At one time, psychoanalysis became a kind of revolution in psychology. The prevailing point of view that all human actions are the result of the activity of his consciousness gave way to a theory where human actions are the result of the struggle of suppressed aspirations and prevailing ideals, and consciousness is only a part of the psyche, and not its essence. This idea forced psychologists to reconsider their views and turn their attention to where all human passions are stored - to the unconscious.
Instead of introducing
Speaking about psychoanalysis, it must be said that it is divided into classical and modern. When we talk about the former, we primarily refer to the theory developed by the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939). It was he who first used this term to designate a new method of studying and treating mental disorders.
Subsequently, thanks to his students and followers, the theory developed, grew and acquired new ideas. The development of psychoanalysis was facilitated by Alfred Adler and C. G. Jung, and later by neo-Freudians Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, Jacques Lacan and others. Their activities led to the fact that modern psychoanalysis is difficult to imagine as a unified theory. It manifests itself rather as a combination of different directions and practical approaches to solving the problem of the essence of the human psyche.
Returning to classical psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud is rightfully considered the founder of this branch of psychology, but it should be mentioned that certain elements of what we now call psychoanalysis appeared earlier, in the works of various philosophers.
For example, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was the first to clearly formulate the concept of the unconscious, introducing the concept of the “unconscious psyche.” He believed that the universe consists of many monads - immaterial substances capable of perceiving reality. At the same time, a person, or rather his soul, is also a monad with a high level of perception, reaching the level of consciousness. At the same time, he did not identify consciousness with the psyche, since he believed that the soul also has perceptions that it is not aware of (the activity of “small perceptions”).
G. Leibniz's ideas about the unconscious were further developed in the works of G. Helmholtz, C. Darwin, and the German psychologist W. Wundt made a great contribution to the systematization of the idea of the unconscious.
Sigmund Freud also significantly changed and expanded ideas about the unconscious. In his works, he explains the process of formation of the unconscious as a result of the displacement from consciousness of elements that are unwanted for some reason.
In addition to dividing the psyche into areas of the conscious and unconscious, he also introduced the concept of three mental authorities - structures of the psyche that predominate in one area or another. He called these structures “I”, “It” and “Super-ego”.
These and some other ideas formed the basis of the theory of psychoanalysis, so they will be discussed further.
Consciousness and Unconscious
The division of the psyche into conscious and unconscious is the basic premise of psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
Consciousness is not the basis of the psyche, but only a part of it. Why can’t we say that the conscious is the psyche? Here is the simple explanation Freud gives.
It is impossible to keep anything in consciousness for a long time. A mental element (for example, an idea), which is present in consciousness at a given moment, after some time gives way to other mental elements. However, under certain, easily achievable conditions, this idea can appear in consciousness again, and not because of a new perception, which led to the awareness of this idea for the first time, but thanks to memory [2].
Let's explain with an example
So you spent the whole morning walking through the forest and picking mushrooms. Having returned, you have already forgotten about the forest, your mind is busy with other things that were planned for that day. But then the day is over, you go to bed, and as soon as you close your eyes, a picture of nature, the forest you walked through, and the mushrooms you picked, emerges in your mind.
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Thus, all the time while other mental processes were occurring in our consciousness, the previously conscious idea was outside consciousness, that is, it was unconscious. This is the unconscious, which, according to Freud, is the latent unconscious (preconscious). In addition, he also highlights the repressed unconscious. Unlike the first, this unconscious is formed through the process of repression, the essence of which is to prevent the idea from reaching consciousness.
The difference between these two unconscious, which Freud identifies, is described in most detail in his work “Delusions and Dreams in “Gradiva” by W. Jensen.”
Everything repressed is unconscious; but we cannot assert with regard to the entire unconscious that it is repressed. … “Unconscious” is a purely descriptive, in some respects vague, so to speak, static term; “repressed” is a dynamic word that takes into account the play of mental forces and indicates that there is a desire to manifest all mental influences, among them the desire to become conscious, but there is also an opposite force, resistance, capable of holding back some of such mental actions, among them awareness action. The sign of the repressed remains that, despite its power, it is not capable of becoming conscious.
Sigmund Freud
In the process of further psychoanalytic work, it turned out that these divisions were not enough, and then Freud identified three components of the psyche: “It”, “I” and “Super-ego”.
"It", "I" and "Super-ego"
“It” represents a completely unconscious part of the psyche, in which all the repressed drives of the individual remain. This is an unknown, inaccessible part of the personality, in which there are no moral guidelines, moral assessments, concepts of good and evil.
“It” is what is the basis of the personality of any child. They are driven by primary biological needs, desires, and emotions. Therefore, children, especially under the age of 5-6 years, are mostly selfish and capricious. Over time, the child learns from the parents what is right and what is wrong. His system of values, norms, and rules of behavior is formed. Already at school, the child learns to interact with other people, to observe religious, moral and legal norms in force in society. It is the influence of parents and the social sphere of society that determines the formation of the “Super-I”.
The "super-ego" is the suppressive element. Being the complete opposite of the “It,” the “Super-Ego” personifies conscience, ideals, social norms and everything that limits the individual, makes him civilized and allows him to live in human society.
By its nature, the “Super-Ego” is closer to the “It” than to the “I”, simply because it is also unconscious, only unlike the “It”, which is a kind of hereditary, the “Super-Ego” is an acquired unconscious [7 ].
Both the “It” and the “Super-Ego” manifest themselves through the third psychic authority - the “I”.
“I” is already the sphere of consciousness. It acts as an intermediary between the “It” and the “Super-Ego”.
The functional importance of the “I” is expressed in the fact that in normal cases it has access to mobility. In its relation to “It” it is like a rider who must bridle a horse that is superior to him in strength; the difference is that the rider tries to do it with his own strength, and the “I” tries to do it with borrowed strength. If the rider does not want to part with the horse, then he has no choice but to lead the horse where the horse wants; so the “I” transforms the will of the “It” into action, as if it were its own will.
Sigmund Freud
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Thus, personifying common sense and prudence, it controls the mental processes occurring in the mind.
But because of its role, the “I” is constantly under pressure from both the “It” and the “Super-Ego”.
Extreme influence of any of them leads to negative consequences. For example, in the case when a child is brought up in strictness, is constantly punished and made to feel guilty for his behavior, gradually the pressure of the parents is replaced by the pressure of the “Super-I”. Punishment from without is replaced by punishment from within. As an adult, such a person often becomes depressed, feels guilty, and experiences pangs of conscience. At the same time, the “Super-Ego” becomes so tyrannical that a person blames himself not just for past actions, which he considers unworthy, but even for unworthy thoughts. Thus, the guilt and reproaches of such a person’s conscience are often caused not by an objective assessment of his actions, but by the person’s formed idea that he deserves it, that he is guilty, etc.
There are even more examples of what happens to people in whom “It” has the greatest influence. There is no need to talk about people who ignore social values, break rules and do not consider the feelings of others.
Thus, an imbalance between the three main components of the psyche brings suffering to the individual, and sometimes leads to mental disorders and the emergence of neuroses. “I” is trying to prevent this. And the main method is the process of displacement.
Psychological Defense Repression
Hello, Dear Readers. I continue the topic of psychological defenses. In this note, I will talk in detail about “Repression” - a psychological defense that occurs most often.
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From my point of view, it is with Repression that a tangle of psychological defenses begins to form in the individual. In order to better understand what Repression is, what its mechanisms and methods of dealing with it are, I will give small excerpts from Mikhail Litvak’s book “Psychological Vampirism” (Section 5 “Psychological Defense”) and material from some other authors: “Repression is a form of psychological protection, in which the traumatic factor disappears from consciousness, being repressed into the unconscious. It is the process of involuntarily eliminating unacceptable thoughts, images, memories, urges or feelings into the unconscious mind. It was discovered by Sigmund Freud, who described in detail the protective mechanism of motivated forgetting. When the effect of this mechanism to reduce anxiety is insufficient, other forms of psychological defenses are connected to it. According to Freud, repression is an attempt not to accept as reality an event that worries a person. Adults tend to say that certain events are not what they are, or that they did not happen. Although repression acts only Once, to maintain it, it requires constant expenditure of Energy from our consciousness (this is why neurotic individuals so often complain of weakness, lethargy, loss of strength; this is why they get sick so much and for a long time; this is why all their activities resemble a car, slipping in a hole - the more is displaced, the more energy the body wastes, therefore, the more it is not enough for life, and this inevitably leads to rapid wear and tear of internal organs and systems; Yu.L.). And here is how the 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer describes repression: “We don’t like to remember unpleasant things, especially if our vanity was hurt, which happens most often; There are very few misfortunes for which we ourselves are not at all to blame; That’s why so many unpleasant things are forgotten.” This is why an unhappy life seems so short. To make life seem long, it should be diluted with joyful events and achievements.
Violation of the dynamic balance when defense mechanisms are weakened can lead to the return of previously repressed information to consciousness. Such cases have been observed during illness, intoxication (for example, alcohol), and also during sleep. Direct repression associated with mental shock can lead to severe traumatic neuroses; incomplete or unsuccessful repression leads to the formation of neurotic symptoms. In terms of effectiveness, compared to all others, Repression occupies a unique position, i.e. it is able to cope with powerful instinctive impulses, against which other defense mechanisms are ineffective. But repression occupies a special place among other defense mechanisms due to the fact that it is not only the most effective, but also the most dangerous mechanism. Disconnection from our real personality, which occurs as a result of Isolation of Consciousness from the entire course of instinctive and affective life (I will write more about affects, feelings and emotions in another article; Yu.L.), can completely destroy the integrity of the personality (we are talking about psychosis; more about Read it in the article “Psychiatric diseases”; Yu.L.). According to S. Freud, repression is realized in the form of two phases: 1. Prevents the initial appearance of a negative impulse by removing unpleasant memories, experiences, and unacceptable desires from consciousness into the unconscious; 2. Ensures the retention of various repressed drives, desires, and aspirations in the unconscious. Everything that is repressed from consciousness into the unconscious does not disappear and has a significant impact on the state of the psyche and behavior of a person. From time to time, a spontaneous “return of the repressed” to the level of consciousness occurs, which occurs in the form of individual symptoms, dreams, erroneous actions, etc. S. Freud associated some symptoms of hysteria, impotence, frigidity, psychosomatic diseases (stomach ulcer, bronchial asthma) with the mechanisms of repression. ) and many more etc. A person can easily forget some things, especially those that reduce His sense of His Own Value as a Personality. More often, this mechanism manifests itself in psychologically immature individuals with hysterical character traits, as well as in children (read more about why this happens below; Yu.L.).”
Here I have given excerpts from the book by Demina L.D. and Ralnikova I.A. “Mental health and protective mechanisms of the individual.” Next, I again give the floor to Mikhail Litvak: “An example of this form of psychological defense can be the displacement from consciousness of the death of a loved one. Indeed, if he did not die, then there is no need to worry. This type of defense was cultivated in our country during the war. In the media and films, emphasis was placed on such cases when a woman did not believe that her husband was dead and continued to wait for him, and then it turned out that he was alive and well. The harm of such protection was that many women refused to re-arrange their personal lives, making themselves, their children and applicants for their hand and heart unhappy. The truth is that, firstly, there were few such cases, and secondly, as clinical facts indicate, when a missing person suddenly returned, he was a completely different person who turned out to be unnecessary to his wife, and she had already changed and accustomed to the role of sufferer. The sudden return of her husband deprived her of this aura, and analysis often revealed that her life with her husband was difficult, while repression allowed her not to make a second attempt that frightened her. What else is being displaced? Some facts of personal life are repressed when the individual has not shown his best side, some desires, aspirations, negative character traits, hostility towards loved ones, the Oedipus complex, the Electra complex, etc. (unfortunately, neurotic individuals do not realize all this, do not notice such negative traits in their character as touchiness, patience, anger, irony, criticism and many others, or do not consider them bad, and take them for granted - they do not strive to change them; moreover, sometimes they are even proud of them; (for example, an ironic mocker believes that he has high intelligence and wit, while in fact he is a sadist, only in a mild form; thus, a patient person boasts of his ability to endure torment and suffering that could easily have been avoided with a little effort; for example, a brave man puts his head in the mouth of a tiger so as not to look like a coward in the eyes of other people); only after 2 years of persistent psychotherapy and self-analysis, I finally learned to notice the negative sides of Myself My character, and correct them; before that, I associated all the accumulated material from Litvak’s books and audio seminars with other people, but not with Myself, naively believing that all this did not apply to me, that all this was not about me, but about others - about neurotics, and that I am a psychologically healthy person; however, when I realized my error, I quickly corrected myself, beginning to methodically work through the defects of My Character, and abandoning the desire to correct others; soon my business went uphill; Yu.L.). Here is one example of repressing unwanted facts of everyday life, told by one of my students. “I have been maintaining a relationship with my aunt for a long time, who treats my eldest son very warmly, as she helped us by nannying him when he was an infant (she did not have her own children). She treats the younger one, who, by the way, is more similar in appearance to her, much cooler. Since she is very expansive in expressing her love, for she is distinguished by hysterical accentuation, her favorite drove her away from him when he was still at the age at which children are always sincere in expressing their feelings, i.e. until she was 7 years old, but the youngest maintained an even relationship with her. Then the elder began to treat her more tolerantly, which was due to her gifts. I once asked her how to explain such discrimination, especially since in early childhood the elder simply could not stand it. At the same time, I remembered such an incident. When the eldest son had an appendectomy (removal of appendicitis; Yu.L.), and before discharge she visited him in the hospital, he did not allow her to sit on the bed, he drove her out of the room. There was no way to calm him down, and the aunt had to leave. In addition, the son did not want to eat her transmission. When I reminded her of this fact, she categorically refused to acknowledge it. I was even taken aback, because I remembered well that then she was offended... at me, believing that I was turning my son against her. She could not forget this, because her memory was not impaired, and she remembered many details that did not have such emotional significance for her. I couldn’t convince her.” I note that a witness to such a conversation would have taken the side of my student’s aunt, since she was confident that she was right, and he looked confused. This is almost a rule that can be adopted. The one who displaces wins the argument. Hence: do not argue with those who repress. (I would add: don’t argue even with someone who doesn’t repress; if you want to be happy, stop defending your rightness; in one of the following articles I will write what is the difference between an argument and a discussion; Yu.L.)
Such properties as love of power are repressed. I wrote about this in the section on psychological aikido techniques from the book by Mikhail Litvak. Qualities such as stupidity and short-sightedness are repressed. Sexual drives and some other needs are repressed into the unconscious. For a while this saves you from experiencing it, but an unmet need or an uncorrected personal flaw will sooner or later lead to other forms of psychological defense or to illness. I worked too hard, didn’t eat on time, and got dizzy. I don't realize it's because I'm hungry and I take medicine. I feel better, but after a while I feel weak in my knees, I took something again. Then I get worse and worse. The only thing that can help here is to bring into consciousness the fact that I am hungry and must take food.
Everything repressed must be returned in one way or another to consciousness and comprehended (this is why I sometimes have to literally “force” my clients or patients to write an Autobiography; after all, a methodical episode-by-episode description of one’s previous life is the best way to return everything repressed, to experience it, rethink and make so that the nightmare past does not drag you back - does not interfere with enjoying the beautiful present and does not darken the plans for a bright future; Yu.L.). You should survive the death of a loved one, grow wiser, realize your lust for power with real growth, get rid of unconscious hostility towards loved ones, establishing relationships with them. The more is repressed into the unconscious, the worse a person knows himself, the less oriented he is, the more often his life will come to a dead end. Therefore, first of all, know yourself. And we can agree with K. Horney, who believed that one of the most important tasks of a psychotherapist is to introduce the patient to one strange stranger - himself. By the way, one of the tasks of psychological training is to become yourself. The main fight against repression is awareness of it with the help of psychoanalytic procedures, and its prevention is vigilance. It is advisable to keep a diary and clearly express your opinion in writing during discussions. When my colleagues and I had diagnostic disagreements, I trained myself to write down my opinion on paper, even if I did not express it. I noticed that I had more discrepancies than when I didn't keep these records. The reason for this is repression. When the diagnosis is verified, it always begins to seem that this is exactly the opinion you held. After a while, I noticed that the accuracy of my diagnosis improved.”
Mikhail Litvak accurately described the mechanisms of combating the psychological defense “Repression” . On my own behalf, I would like to add: only that which our psyche (our consciousness) cannot cope with (is not able to bear) is repressed. I noticed that the stronger the Adult position (according to transactional analysis), the less it gets into our Unconscious, and the more remains in the conscious (this is why so much is repressed in childhood - after all, there is, in fact, no Adult position there - moreover that all information directly falls into the Parent’s template, it is also capable of causing severe mental trauma to our Child; naturally, after some time the latter will be repressed (perhaps even immediately)). The stronger the Adult, the more a person is able to digest, although the information received is often very painful for him. But don't force it out. Previously, I was often offended, but I tried with all my might to give my face a calm, indifferent look, although in my heart I wanted to sob (or scream in anger). I didn’t cry, but calmed myself: “I wasn’t offended. Being offended is the lot of neurotics.” That’s how it is, but neuroticism doesn’t go away all at once. And if we repress resentment, it will only slow down our personal growth. Perhaps it will even block it altogether. After all, even if you are offended, but the offense is in your consciousness, then you will forgive it with your Natural Child both faster and easier. How to determine that you were offended, but repressed? It’s very simple - if, remembering a person, you understand that you don’t want to communicate with him for some Insignificant Reasons, or you feel some kind of negativity towards him (although there is no obvious reason for dissatisfaction), it means that you have repressed the resentment. Then you need to write in your diary everything that happened in your life with the participation of this person. You will definitely find the lost skeleton in the closet, by analyzing the situation, find the cause of the repressed resentment (the work of an Adult), cry (scream), forgive and calm down (the difficult but necessary work of a Child). If, remembering the person, you have positive emotions or no emotions at all, therefore, you have forgiven him. And, therefore, more episodes associated with this person are not repressed from you.
Repression significantly and not for the better affects the functioning of our memory. People who have repressed a lot of things are extremely forgetful and have pronounced memory problems. For clarity, I will cite messages from a man from the forum of Mikhail Litvak: “I constantly forget some little things (put money on my phone, for example). This is precisely the problem with this point. When leaving for work, I’m already used to checking whether I’ve turned off all the burners and whether I’ve closed everything I need, that’s okay. But in general, forgetfulness is of course off the charts. Forgetting to turn off the light (at night or when leaving for work) is generally in the order of things. For example, I went to my hometown for the weekend, to see my parents, friends, etc. I stayed with a friend, had to spend the night with him, left the next day - and forgot his work pass and cards for small items. It doesn’t seem to be critical, and the pass was temporary, but it’s still unpleasant. I also added another worry to my friend: send me all this by courier (because next time I don’t know when I’ll arrive). We need to do something about this forgetfulness before we burn ourselves out.
