countersuggestion
noun
coun·ter·sug·ges·tion
ˌkau̇n-tər-səg-ˈjes-chən
-sə-ˈjes-,
-ˈjesh-
variants
or less commonly counter-suggestion
plural countersuggestions also counter-suggestions
1
: an opposing or alternative suggestion
The politicians have also hit on the rather cunning counter-suggestion that the political correspondents who write about them, and the newspaper proprietors whose organs criticize them, should also come clean.—Punch
2
a
psychology
: a suggestion made (as by a therapist) to an individual with the intention of getting the individual to say or do the opposite of what is suggested
also
: a suggestion that challenges a belief in order to evaluate the strength of the belief by the reaction elicited
b
psychology
: a method of psychotherapy that uses countersuggestions
c
: a suggestion made (as by a hypnotist) to an individual who is under hypnosis in order to cause a change in the individual's thoughts or behavior
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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