The Unconscious Mind

The most serious criticism of the psychoan­alytic formulation of human conduct is prob­ably that it does not give full enough weight to the physiological factors involved; it more or less takes them for granted. Freud himself, who began as a neurologist, anticipated this criticism and worked out his theory precisely because there was not enough information at

 that time on the physiology or pathology (disorder) of the human nervous system to explain the huge backlog of unhappy people and mental illness that confronted him.

The success of recent drug therapy (e.g. tranquilizers and cerebral stimulants) in treating mild and severe mental illness sug­gests that physiological modifications of the nervous system can favorably modify the events presumed to occur in the unconscious mind. But the new ability to alter and im­prove the physiological factors in mental ill­ness does not entirely wipe out the psychic factors.

Those who doubt the existence and impor­tance of the unconscious mind must find a better explanation for such questions as: How can a fact be remembered one minute and forgotten the next? Where do dreams come from? Why do so many people feel uncomfor­tably anxious and guilty about trivial and unimportant events of their past and present experience? Why do patterns of reaction es­tablished in childhood persist throughout adult life?

Although other terminology for the struc­ture of the unconscious mind can be and has been used, the well-accepted (Freudian) con­struct divides it into three interacting parts: the id, the ego, and the superego.

The Id

A newborn baby, helpless though he is, nevertheless has a lust for life, instincts, and aptitudes (like the sucking reflex) for sur­vival. This passion for existence, this inher­ent vital emotional energy we have pointed out. can he described as his libido In a more impersonal term it can also be characterized as the id. All that we can guess or posit con­cerning the existence of the id we gain from observations of the conduct of the libido. (We have already traced the normal course of libido attachments to "love objects" from early inlancy through adulthood.) In the structure of the unconscious mind, therefore, the id can be construed as the uncontrolled source of the inborn tendencies, the instincts, the uncon­scious striving of the human organism to live and enjoy life

The id, however, has characteristics which are not in accord with the best in human con­duct Like a child who "wants what he wants when he wants it." the id constantly seeks its own pleasure and gratification. It acts as if pleasure were the only thing in the world that counts. It operates on the pleasure prin­ciple exclusively. This is the way infants and children behave, and it takes education, ma­turation, and social pressure before they give up the pleasure principle as the chief guide to conduct. Even in adults, of course, the pleasure-seeking drive persists but it is under greater control.

The pleasure-seeking id does not distin­guish between good and evil It is illogical; it holds contradictory wishes and impulses at the same time. In a word, the id it unrealistic The human organism which responded solely to its whims, its sexual and aggressive tend­encies, would probably not long survive.

The Unconscious Mind

To understand why people think, feel, speak, and act the way they do we must grasp the concept of the unconscious mind. To an­ticipate a fuller description in the following chapter, we shall give a very brief resume at this point.

The unconscious mind is the repository of thoughts and feelings of which we are una­ware. It files and remembers (but does not necessarily release to conscious memory) all our past experience. Indeed, it releases com­paratively little, largely because we want to forget or repress unpleasant memories. We can assign a theoretical structure to the un­conscious mind which helps us to comprehend its operation.

The unconscious mind is assumed to consist of three parts: id, ego, and superego. The id may be said to represent the primitive drives and instincts of the human being. The ego represents the conscious self, which makes contact with reality and tries to keep the de­mands of the id in tune and touch with the real world- The superego is, crudely, the con­science, which also seeks to direct the ego.

The ego has a tough job. It must seek to satisfy the demands of the id, the superego, and external reality at the same time. To protect itself, the ego must adopt defenses; it must find compromise solutions which at least temporarily stabilize conflict in the un­conscious mind and permit the individual to carry on. These compromises are often called mental mechanisms. This is not all that is required of the ego. It represents that part of the psyche which looks, acts, and builds to­ward individual satisfactions and socially commendable achievements in human life.

Interaction of Mind and Body

Physical health and mental health are cer­tainly intertwined. For purposes of discussion we may separate mind (psyche) and body (soma), but in the everyday business of living they are indivisible. What we think and feel, consciously or unconsciously, is reflected in the cells of our bodies. Consider, for example, the shiver of fear and the blush of shame. Conversely, damage, deprivation, or disorder of the body affects the mind. Take, for in­stance, the delirium produced by high fever. Furthermore, our feelings and conduct can be drastically altered by drugs—for example, alcohol, narcotics, tranquilizers, and cerebral stimulants. These are fairly extreme exam­ples. A more subtle interaction goes on all the time under the mediation, regulation, and control of the two important integrative sys­tems of the body the nervous system and the endocrine system.

The simple principles for maintaining a reasonably good state of physical health — adequate diet, sufficient rest and exercise, attention to warning signals of disease, and so forth —apply also to the quest for mental health. One cannot pursue mental health as if it were a butterfly to be caught in a net. In­deed, constant concern over health js itself unhealthy. One attains and maintains mental health by indirection. The positive steps are outward. A person in a good state of mental health is identified by the fact that he enjoys good personal and social relationships with other people. He is not brooding about him­self, nor introspectively exploring the state of his unconscious mind. He is living out, within the framework of the culture around him, something that may be called a satisfying and mature philosophy of life.

The revolution in psychiatry and psychi­atric treatment which began with Sigmund Freud is not to be wiped out or overthrown; but the Freudians (especially since the advent of a new psychopharmacology in the 1950"s) can no longer assume the role of the only legit­imate priests and prophets in the further de­velopment of the mental health of individuals, communities, and nations. The help of all professional groups, psychologists, physicians,social workers, teachers, nurses, parents, and others, and of the people themselves, is necessary if the high and laudable goals of mental health are ever to be achieved. With such cooperation mental hygiene is not a vain hope but rather a major weapon in the armament with which mankind can fight suc­cessfully against the mounting menace of its mental ills.