qualifications for data subjected to such analysis. Further, uses of chaos as an analogy for psychological phenomena are rife with misunderstandings of chaos.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy