1. The emergence of the unconscious opposite of a conscious attitude or belief, often resulting in a sudden reversal of perspective or behavior.
Usage: psychology, Jungian psychology; formal, technical
2. In ancient Greek philosophy, the principle that all things tend to pass into their opposites.
Usage: philosophy, classical studies; archaic, historical

Examples

• The therapist explained that the patient's sudden aggression was an enantiodromia of his previously repressed anger.
• Jung used the concept of enantiodromia to describe how the conscious mind's one-sidedness eventually provokes its opposite from the unconscious.
• After years of strict discipline, he experienced an enantiodromia and became recklessly impulsive.
• The political activist's enantiodromia led him to abandon his former ideology entirely.
• In Heraclitus's philosophy, enantiodromia reflects the idea that opposing forces are necessary for balance and change.