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Therapy Explained

Making the Unconscious Conscious

Freud’s psychodynamic theory places the unconscious mind at the centre of human behaviour. He argued that many of our actions are shaped by unconscious desires and early childhood experiences (Freud, 1915). While some of Freud’s ideas now feel dated, the core insight that much of our mental life happens outside awareness, has been strongly supported by modern research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and trauma studies (Solms, 2021; Schore, 2019).

In counselling, this becomes deeply practical. Many people arrive sensing that “something deeper is going on,” even if they can’t yet name it. Psychodynamic therapy offers a safe space to explore these hidden layers, relieve emotional pain, and grow in self-understanding.

Traumatic experiences can remain unconscious for decades. They may resurface not as memories but as anxiety, compulsions, or relational patterns. Contemporary trauma research shows that overwhelming experiences are often stored somatically and implicitly rather than verbally (van der Kolk, 2014). This aligns with Freud’s early observations that the emotion becomes conscious while the memory remains hidden.

Freud’s Lens: Fixation and the Past

Freud believed that unresolved childhood conflicts could lead to fixations at particular psychosexual stages. While modern psychology no longer uses these stages diagnostically, the underlying idea, those early experiences shape adult patterns, remains foundational and is supported by attachment research (Fonagy et al., 2002).

The heart of counselling work is not rewriting history but understanding how it lives in the present and gently loosening its grip.

Jung’s Lens: Growth, Meaning, and the Future

Jung offered a more expansive view. Rather than Freud’s emphasis on childhood and sexual drives, Jung saw the central task of life as individuation, integrating conscious and unconscious aspects of the self to become whole (Jung, 1921, 1933).

Modern depth psychology and narrative therapy echo this idea: healing often involves reauthoring one’s story and integrating previously disowned parts of the self (Siegel, 2012).

Scientific Critiques and Modern Support

Freud’s theories explain behaviour but do not predict it, making them unfalsifiable by modern scientific standards. Yet contemporary research strongly supports the existence of unconscious processes. Cognitive psychology has identified:

• Procedural memory (Tulving, 1972)

• Automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935)

• Implicit social cognition (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995)

Neuroscience has also shown that much emotional processing happens outside conscious awareness, particularly in subcortical regions involved in threat detection and attachment (LeDoux, 2015; Schore, 2019).

Jung faced similar criticisms plus accusations of mysticism. His archetypes have been challenged for lacking biological evidence (Roesler, 2012). Yet contemporary research in cultural psychology suggests that archetypal patterns may emerge from shared human experiences and linguistic structures (Young Eisendrath, 1995).

Bringing It Back to Counselling

For many people, the idea of the unconscious can feel abstract until they begin to notice patterns in their own lives that don’t make sense on the surface. Therapy provides a safe, reflective space to explore these patterns with curiosity rather than judgement.

Whether we draw on Freud’s focus on early experiences, Jung’s emphasis on meaning, or contemporary neuroscience, the aim is the same: to help you understand yourself more deeply, loosen the hold of old patterns, and move toward a more integrated, authentic life.

If you’re noticing behaviours, emotions, or reactions that feel “out of proportion” or hard to explain, it may be a sign that something unconscious is asking for attention. Counselling can help you listen to that inner voice and make sense of what it’s trying to tell you.

 

APA 7 Reference List

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Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E., & Target, M. (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. Other Press.

Freud, S. (1915). The unconscious. In The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 159–215). Hogarth Press.

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.1.4 (doi.org in Bing)

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LeDoux, J. (2015). Anxious: Using the brain to understand and treat fear and anxiety. Viking.

Roesler, C. (2012). Are archetypes transmitted more by culture than biology? Journal of Analytical Psychology, 57(2), 223–246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5922.2011.01966.x (doi.org in Bing)

Schore, A. N. (2019). Right brain psychotherapy. Norton.

Siegel, D. J. (2012). The developing mind (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Solms, M. (2021). The hidden spring: A journey to the source of consciousness. Profile Books.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643–662. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of memory (pp. 381–403). Academic Press.

van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

Young Eisendrath, P. (1995). Jung’s self psychology: A constructivist perspective. Guilford Press.