Our subconscious mind stores all impressions, ideas, desires, actions and memory that are not currently active. The subconscious mind is different from the unconscious mind. These are bodily processes that we do not think about, i.e. breathing, heartbeat and blood circulation.
What is the subconscious mind?
The subconscious mind is that area of the psyche that is not accessible to us. It is a significant part of our being and is subordinate to the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is that area of the psyche that is not accessible to us. It is a significant part of our being and subordinate to consciousness. Dreams are considered the language of the subconscious mind. Over 90% of our thoughts and actions are controlled by the subconscious. The subconscious mind ensures that many actions are automatic and thus relieves the conscious mind. When we are awake, the subconscious acts like a filter. It processes every thought and does not make any evaluation into good or bad. The subconscious learns through repetition. The more often it is presented with certain information, the more strongly such statements about existence manifest themselves. During reading, for example, the subconscious mind cooperates. This is because everything we take in while reading is matched with the subconsciously available knowledge, memories, desires and ideas. When we read, we not only take in facts, but have an individual impression of what we read, which is processed in the subconscious. The subconscious also perceives things that our brain, if it were to take them in consciously, would be overwhelmed with. Thus, all perceptions that are not related to the current activity are absorbed by the subconscious. Otherwise, we would not be able to concentrate on an activity.
Function and task
Since the foundation of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, the subconscious has been the subject of controversy. According to Freud, the subconscious stores repressed content that we would consciously censor. In the subconscious, the repressed continues to operate and, if not “brought to light,” can lead to emotional disturbances. Psychoanalyst C. G. Jung describes the collective subconscious as having stored experiences from throughout human history. These assumptions about the psyche are difficult to verify empirically, but on the physiological side, for example, they have found their proof in epigenetics, in which individual and collective experiences inscribe themselves biologically. Neurolinguistic programming sees in the subconscious everything that escapes momentary attention. Even when we don’t realize it, the subconscious mind controls most of our actions and feelings. Thoughts trigger electrical impulses and chemical reactions in the brain. Once the brain receives an electrical impulse, reactions occur. It responds to the thought and chemical control substances are released. The central nervous system is put on standby to produce appropriate reactions. With the day of birth, neither the conscious nor the subconscious mind is strongly developed. From now on, every image, every stimulus, every touch, every spoken word imprints the subconscious. Thoughts that we have permanently absorbed are particularly strongly imprinted. But whether true or not, our subconscious imprints all the acquired information. Thus we also store useless, superfluous and untrue statements and solidify them. Advertising, for example, makes great use of this knowledge. Man is a creature of habit and tends to form unconscious patterns of action and thought and to act accordingly. Even if we believe that we make predominantly rational and reasonable decisions, most of our decisions are directed by the subconscious.
Diseases and ailments
We cannot simply retrieve information from the subconscious mind. To do this, certain techniques must be used, which psychologists, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts or hypnotists have mastered. In many psychosomatic illnesses, traumatic experiences and resulting difficulties in dealing with other people, the subconscious can be used for conflict resolution and healing. Again and again we hear of spontaneous self-healing, even in supposedly out-treated patients. In these moments the subconscious mind was active.While the subconscious mind used to be regarded as the locus of dark forces, medicine today makes use of its immense power. Thoughts can cure diseases, but they can also make us sick. The thoughts and attitudes of our minds can even influence and change our genes, again a reference to epigenetics. Research has shown that two people with identical genetic makeup, identical disease, identical chance of cure, and even the same course of treatment will develop completely differently. One may die, the other may get well. This is influenced only by the power of thoughts and individual belief systems. When treating physical illnesses, doctors try to “tap into” the subconscious mind. People who repeatedly notice problems in their dealings with others, who feel permanently unhappy and depressed, often seek therapeutic help after a certain period of suffering. The psychotherapist uses different methods for treatment. In relaxed brain states, the subconscious takes in information even more intensively, so that the therapy works particularly well in a state of rest. Old, harmful thoughts are overwritten and replaced by healthy ones. In this field, there is analytical psychotherapy, depth psychological psychotherapy and behavioral therapy. Conversational psychotherapy and systemic therapy are also scientifically recognized. In analytical psychotherapy, unconscious processes are made conscious, and the incomprehensible can be experienced consciously. In the course of treatment, a pattern can be discerned in how the client relates to others and to himself. The treatment provides a deeper understanding of oneself, from which a new way of dealing with other people can be learned. Because patterns of behavior and ideas that have been lodged in the subconscious for many years cannot be replaced by new ones in a few days, depth psychotherapy is a long-term therapy.
