The Unconscious Google Search in Psychotherapy

Sigmund Freud viewed the unconscious part of the mind as a seething cauldron of repressed desires and expectations.  Milton Erickson viewed the unconscious mind as being full of forgotten resources that can be called upon to help an individual make the changes that they desire.  My view is more in line with Erickson’s view in general.

When you begin to work in psychotherapy with someone who has some understanding of the unconscious mind, the unconscious mind begins searching for solutions.  Imagine it being like a Google search…where a phrase such as “growth,” “solutions,” or “resolution” is typed into the search box.  Your mind has a wealth of information from your life’s experiences, and some of that information, you have forgotten.  But your unconscious mind can begin searching for that information and those experiences that will be of the greatest benefit to you now in resolving your difficulties.

And to that end, and within that framework, the mind begins searching.  Have you ever had the experience of thinking very hard on a problem and being unable to find a solution?  Have you ever went to sleep on it and woke up in the middle of the night with the solution mysteriously on your mind?  And can you imagine the same thing happening for certain vexing life problems?  I think we’ve all had that experience and it may seem surprising to imagine that this can take place with various kinds of life problems as well.

Repeating Life’s Patterns-Part I

I remember one fellow I saw. He was a bartender. Over the years, he joked to all of his friends, “I’ve been a bartender since I was six.” He started out by getting his father a new beer whenever requested (which was often). He didn’t know any different. This was normal family life to him. Then his father was killed in a truck driving accident when he was 8-years-old. His mother became extremely depressed and couldn’t function (couldn’t cook, couldn’t comfort, couldn’t provide parental correction, and so forth). So, he became the perfect boy (independent, high achieving, extremely helpful, protective of those with emotional needs, and so forth).

Unfortunately, he missed out on his childhood. When he became an adult, he dropped out of college, started using drugs, hooked up with women who were bad news, and generally disappointed his mother. She didn’t give him any attention or concern after the death of his father (she couldn’t). He missed his dad horribly. He became a bartender to repeat the early pattern (serving beer and liquor to folks). He also repeated a number of other patterns from his relationship with his father.

These things represent an unconscious wish “for a better outcome.” The person wishes greatly that things had not turned out the way that they had. They keep repeating, in ineffective ways, the early traumatic experience. Unconsciously, they are trying to resolve the early problem–to make things turn out differently. On another level, their symptoms are communicating the problem from their past. When they end up finding a shrink who can understand these things, they are finally able to communicate, verbally, what bothered them so horribly. Unfortunately, with today’s training, there are not many shrinks who can understand this unconscious communication. It’s rare that I don’t see this communication. I see it every single day in my practice. The symptom communicates the problem.

Just as when you have an intense pain in your shoulder communicates that there might be a physical problem with your shoulder. This prompts you to seek medical attention. Life patterns and problems also prompt people to seek psychological help. Too often, this is not recognized in my opinion.

On the Therapeutic Metaphor

Milton Erickson, MD, was the worlds foremost expert on the application of hypnosis to resolving emotional problems.  Often, Erickson employed the therapeutic metaphor in order to promote the unconscious resolution of a patient’s problems.  He often did this by telling stories, that on the surface, appeared to be just a story….but in actuality nailed the crux of the patient’s psychological problems on an unconscious level.

He had polio.  He was not expected to live through the night.  The doctor told his mother this in front of him.  Now he thought that was awfully unkind to be saying to his mother and in front him him…the soon to be deceased.  He could only move his eyeballs and talk to some extent.  He got his mother to rearrange his room so that he could see out the window.  He explained that this was so that he could see the sunrise.  He stayed awake all night long staring out the window, just waiting for the sunrise.  He wanted to prove that doctor wrong.  He lapsed into a coma for awhile after seeing the first light of day.  He had done it…proved that insensitive doctor wrong.  But that was only the start of the battle….he was left with only being able to move his eyeballs and nothing else.  So, he began to learn to be a very keen observer of people….what else did he have to do??  He learned that his sister could say ‘Yes’ when she meant ‘No,’ and say ‘No’ when she meant ’Yes.’  He learned to identify each family member from the specific pattern and sound of their footsteps.   He learned how babies learned to move and walk from watching his infant sister.  Now he figured that we all have unconscious memories for learning how to move and explore the world.  Because we all had to do this, and this is just what he did.  By watching his baby sister, he re-learned what he already knew.  So after about a year or so, he got to where he could crawl.  At that point, he purchased a canoe.  On his own, he paddled the canoe 1200 miles down the Mississippi river….at times pulling the canoe behind him over sandbars while crawling.  By the end of the trip, he had gained enough physical strength to walk and carry the canoe over his head!  Later in life, he developed an active case of polio again, and was bound to a wheelchair.  Even though he was in immense physical pain, he continued to work with teaching and treating patients.  He could barely breath or talk, but continued working with every ounce of his strength.

Now, some people are kind of naive.  If you are, you may or may not be aware of it.  Others are rigidly skeptical…their first position is disbelief.  Folks are usually not fully aware of how rigid they are.  I remember I was at a workshop for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.  One of the presenters was talking about his experiences with Milton Erickon.  One day, Dr. Erickson told him that in order for him [Dr. Erickson] to keep teaching this individual, he [the student] would have to do something different.  He told him that he was to climb ‘Squaws Peak,’ and to go into the desert.  He was to keep looking until he found a Boojum tree.  Dr. Erickson said something like, “It’s spelled bujoom.  No, bojum.  No, bojam.  No, boojam.  No, Boojum.  Yes that’s it.  Boojum.”  And then he [Erickson] told him [the student] that when he saw this Boojum tree, he would think to himself, ‘That’s not a tree.  It’s impossible!!!”  And while he was considering that impossibility, he was to look around and identify the ‘creeping devils.’  He explained that some people don’t believe they exist, but he was pretty sure that this student might be able to find them.  So, the student went up Squaws Peak, and into the desert.  He kept driving until he saw the weirdest thing.  He didn’t even know what he was looking for.  But when he saw it, he thought, “That’s not a tree.  It’s impossible!!”  And while he felt completely confused, because this was exactly what was predicted by Dr. Erickson, he began to look around on the gound.  He saw the strangest cactus….a cactus that grew horizontally and then bent up.  He knew this must be the ‘creeping devil,’ and now knew they existed.  He could only speculate about the reasons that Dr. Erickson had him do this, although it appears plain to me.  It didn’t really matter if his conscious mind knew or didn’t know.  His unconscious mind did know….and the necessary changes were made as I could see from his current personality.

 

Now, I believe God designed us with incredibly complex minds that have self-corrective mechanisms built into them.  I believe that within each individual, there are all the resources and knowledge needed in order to resolve the patient’s difficulties.  All that’s needed is the mobilization of those unconscious resources.  As Dr. Erickson explained, “It’s not what the patient doesn’t know that’s the problem.  It’s what they know, that they don’t know they know.”  In other words, each individual has gained a great deal of knowledge about themselves and the world that they have forgotten conscious, but have not forgotten unconsciously.  When that information is utilized effectively by the unconscious mind, the individual’s difficulties can be resolved.  This can happen when a patient is asleep and dreaming.  This can happen when they are eating breakfast and staring off into space.  This can happen when they are walking down the sidewalk and seem to become less aware of what is going on around them.  This can happen at any number of times when it is most appropriate….and I have seen this happen any number of times…and delight in the surprise of patients when it occurs….

Plausible Deniability and Psychological Defense Mechanisms

I find the notion of “plausible deniability” very applicable to psychological defense mechanisms. (1) Originally, this term was used to describe aspects of political maneuvering pertaining to the Bay of Pigs invasion.

“In the case that assassinations, false flag or black ops or any other illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any connection to or awareness of such act, or the agents used to carry out such act.” (2)

This means that the high command gives some kind of implicit permission to carry out certain kinds of acts, and the people performing the acts don’t inform their superiors of what they are doing.

So, with defense mechanisms, they operate within the realm of ‘plausible deniability.’ Based on the severity of the psychological problems that an individual has, the range of ‘plausible deniability’ varies. For the schizophrenic, the range of plausible deniability is far ranging….they are able to believe things that most people aren’t able to believe. With other difficulties, the range of plausible deniability is more constricted.

As an example, a patient might state, “I suppose you think this has something to do with my mother!! Well, it has nothing to do with her. Don’t try to get me to talk about her, because I won’t do it!!” And, I respond, “I wasn’t thinking that….if you want to talk about your mother, I suppose you will if you want to…” And the patient goes on to talk about their mother for the remainder of the session. On a conscious level, they think that whatever they are talking about has nothing to do with their mother, but on an unconscious level, they are stating clearly that it does. For them, whatever the difficulty is, it is plausible on a conscious level that it has nothing to do with their mother…at least to some extent. The emotion that is expressed, indicates something different on an unconscious level….I’ll just be patient and see what emerges as they explore their feelings further. Just like investigations into government activities, our investigations often lead to the the truth….and just like government investigations, the truth can be very hard to find. In treatment…we follow the evidence where it leads….

So, what determines how a defense mechanism will operate is its plausibility and deniability.

“I love him to death.  But I really can’t understand why he treats me the way he does.”

You’ve probably heard an expression like that.  Death and love used in the same sentence.  What makes it plausibly deniable is that fact that, “it’s just an expression…a lot of people use that expression.”

“I hate you…I wish you were dead.”

Some teens like to use this one.  It’s usually followed up with, “I really didn’t mean it.  I’m sorry.”  And the person believes they really didn’t mean it.  We don’t like to think we have murderous impulses.  We explain this away by saying, “Oh, I was just kidding about that.”  Or, “I really didn’t mean it.  It’s just an expression.”

But as I’ve written before, we’re all murders, liars, thieves, adulterers, covetors, and so forth in our hearts if not in action.  This is taught in the Bible, and I see it as true-to-life in my practice and within myself.  It’s hard to admit–we want to see ourselves as “good people,” but the Bible teaches, “There is none good but God.”  So, I dispense with the whole notion to begin with.  As my wife, The Christian Scribbler, opines, You’re a Sinner, I’m a Sinner and explains this better than I do.

So, we start out with the basic nature of the human being, which is consistent with the teachings of the Bible, and then see the various ways that human beings try to mask this basic nature with defense mechanisms.  Again, it’s a very individual thing as to how plausible these defensive operations need to be to the individual.  Sometimes, it’s extremely obvious to others, and other times it is extremely subtle and refined.

I differ with Freud in that (1) I believe in God, and (2) I believe that the unconscious mind has very powerful positive abilities that can be utilized to help and individual resolve their difficulties.  With #2, this is in the vein of Milton H. Erickson, who revolutionized the study and utilization of hypnosis.  Freud viewed the unconscious in altogether negative terms, “a seething cauldron of expectations,” and “repressed instinctual drives,” but I think he missed the whole positive side of the unconscious.  And, this is the trouble with an atheistic perspective on psychology.

(1). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_mechanism

(2). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability

Books that may be of interest:

My Voice Will Go With You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.

Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.

The Defense Mechanism of Repression

Nearly all psychologists will admit that people have psychological defense mechanisms.  However, the concept of repressed memories is much more controversial….probably with good reason.  You see, memory is not static…meaning it is not like a movie that is played back.  It runs through the filter of the mind, emotions, and life experiences.  It is susceptible to suggestion.  Such as, “You remember him touching you, don’t you.”  Patient responds “maybe….yes I think I do…”  And comes to believe that this imagined event really happened.

Now, apart from the fact that memory is subject to suggestion, people REALLY DO have the capacity to repress memories.  I can’t tell you the precise circumstances that are needed, it is an interaction of individual personality characteristics and the situation.  Many people worry that, “Maybe something happened to me that I don’t remember.”  I tell them, “Maybe, but don’t worry about it.  If it is important that you remember, you will.  If not, then you won’t.  Trust your unconscious mind.” 

I’ve seen it unfold in my office.  Piece, by piece, the memory comes back as the emotion attached with each level of repression is released.  Usually this is when there is a general knowledge of a ‘fact’ that something happened, but no memory for any specific details.  As the emotion is released at each level, there is a deepening of experience and recall of more details.  This unfolds in the safest way as dictated, determined, and seen as needed by the unconscious mind.  I don’t press or suggest things to these patients…I’m just there to listen, empathize, and support.  It unfolds on its own, and occurs only if needed to help the patient overcome their difficulties.

Now there have been times when repressed memories from the “infantile” stage of development come out in symbolic form in a dream.  I remember one patient who dreamed of “squeezing” down a well and was attacked by 3 alligators.  I told her, “They used forceps during your delivery at birth.”  She had no conscious knowledge, or memory of this, as nobody does.  She had never been told anything about this by her mother.  However, she checked with her mother, and sure enough, it had occurred. 

I don’t worry about, or focus on recovering repressed memories in treatment.  I follow the patient’s needs.  If it is needed, it will occur…I trust the unconscious mind of the patient.  You see, God has created us with incredibly self protective minds…that also have self-corrective properties that can be utilized.  I trust that completely.