Subconscious Vs Unconscious Mind: How Self-Hypnosis Helps

What is Your Unconscious Mind?

Self-hypnosis is potentially a very powerful tool that you can use to overcome fears, improve physical and mental performance and even help cure addictions.

But without our understanding of the unconscious mind, there would be no such thing as hypnotism, never mind self-hypnosis.

We will look at what precisely the unconscious mind is and how it relates to your sense of wellbeing and your personality at all times.

What is the Unconscious or Subconscious Mind?

Many of us think of Freud as something of a whack job who accused people of fancying their parents. Be that as it may, though, he should also be remembered for the many incredible contributions he made to the world of psychology. Before Freud, there was no psychotherapy or counseling and before Freud, there was no concept of an unconscious mind.

In Freud's view, the unconscious mind vs the subconscious mind was everything going on 'under the surface' throughout our waking lives. He often likened this to an iceberg – where only the very tip is visible with all the rest being murky and inaccessible.

So you might say one thing and think another… but on some level, there is more going on under the surface that even you're unaware of.

It's key to note at this point that Freud only ever described an 'unconscious mind' because that was the part of the mind we weren't conscious of. He never used the term 'subconscious' which is really just a misnomer.

Complications In What Our Brain Believes

Our unconscious is made up of all the things our brain believes to be inconsequential or too upsetting for our conscious mind to handle. Thus we often 'repress' memories and thus can't remember them, we deny things and we fail to notice things – but they are all still there working away under the surface. 

And if there are unconscious associations we hold about something or beliefs about something – then these can hold us back and cause us not to perform at our best, or event to become mentally ill.

This then is the role of classic Freudian psychodynamic intervention – to help the individual come to terms and move past these unconscious roadblocks.

Freud had many tools for doing this, from the 'inkblot test' to the interpretation of dreams (the 'royal road to the unconscious). Thank you for being a part of the Meditation Life Skills Podcast.