Gordon Kirschner, MD
Freud’s Model of the mind and its significance today
Early in his work with Breuer, Freud saw that hidden thoughts controlled the behavior of his patients. When the thoughts were revealed the behavior changed. Freud proposed a model in which the mind was divided in three parts, the conscious that one is aware of, the pre-conscious, containing latent thought that could readily be brought forth, and an unconscious, where thoughts were actively repressed and could not be made conscious unless the dynamic force of repression was overcome. He developed psychoanalysis as a technique to access repressed thoughts, to bring them to consciousness, and enable the patient to deal with them. Conflict in the mind was conceived as the motivation for repression and conscious awareness was to be the means to enable resolution of the conflict. Early on he proposed that instinct was a blind force opposed by social demands.
In 1923 Freud published DAS ICH UND DAS ES, in which he proposed a new division of mind in three parts, the third now being the Uber Ich. We are all familiar with these terms in their Greek translation as the Ego, the Id and the Superego. They might better be translated into English as the I, the It and the Over I. Bruno Bettelheim argued that even the ordinary English words fail to carry the rich meaning of the original. For instance, I quote, “During their early years, all Germans have the experience of being referred to by means of the neuter pronoun es.”
This three part division of mind signaled that the I was an outgrowth of the It and in part remained unconscious, in intimate contact with the irrational, selfish, infantile regions of mental life. The Uber Ich, or Superego was recognized as an accretion of memories of guidance, both benign and malignant, of experiences of danger and survival. These memories may be preconscious or unconscious, and influence the working of the Ich, the I.
Today it is still demonstrable that people are moved by perceptions and ideas that they are unaware of. Scientists have demonstrated that our brains comprise functional units which must work together and that some of the time they do not do so smoothly. We have learned that the memory is a set of varied functions, some conscious and some not. Conditioned fear operates entirely out of awareness. Implicit memory, that is know how, guides us through performance, but can only be explained indirectly. Explicit memory, knowing what, is our conscious guide. We talk more now of the self, rather than of Ich, Ego. This self is a construct at the center of our mental organization, a process instead of a thing, which coordinates the minds various functions through the unifying effect of conscious awareness.
Recognizing that the brain is the most complex system that we know of, Stanley Palombo has applied Kaufman’s theories of organization to show that order emerges naturally and that the psychoanalytic process can reveal that order and promote reordering to the lasting benefit of the patient.
We continue to rely on the conception of mind as comprised of separate, functional systems within a larger system. The idea of unconscious motivation is relied on throughout our society today. Unfortunately, this insight has not yet been put to full use for the greater good, but is relied on daily in strategies to manipulate and influence us all.
References:
Freud, Sigmund, The Ego and the Id, Standard Edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey, Vol. XIX, PP3-63. London, the Hogarth Press, 1961.
Bettelheim, Bruno, Freud and Man’s Soul, pp. 53-55. Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1983
Palombo, Stanley R., The Emergent Ego, complexity and coevolution in the psychoanalytic process., International Universities Press, Madison CT, 1999.