The free association and the archeology of the mind

"The unconscious is only pathological because we live in disharmony with him and, when we work in this way, we live against our instincts, if it is possible to implement a transcendental operation, the lack of unity is resolved, and in that way you can take advantage of the aspects Opporty of the unconscious with its unique subliminal psychic contents, you can make at our disposal something that we had forgotten and can give us access to wisdom". Carl g. Jung

The differentiation between the psychic in conscious and unconscious is the first fundamental premise of psychoanalysis, allows the individual to reach the intelligence of the pathological processes of mood, as frequent, as important as important. A psychic element as a perception, for example, it is not usually purely conscious. On the contrary, Consciousness is a state of transience, it can be said that it is latent.

The conflict between the three psychic instances: I, it and superego, They generate anguish. He I Try to protect yourself, through defense mechanisms. Freud observed that there is an expectant, freely floating anguish and willing to pass through any emerging possibility, as in typical neurosis.

Sigmund Freud at the beginning thought that the hypnotic method offered him an excellent vehicle to dig up the unconscious material buried. Later, as he progressed in his praxis, he felt dissatisfied with these processes, as the main means for that purpose.

Content

• What is the "free association" method within psychoanalysis?
• Archeology of the mind through free association
• Directorate of Associations, according to Sigmund Freud
• What are the failed acts?
• Jokes, humor and the unconscious
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliographic references

What is the "free association" method within psychoanalysis?

In this way, he proposes the free association method, through which the patient expresses everything that occurs "without filters", his ideas, thoughts, images and emotions can be exposed as they are presented, without selecting them, Make up or censor them in some way, no matter if they seem impertinent, incoherent, lacking interest or are not socially accepted, unlike logical thought; Thus, conscious prejudices can be released through speech, So it represents the analytical rule par excellence.

Carl Jung also stated that the neurotic avoids consciousness and reduces it due to the fragmentation of the self, a process that said is unfair to the potential of the individual:

"Only a unified personality can experience life; Not the one that is hidden in partial aspects".

Carl Rogers said about it, that the patient who does "Insight”, Develop aspects outside the consciousness that enter it through“The free expression of the patient ".

The term "free", within the psychoanalytic context, highlights the following observations:

1. The development of associations can be considered free to the extent that It is not oriented and controlled by a selective intention or even some starting point.
2. The word "freedom" should not be taken in the sense of indeterminacy, The free association rule tends first and foremost to suppress the voluntary selection of thoughts, That is, in the terminology of the first Freudian topic to eliminate the intervention of the second censorship, located between the conscious and the preconscious, in this way the unconscious defenses are revealed.
3. The method of free associations is intended They emanate unexpectedly pathogenic reminiscences from which the person is discharged through the word or speech.

Archeology of the mind through free association

The free association represents a constitutive of the psychoanalytic technique. These links can be induced by a word, an element of one dream or any other object of spontaneous thought. The person who is being psychoanalyzed must be induced to remember something he has experienced, who is generally repressed, the patient can be asked to remember or refer to both recent and past events.

The psychoanalyst work is to arise what has been forgotten from the "footprints" that the event or its reminiscences has left to "rebuild it". Reconstruction work is very similar to an archaeological excavation of a house or an old building that has been destroyed.

"Just as the archaeologist reconstructs the walls of the building through the foundations that have remained, the psychoanalyst does the same when he deduces his conclusions from the fragments of memories, associations and subject's behavior". Sigmund Freud

The free association technique helps bring to light what is hidden to work on that, funging, in this way, psychoanalysts like "Archaeologists of the mind". Although in these works: Reconstruction only represents preliminary work.

Freud denounced the pernicious effects of self -censorship on intellectual productions, said that to be an original writer, for example, it was necessary to write everything that comes to mind without any repair, referring to the Free association method in writing.

Therefore, many times, in psychotherapy the patient is asked to write about his dreams, since associative links can be discovered And they serve As an important reference for the discovery of the associative chains that will lead to other thoughts and the interpretation of the dream itself.

It is common that within a psychotherapeutic process, the person who writes about some other event is requested, since in the writing they can be reflected, both the associative links of aspects that are required to treat, as well as the Graphology, through writing features, psychological characteristics of people can be revealed.

Directorate of Associations, according to Sigmund Freud

In some way, These associations are not free at all, but are the result of unconscious forces that determine the management of associations:

1. The oral mistake and its subgroups: false audition, mistake in reading or writing.
2. He forgetting with its subdivisions corresponding to the forgotten object: proper names, foreign words, purposes or impressions.
3. The Erroneous term acts, The impossibility of finding an object that has the belief that it was left in a place and the cases of definitive loss.

What are the failed acts?

Failed acts are psychic acts that owe their origin to joint action, or perhaps, to the opposition of two different intentions. They occur when a person says one word for another, write something different from what he intended, read a text differently from how it is written, when he hears something unequal to what is said, without any auditory condition.

Although failed acts are presented in many circumstances such as "correct", simply They are called that way because they replace what the person intended or expected to say or do. In this way, the technique allows the doors to open to the unconscious so that the psychotherapist can learn more about motivations, fantasies and what conflicts the patient.

Jokes, humor and the unconscious

From joke emerge hidden or hidden aspects of the unconscious, It is a playful trial as I called Fischer. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud already talked about the importance of humor to succeed over real circumstances, he said that:

"Humor is not resigned, but rebellious; which not only means triumph of the self, but also of the pleasure principle".

Conclusion

Free association is a therapeutic and pillar method within psychoanalysis; where, the patient can express himself freely and without repair, which can be something complex, since both logical and rational thinking, as well as the superego and the I mainly, they will try to put obstacles to this process. Therefore, the psychoanalyst has to create an environment of trust and containment, so that the patient can feel more comfortable and present greater willingness to perform his free associations, leaving behind schematizations and paradigms to which he is accustomed, when the patient He manages to do it, psychotherapy progresses.

The psychotherapist as a "Archaeologist of the mind", Through free association, you can find reminiscences on which you can help "rebuild" the individual And the latter in turn can generate changes in your own person.

Bibliographic references

• Freud, Sigmund (1981). Complete works by Sigmund Freud. Volume I, II and III. 4th. Edition. Spain: New Library Editorial.
• Bleichmar, n. M.; Lieberman, c. and cols. (1989). Psychoanalysis after Freud. Mexico: Eleia Editores.
• Singer, Erwin. (1979). Fundamental concepts of psychotherapy. Mexico: Economic Culture Fund.