The Unconcious Mind

Unconscious Mind: This term is used to describe the part of the mind that’s not within normal waking consciousness.
The unconscious mind is the source of dreams and automatic thoughts (those that appear without any conscious reasoning).
It’s a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious mind are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.
According to Freud, the unconscious mind plays a significant role in influencing behaviour. This influence is key in understanding the psychodynamic approach.

Freud conceptualised the mind as divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego, each with different agendas.
The id is the primitive part of our personality that operates entirely unconsciously and seeks immediate gratification - this includes instinctual drives like hunger, thirst, and libido.
The ego is our consciousness. It mediates between the demands of the id, the superego, and reality. It tries to satisfy the id’s drives in a socially appropriate manner.
The superego is our moral compass, developed from interactions with parents and society. It encourages the ego to rise above the id’s basic instincts and strive for higher moral ground.
Freud’s theory postulates that not achieving the right balance between these three parts can lead to psychological issues.

The unconscious mind is seen as the storage place for all repressed or forgotten experiences, including traumatic experiences. They can influence conscious behaviour without our knowledge, leading to Freud’s idea of psychoanalysis.
Repression, a key concept in Freud’s theory, is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and impulses.
Freudian slips are believed to be errors in speech that are guided by the unconscious mind.
The unconscious mind is also vital to understanding the concept of transference in therapy, where feelings for significant people from the patient’s past are redirected onto the therapist.
Dream analysis, hypnosis and free association are techniques used to access the unconscious mind.