The Implications of Conceptual Critiques and Empirical Research on Unconscious Processes for Psychoanalytic Theory

Abstract

The paper examines the implications of conceptual critiques and empirical research on psychoanalytic formulations of unconscious processes. Different conceptions of unconscious processes and states are discussed: as markers for brain states, as unformulated and not-spelled-out fleeting experiences, and as implicit knowledge. The author notes and discusses the interpersonal and interactional aspects of unconscious processes in classical theory as well as in contemporary formulations. Representative examples of empirical research on unconscious processes are presented and their implications for psychoanalytic conceptions are examined. The author then discusses the conception of unconscious processes that emerges in view of conceptual critiques, empirical research findings, and clinical phenomena. Finally, the emphasis of both early and late Freudian theory on integration of various aspects of the personality rather than (or at least in addition to) on conscious versus unconscious is noted, and various ways of understanding what it means to make the unconscious conscious are discussed.