The types of unconscious according to Carl Jung

This researcher came to the conclusion that our mind is configured by symbols and myths.

The idea that in our mind there is something unconscious that totally influences how we think, feel and act has seduced hundreds of thousands of people since Sigmund Freud published his first books on psychoanalysis. However, as the stream of psychology inherited from Freud is very much based on metaphysics, much has been hypothesized about what is the structure of this unconscious structure of the human psyche.

One of the best known explanations in this regard is that of Carl Jung, one of the first followers of the father of psychoanalysis who, however, ended up radically departing from the theories of his master. In the following we will see what the different types of unconscious according to Carl Jung consisted of. the different types of unconscious according to Carl Jung.

Repressions, pathologies, symbolisms.... Psychodynamics

The current of psychology initiated by Sigmund Freud, based in its beginnings on psychoanalysis, is famous for placing great emphasis on a concept called "the unconscious". This unconscious refers to that side of the human mind that is kept away from the spotlight. is kept away from the light bulbs of consciousness and that, consequently, we find it difficult and which, consequently, we find it difficult to take into account or even try to modify or anticipate.

However, this unconscious mind to which Freud's disciples referred is not just any kind of unconscious (for example, it has nothing to do with the way in which current psychology and neurosciences understand non-consciousness), but is based on a very specific way of understanding the psyche, deeply based on metaphysics and on the analysis of symbols. in search of a hidden meaning.

Thus, the descendants of psychoanalysis understand this concept as a set of entities that fight against the forces of the conscious psyche in order to become manifest and come to light. And symbols and symbolic embodiments of thoughts, sensations and memories play a major role: hence, for example, Freud's emphasis on the analysis of dreams and the result of free association. and the results of free association.

Beyond an individual phenomenon

Carl Jung rejected many of Freud's ideas, but at bottom he used a conception of the mind that, in the most basic way, resembled that of the creator of psychoanalysis. He also believed in the need to look for symbols and signs of hidden meanings, though with a difference; if psychoanalysts understood that the unconscious was fundamentally confined to individuals, Jung proposed the opposite: that the unconscious is basically a collective phenomenon, like the history of humanity..

How did he come to this conclusion? Through the study of symbologies and religions. As he learned about the different myths and ways of understanding the world from different cultures around the world, Jung realized that many of these mythical elements had many characteristics in common: symbols, themes and developmental structures of mythical stories..

However, the conclusions he reached did not stop at the simple recognition of very similar aspects in different cultural elements of practically all societies, regardless of their degree of isolation from the rest. Moreover, Carl Jung defended the idea that these essential elements that can be found in all the mythical stories of the world manifest themselves in dreams of patients with schizophrenia..

From there, this Swiss researcher proposed an idea which, according to him, made it possible to answer the question of how it could be that these common symbolic elements appear in all types of people, regardless of where they live and whether they have known other cultures or not. There were two types of unconscious: an individual and a collective one..

Carl Jung and the types of the unconscious he proposed

The most characteristic idea of Carl Jung's work in comparison to other referents of the psychodynamic current is that for him the psyche of a person is not only a product of his individual personal experiences added to his individual Biological propensities, but fundamentally functions from elements that go beyond the individual.

This emphasis on the collective does not refer to the way in which others influence a person's behavior by interacting with him or her; it goes far beyond that. In fact, this "transpersonal" psychological factor has more to do with the history of humanity, that is, what happened before that particular individual was born. It is a part of the psyche that existed before the individual psyche had a chance to come into existence: hence for Jung symbols, myths and religion were of such importance. in understanding people's minds: they are products of the evolution of humanity as a whole.

Thus, the types of unconscious according to Jung are the following.

1. Personal unconscious

It has to do with all the repressed and hidden aspects that have arisen from the interaction between the person and his environment (including the people he comes in contact with). For example, if someone's mother punished him very harshly during his childhood, this leaves an imprint in his unconscious.

Collective unconscious

The collective unconscious is the type of unconscious that Carl Jung emphasizes the most. It contains historical and collective elements that modulate the way human beings think, feel and act. Specifically, it includes inheritable and socially constructed psychological structures, called archetypes..

Criticism

All of Carl Jung's work has been highly criticized both by members of the psychodynamic current and by psychologists and philosophers of science who do not consider themselves heirs of Freud. The latter, in particular, the latter, in particular, point out how unreliable it is to rely on one's own interpretation to analyze people's behavior. to analyze people's behavior; after all, there is no objectively valid way of interpreting symbols.

In any case, the types of unconscious proposed by Carl Jung have had a great influence on the humanities and have been reflected in numerous forms of art, so it is interesting to know them.