The Psychology Book (31 page)

process set free the trapped

at the time. Those who had begun

voicing the thoughts brought them

emotion, and the symptoms

to examine the unconscious feared

to consciousness, allowing the

disappeared. Breuer disagreed with

that it might be filled with psychic

symptoms to disappear. This is

what he felt was Freud’s eventual

PSYCHOTHERAPY 95

See also:
Johann Friedrich Herbart 24–25 ■ Jean-Martin Charcot 30 ■ Carl Jung 102–07 ■ Melanie Klein 108–09 ■

Anna Freud 111 ■ Jacques Lacan 122–23 ■ Paul Watzlawick 149 ■ Aaron Beck 174–75 ■ Elizabeth Loftus 202–07

overemphasis on the sexual origins

powerful dimensions of the

and content of neuroses (problems

unconscious, the warehouse

caused by psychological conflicts),

from which our active cognitive

and the two parted; Freud to

state and behavior are dictated.

continue developing the ideas and

The conscious is effectively the

techniques of psychoanalysis.

puppet in the hands of the

The poets and philosophers

unconscious. The conscious

before me discovered the

Our everyday mind

mind is merely the surface of

unconscious; what

It is easy to take for granted the

a complex psychic realm.

I discovered was the

reality of the conscious, and

Since the unconscious is all-

scientific method by

naively believe that what we think,

encompassing, Freud says, it

which it could be studied.

feel, remember, and experience

contains within it the smaller

Sigmund Freud

make up the entirety of the human

spheres of the conscious and an

mind. But Freud says that the

area called the “preconscious.”

active state of consciousness—

Everything that is conscious—that

that is, the operational mind of

we actively know—has at one

which we are directly aware in

time been unconscious

our everyday experience—is just a

before rising to consciousness.

fraction of the total psychological

However, not everything becomes

forces at work in our psychical

consciously known; much of what

reside in a part of the conscious

reality. The conscious exists at

is unconscious remains there.

mind that Freud called the

the superficial level, to which we

Memories that are not in our

preconscious. We are able to bring

have easy and immediate access.

everyday working memory, but

these memories into conscious

Beneath the conscious lies the

which have not been repressed,

awareness at any time. ❯❯

When ideas, memories, or

…and
stored in the unconscious

impulses are
too overwhelming or

alongside our instinctual drives,

inappropriate
for the conscious mind

where they are not accessible by

to withstand, they are
repressed
…

immediate consciousness.

The difference between our

The unconscious silently

unconscious and conscious thoughts

directs the thoughts and

creates
psychic tension
…

behavior
of the individual.

…that can only be released when

repressed memories are
allowed into

consciousness
through psychoanalysis.

96 SIGMUND FREUD

CONSCIOUS

The mind is like

an iceberg; it floats

EGO

PRECONSCIOUS

with one-seventh

of its bulk above water.

Sigmund Freud

SUPERE

G

ID

UNCONSCIOUS

O

Our psyche
, according to Freud,

resembles an iceberg, with the area of

primitive drives, the id, lying hidden in

the unconscious. The ego deals with

conscious thoughts and regulates

both the id and the superego—our

critical, judging voice.

The unconscious acts as a

energy in a system stays constant

our behavior, directing us

receptacle for ideas or memories

over time; it cannot be destroyed,

toward choices that promise to

that are too powerful, too painful,

only moved or transformed. Freud

satisfy our basic needs. The drives

or otherwise too much for the

applied this thinking to mental

ensure our survival: the need for

conscious mind to process. Freud

processes, resulting in the idea of

food and water; the desire for

believed that when certain ideas

“psychic energy.” This energy, he

sex to ensure the continuation

or memories (and their associated

said, can undergo modification,

of our species; and the necessity

emotions) threaten to overwhelm

transmission, and conversion, but

to find warmth, shelter, and

the psyche, they are split apart from

cannot be destroyed. So if we have a

companionship. But Freud claims

a memory that can be accessed by

thought that the conscious mind

the unconscious also holds a

the conscious mind, and stored in

finds unacceptable, the mind

contrasting drive, the death drive,

the unconscious instead.

redirects it away from conscious

which is present from birth. This

thought into the unconscious, in a

drive is self-destructive and impels

Dynamic thought

process Freud called “repression.”

us forward, though as we do so we

Freud was also influenced by the

We may repress the memory of a

are moving closer to our death.

physiologist Ernst Brücke, who was

childhood trauma (such as abuse

In his later works, Freud moved

one of the founders of the 19th-

or witnessing an accident), a desire

away from the idea that the mind

century’s “new physiology,” which

we have judged as unacceptable

was structured by the conscious,

looked for mechanistic explanations

(perhaps for your best friend’s

unconscious, and preconscious to

for all organic phenomena. Brücke

partner), or ideas that otherwise

propose a new controlling structure:

claimed that like every other living

threaten our well-being or way of life.

the id, ego, and superego. The id

organism, the human being is

(formed of primitive impulses)

essentially an energy system, and so

Motivating drives

obeys the Pleasure Principle, which

must abide by the Principle of the

The unconscious is also the place

says that every wishful impulse

Conservation of Energy. This law

where our instinctual biological

must be immediately gratified: it

states that the total amount of

drives reside. The drives govern

wants everything now. However,

PSYCHOTHERAPY 97

another part of the mental structure,

wonder that humans exist in states

the ego, recognizes the Reality

of anxiety, depression, neurosis,

Principle, which says we can’t have

and other forms of discontent?

everything we desire, but must

take account of the world we live

Psychoanalytical treatment

in. The ego negotiates with the id,

Since the unconscious remains

A man should not

trying to find reasonable ways to

inaccessible, the only way the

strive to eliminate his

help it get what it wants, without

conflicts can be recognized is

complexes, but to get into

resulting in damage or other

through the symptoms that are

accord with them; they are

terrible consequences. The ego

present in the conscious. Emotional

legitimately what directs his

itself is controlled by the

suffering, Freud claims, is the result

conduct in the world.

superego—the internalized voice

of unconscious conflict. We cannot

Sigmund Freud

of parents and society’s moral

continually fight against ourselves,

codes. The superego is a judging

against the uprising of repressed

force, and the source of our

material, and against the force of

conscience, guilt, and shame.

death, without emotional turmoil.

In fact, Freud proposes, the

Freud’s unique approach to the

unconscious holds a vast amount

treatment of psychological ailments

of conflicting forces. In addition

involved working with the conflicts

to the drives of the life and

that existed in the unconscious.

that encourages a patient to lie on

death forces, it encompasses the

He sought to free the patient

a couch and talk. From Freud’s first

intensity of repressed memories

from repressed memories and so

treatments, psychoanalysis has

and emotions, as well as the

alleviate their mental pain. His

been practiced in sessions that

contradictions inherent in our

approach to treatment is called

can sometimes last for hours, take

views of conscious reality alongside

psychoanalytic psychotherapy, or

place several times per week, and

our repressed reality. According

psychoanalysis. This process is

continue for many years.

to Freud, the conflict that arises

not easy or quick. Psychoanalysis

While unconscious thoughts

from these contrasting forces is

is only performed by a therapist

cannot be retrieved through normal

the psychological conflict that

trained in Freud’s specific

introspection, the unconscious can

underlies human suffering. Is it any

approach, and it is his therapy

communicate with the conscious in

some ways. It quietly communicates

via our preferences, the frames of

reference in which we tend to

understand things, and the symbols

that we are drawn to or create.

During analysis, the analyst

acts as a mediator, trying to allow

unspoken thoughts or unbearable

feelings to come to light. Messages

arising from a conflict between the

conscious and the unconscious are

likely to be disguised, or encoded,