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Nonconscious: Just Because You Can’t Detect the Belief Doesn’t Mean That It Isn’t Present

  • Writer: Deric Hollings
    Deric Hollings
  • 5 days ago
  • 10 min read

 

When providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) to the clients with whom I work, I often find that some people require additional information about the conscious, preconscious, unconscious, and nonconscious conceptual functions of the mind.

 

For clarity, I practice REBT in my personal and professional life. Thus, I subscribe to many propositions put forth in REBT theory, which was initially developed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis. Importantly, I don’t dogmatically cling to all tenets of REBT.

 

Specifically, I like some views of psychoanalytic theory, which was initially developed by the late neurologist Sigmund Freud. Ellis once said, “When I practiced psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy, I found that some of the major analytic assumptions simply do not work.”

 

Nevertheless, I find psychoanalytic concepts of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious framework convincing enough to incorporate into my practice of REBT. In particular, the American Psychological Association (APA) thusly defines the conscious:

 

1. adj. relating to or marked by awareness or consciousness.

 

2. n. in the classical psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, the region of the psyche that contains thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and other aspects of mental life currently present in awareness. The content of the conscious is thus inherently transitory and continuously changing as the person shifts the focus of their attention.

 

When conceptualizing the conscious, I think of my ability to write this blogpost by use of active information, altering concepts, and synthesizing data in a way that may provide a coherent post that you’ll consider reading. Now, contemplate that the APA thusly defines the preconscious:

 

1. adj. denoting or relating to unattended mental contents that can be readily accessed and brought to awareness.

 

2. n. in the classical psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, the level of the psyche that contains thoughts, feelings, and impulses not presently in awareness but that can be more or less readily called into consciousness. Examples are the face of a friend, a verbal cliché, or the memory of a recent event.

 

When contemplating the preconscious, I deliberate the inactive information I’m readily able to access, such as alternative directions to my preferred grocery store. This data isn’t typically in the forefront of my mind. Now, consider that the APA thusly defines the subconscious:

 

[A] lay term that is widely used to denote the unconscious or preconscious mind as described by Sigmund Freud or the general idea of subliminal consciousness. It is also popularly associated with autosuggestion and hypnosis. Because of its imprecision, the term is now generally avoided by psychologists.

 

Because many people conflate the conscious and the unconscious with the subconscious, I’ve included this term herein. Still, I find it as useful as nonclinical terms, such as “crazy,” “psychopath,” and “sociopath.” Now, consider that the APA thusly defines the unconscious:

 

1. n. in psychoanalytic theory, the region of the psyche containing memories, emotional conflicts, wishes, and repressed impulses that are not directly accessible to awareness but that have dynamic effects on thought and behavior. Sigmund Freud sometimes used the term dynamic unconscious to distinguish this concept from that which is descriptively unconscious but “static” and with little psychological significance.

 

2. adj. relating to or marked by absence of awareness or consciousness. Psychologists prefer increasingly to use the term nonconscious in this sense, to avoid confusion with the psychoanalytic unconscious. —unconsciousness n.

 

When conceptualizing the unconscious, I think of inactive information, such as all the telephone numbers I at one time had memorized, or processes of the autonomic nervous system. I’m not consciously aware of such information, though it exists in my nonconscious mind.

 

This is where psychoeducational lessons on REBT and my appreciation for psychoanalytic theory terms (i.e., conscious, preconscious, and unconscious), as well as the preferred “nonconscious” concept, are merged in my approach to well-being. Allow me to explain.

 

REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as distress or disturbance.

 

In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to distress or disturb themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive scripts, think of the acronym GLAD.

 

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

 

Often, the clients with whom I work experience difficulty identifying the unhelpful Beliefs which bridge together undesirable Actions and unpleasant Consequences. “I don’t know what I was Believing,” or, “I’m not aware of what I was Believing,” a client may suggest. Precisely!


Photo credit (edited), Designed by Magnific, fair use

 

Nonconscious Beliefs which have likely taken a lifetime to form, though not always is the case, often remain just below one’s awareness. Therefore, some clients understandably misinterpret how it is they’ve come to self-distress or self-disturb.

 

Significantly, from a psychological standpoint, people distress or disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

 

Precisely, from an A-C view, you walk across an eroding bridge (Action) and pressure from your body causes the middle of the structure to collapse (Consequence). All the same, if you experience fright during this event, then it’s a B-C connection that causes your reaction.

 

As an example, a portion of the bridge collapses (Action), you Believe, “This worthless situation [G] is something I can’t stand [L], as it’ll be awful to die so soon [A], because I absolutely mustn’t perish on this bridge [D],” and you then endure the reaction of fright (Consequence).

 

This is negative, though unhealthy disturbance which is brought on by you Beliefs. Alternatively, negative, though healthy distress is natural when experiencing the immediate effects of walking across a collapsing bridge. Who wouldn’t have an emotional reaction arising from danger?

 

Regarding the latter event, what may your Beliefs be, even if you aren’t immediately aware of them? You may Believe, “Oh my, this bridge is falling! I preferably should make it to the other side, or else I could get hurt!” Now, it’s worth noting that one REBT source states (page 71):

 

REBT conceptualizes [distress] as healthy even though it is intense. Other approaches to therapy have as their goal the reduction of the intensity of negative emotions. They take this position because they do not keenly differentiate between healthy negative emotions (distress) and unhealthy negative emotions (disturbance).

 

Now, REBT keenly distinguishes between healthy distress and unhealthy disturbance. Healthy distress stems from your rational beliefs about a negative activating event [Action], whilst disturbance stems from your irrational beliefs about the same event.

 

Complete elimination of distress is highly unlikely in an impermanent and uncertain world wherein people conceptually suffer, struggle, and battle with, or merely experience hardship. Still, individuals often make matters worse for themselves by disturbing about such instances.

 

Given the framing of the B-C connection, as I’ve distinguished between healthy distress and unhealthy disturbance which is caused by Beliefs—whether in the conscious or nonconscious mind, I now invite you to practice the ABC model. Sometimes, the Beliefs take effort to expose.

 

Concerning the concept of nonconscious, just because you can’t detect the Belief doesn’t mean that it isn’t present. Therefore, I encourage you to engage all levels of your mind so that you may become aware of what it is that causes your distressed or disturbed reactions.

 

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

 

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

 

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

 

 

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

 

References:

 

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