Conscious and Unconscious

Dynamics between the unconscious and the conscious mind

According to Multifactorial Psychology, the conscious mind and the unconscious are not in opposition, but they work together to allow people to live. They have different functions but they both are necessary and complementary.

Unconscious

Unconscious is not a whole, unitary system. Inside it has a clear distinction and a clear contrast between two parts: a healthy unconscious and an unhealthy unconscious,  which is also called conditioned unconscious. Between these two parts there is a separation and a mutual disavowal, supported by a security system. The security system has the function of preventing that potentially destructive emotions of the unhealthy unconscious can get in contact with the healthy unconscious when this is not able to cope with them. Both parts of the unconscious want the security system to be flawless and they do not want it is open because this could put the individual in great danger.

Conscious mind

The conscious mind is also divided into two parts: a healthy conscious mind and an unhealthy conscious mind, which is also called conditioned conscious mind. The healthy conscious mind is only related to the healthy unconscious, whereas the unhealthy conscious mind only connects with the unhealthy unconscious. The healthy conscious mind has its foundations in the healthy unconscious, whereas the unhealthy conscious mind has its foundations in the unhealthy unconscious.

Unconscious-conscious mind pairing

The healthy unconscious the healthy conscious mind together constitute the healthy way of being, that is the healthy part of the person, whereas the unhealthy unconscious and the unhealthy conscious mind form the unhealthy way of being, which is the unhealthy part. This is defined in the table below:

1) Healthy conscious mind;
2) Healthy unconscious; (1 and 2 represent the sound part).
3) Unhealthy conscious mind;
4) Unhealthy unconscious; (3 and 4 represent the unhealthy part).

To recap, there is not only a horizontal distinction, between the above and the below parts, between the conscious mind and the unconscious, but there is also a vertical split, between right and left, between the healthy part (consisting of the healthy unconscious and the healthy conscious mind) and the unhealthy part (composed by the unhealthy unconscious and by the unhealthy conscious mind).

Between the healthy unconscious and the healthy conscious mind, communication is easy: what the conscious mind sees actually corresponds to what is present in the healthy unconscious, because there is no obstacle to the free communication between the two.

Between the unhealthy unconscious and the unhealthy conscious mind, the communication is blocked: from the conditioned unconscious does not come something intelligible, but only inputs, blocks, prohibitions, orders, urges to have certain behavior. The true motivations of the behaviors remain inaccessible to the unhealthy conscious mind which, trying to give a specific meaning to what the individual does, builds motivations which are compatible with the unhealthy image that the individual has about himself. Just like a person who has gone through post-hypnotic orders: if asked why she/he held those behaviors she/he’ll give an explanation in terms of free and conscious choice. The reasons given in such cases do not correspond to the true ones, which are difficult to predict, but they are necessary for the individuals to give meaning to their lives.

In the Multifactorial Psychology, therefore, the distinction between healthy and unhealthy is decisive, rather than the distinction between conscious and unconscious.

Therapeutic intervention

Therapeutic intervention will not consist in bringing to consciousness what is unconscious, but in strengthening the healthy way of being (i.e. the healthy part) and weakening the unhealthy way of being (i.e. the conditioned part) that the person lives.

Learn more

If you want to learn more iabout the Multifactorial Psychology, you can download a free extract of the “Healthy and unhealthy ways of being“ book, in which are presented the entire psychological theory and its applications during the therapeutic intervention.