The problem relating to the existence of a sphere of psychic activity that does not reach the level of consciousness, which has arisen in philosophy since ancient times, has had great development, particularly through the work of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalytic research. In Freud’s words, the discovery of the unconscious is the third wound inflicted on human narcissism: with Copernicus man is no longer at the center of the universe, with Darwin he is not created directly by God, with psychoanalysis he is no longer master in his own house.
In the field of psychoanalysis, the term unconscious defines a system of the psychic apparatus formed by withdrawn contents, invested with strong instinctual charges and regulated by specific mechanisms. In this Psychology-Online article we will see then what is the unconscious in psychologyhow it works and Sigmund Freud’s theory.
What is the unconscious in psychology
The most suggestive image to understand what the unconscious is and its importance is offered by Sigmund Freud with , in which he compares our psychic apparatus with this great ice floe: the part that emerges above the water is the conscious part, while the immense The submerged part, much larger than the visible part, is the unconscious part (psychoanalysis).
The unconscious is the part of our psyche that does not reach the level of consciousnessa mental system to which he gave special importance, distinguishing it from the conscious part and the preconceived part.
In the vast majority of cases, you can spend your entire life disinterested in the messages that come from the unconscious and even ignoring their existence; especially in situations of suffering, anxiety, phobias, insomnia, loss of control.
In this way, psychoanalysis is used as a specific treatment possibility that investigates the unconscious motivations (that is, we are not aware) of behaviors. Distinguishing two types of unconscious inside itself:
- The descriptive unconscious: Representations not available after deletion are declared unconscious.
- The topical unconscious: it is a substructure of the psyche – together with conscience and the preconceived – defined by certain processes and by certain laws.
How the unconscious works in psychology
The unconscious is – returning to the metaphor of the iceberg – the invisible part, the part submerged in water, an area outside of our control from which we must interpret the signals through various manifestations such as lapses and other symptoms and evidence. grasp.
In the unconscious we find the most remote memories of our childhood, hidden emotions and passions, desires not confessed even to ourselves. Probably by paying more attention to everything that happens to you during the day, you will also become aware of some manifestation of your unconscious.
How many times have you had incomprehensible dreams? Dreaming about arguing with someone can reveal a state of tension towards a person in our daily “entourage”, or feeling a strong attraction in dreams for a person that in reality we would never have considered, could reveal a hidden passion, such as maybe it embarrasses us.
Dreams and so-called Freudian slips are the manifestations of the unconscious easier to explain; On the other hand, when we are in the presence of true pathologies, such as anxiety states, panic attacks or different forms of neuroses, the reflections on what our unconscious is communicating to us become more complex to interpret and, in most cases, , require the intervention of a specialist.
Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious
Now that you know what the unconscious is and how it works, we will focus on the most outstanding features of the theory of the unconscious:
- The dynamics and conflict: The unconscious is characterized by dynamics and conflict, since it is the place of causative processes, such as impulses and desires, and at the same time the effect of defensive processes such as absorptions.
- The otherness: it is posed as alterity with respect to consciousness in the sense of being another scene, another subject: it is not the level of psychicity merely preliminary to consciousness, but rather there are processes that directly interfere with conscious activities (imago, ghosts, complexes). ).
- The autonomy: the unconscious has its own logic, that of the primary process regulated by the pleasure principle. This consists in the fact that excitations, impulses and desires tend to immediate discharge through action in the external world, or hallucination and dream.
- The permanence: the unconscious is characterized by the childhood legacy that remains in the adult.
If you found this article interesting about what the unconscious is in psychoanalysis and you want to continue expanding information, we recommend that you consult our article.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Colombo, B. (2011). TUTTO Psychology and Pedagogy. Milan: De Agostini.
- Cortese, G. (2018). Cos’è l’unconscio e come si manifesta nella tua vita quotidiana. Retrieved from: https://www.ohga.it/cose-linconscio-e-come-si-manifesta-nella-tua-vita-quotidiana/