The subconscious and psychoanalysis

The subconscious is commonly encountered as a replacement for the unconscious mind and
therefore, laypersons commonly assume that the subconscious is a psychoanalytic term; it isn't.
Sigmund Freud explicitly argues:
"f someone tal!s of subconsciousness, cannot tell "hether he means the term
topographically # to indicate something lying in the mind beneath consciousness # or $ualitati%ely
# to indicate another consciousness, a subterranean one, as it "ere. &e is probably not clear
about any of it. The only trust"orthy antithesis is bet"een conscious and unconscious."'()
*
n Freud's opinion the unconscious mind has a "ill and purpose of its o"n that cannot be !no"n
to the conscious mind +hence the reason "hy it is called the "unconscious", and is a repository for
socially unacceptable ideas, "ishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions put out
of mind by the mechanism of psychological repression.
-harles .ycroft explains that the subconscious is a term "ne%er used in psychoanalytic "ritings".
'/) 0eter 1ay says that the use of the term subconscious "here unconscious is meant is "a
common and telling mista!e";'2) indeed, ""hen 'the term) is employed to say something
'Freudian', it is proof that the "riter has not read his Freud".'3)
Freud's o"n terms for thin!ing that ta!es place outside conscious a"areness are das
4nbe"usste +rendered by his translators as "the 4nconscious", and das 5orbe"usste +"the
0reconscious",; informal use of the term subconscious in this context thus creates confusion, as it
fails to ma!e clear "hich +if either, is meant. The distinction is of significance because in Freud's
formulation the 4nconscious is "dynamically" unconscious, the 0reconscious merely
"descripti%ely" so: the contents of the 4nconscious re$uire special in%estigati%e techni$ues for
their exploration, "hereas something in the 0reconscious is unrepressed and can be recalled to
consciousness by the simple direction of attention. The erroneous, pseudo6Freudan use of
subconscious and "subconsciousness" has its precise e$ui%alent in 1erman, "here the "ords
inappropriately employed are das 4nterbe"usste and das 4nterbe"usstsein.
The subconscious and instinct
The subconscious mind is a composite of e%erything one sees, hears and any information the
mind collects that it cannot other"ise consciously process to ma!e meaningful sense. The
conscious mind cannot al"ays absorb disconnected information, as it "ould be an information
o%erload, so the subconscious mind stores this information "here it can be retrie%ed by the
conscious mind "hen it needs to defend itself for sur%i%al +and for other reasons, such as sol%ing
pu77les,.
The subconscious mind stores information that the conscious mind may not immediately process
"ith full understanding, but it stores the information for later retrie%al "hen *recalled* by the
conscious mind, or by an astute psychoanalyst "ho can dra" out information stored in the
subconscious, bringing it to the indi%idual's conscious a"areness.'8) This can especially be
obser%ed "ith heightened sensiti%ity of %ictims of %iolence and other crimes, "here %ictims "felt
something" "instinctually" about a person or situation, but failed to ta!e action to a%oid the
situation, for "hate%er reason, be it embarrassment, self6denial or other reasons to ignore
instinct, as they disregard internal "arning signals.
9 precise example of the subconscious mind at "or! and related phenomena can be found in a
boo! "ritten by psychoanalyst 1a%in :e ;ec!er, "The 1ift of Fear". &e describes ho" a %ictim
"!ne" something "as "rong", but initially discredited her o"n instinct<subconscious mind, opting
instead to respond to the percei%ed threat in a normal, "socially acceptable" manner, completely
ignoring that the subconscious mind tried to tell the conscious mind "that something is "rong." :e
;ec!er tapped into the mind of the %ictim regarding her "prior a"areness by the subconscious
mind that caused her to act instincti%ely" allo"ing her to reali7e that the perpetrator "as going to
!ill her. The analyst brought her conscious mind to recogni7e ho" her subconscious "as "or!ing
on her conscious mind, by eliciting her original "inner thoughts<%oice" through a series of e%ents
to "hich her subconscious mind ultimately dro%e her conscious mind to beha%e in such a manner
as to protect her from being !illed. 1a%in "as able to elicit her subconscious mind's recognition of
a dangerous situation that compelled her conscious mind to act to sa%e her through its basic
sur%i%al instinct, bringing to the %ictim's conscious mind that it "as the "subtle signal that "arned
her." The %ictim describes this as an unrecogni7ed fear that dro%e her to act, still una"are
consciously of precisely "hy she "as afraid. &er conscious mind had heard the "ords, " promise
"on't hurt you, "hile her subconscious mind "as calculating the situation much faster than the
conscious mind could ma!e sense out of =&> the fear "as there. The %ictim stated that "the
animal inside her too! o%er."
"?e" 9ge" and other modalities targeting the subconscious
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The idea of the subconscious as a po"erful or potent agency has allo"ed the term to become
prominent in ?e" 9ge and self6help literature, in "hich in%estigating or controlling its supposed
!no"ledge or po"er is seen as ad%antageous. n the ?e" 9ge community, techni$ues such as
autosuggestion and affirmations are belie%ed to harness the po"er of the subconscious to
influence a person's life and real6"orld outcomes, e%en curing sic!ness. S!eptical n$uirer
maga7ine critici7ed the lac! of falsifiability and testability of these claims.'C) 0hysicist 9li 9lousi,
for instance, critici7ed it as unmeasurable and $uestioned the li!elihood that thoughts can affect
anything outside the head.'D) n addition, critics ha%e asserted that the e%idence pro%ided is
usually anecdotal and that, because of the self6selecting nature of the positi%e reports, as "ell as
the subEecti%e nature of any results, these reports are susceptible to confirmation bias and
selection bias.'BA)
0sychologists and psychiatrists use the term "unconscious" in traditional practices, "here
metaphysical and ?e" 9ge literature, often use the term subconscious. t should not, ho"e%er, be
inferred that the concept of the unconscious and the ?e" 9ge concept of the subconscious are
precisely e$ui%alent, e%en though they both "arrant consideration of mental processes of the
brain. 0sychologists and psychiatrists ta!e a much more limited %ie" of the capabilities of the
unconscious than are represented by ?e" 9ge depiction of the subconscious. There are a
number of methods in use in the contemporary ?e" 9ge and paranormal communities that affect
the latter: