Subconscious Health Dictionary

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Subconscious: From 3 Different Sources

A term describing mental events (such as thoughts) of which one is temporarily unaware but which can be recalled under the right circumstances.
Health Source: BMA Medical Dictionary
Author: The British Medical Association
A state of being partially conscious, or the condition in which mental processes occur and outside objects and events are perceived with the mind nearly or quite unconscious of them. Such subconscious impressions or events may be forgotten at the time but may nevertheless exert a continued in?uence over the conscious mind, or may at a subsequent time come fully into consciousness. Much importance is attached to the in?uence of painful or unpleasant experiences which, although forgotten, continue to in?uence the mind; these may be a factor in the development of anxiety states. This injurious in?uence may be reduced when the subconscious impressions come fully into consciousness and are then remembered and clearly seen in their relative importance.
Health Source: Medical Dictionary
Author: Health Dictionary
adj. 1. describing mental processes of which a person is not aware. 2. (in psychoanalysis) denoting the part of the mind that includes memories, motives, and intentions that are momentarily not present in consciousness but can more or less readily be recalled to awareness. Compare unconscious.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Unconscious

A state of UNCONSCIOUSNESS or a description of mental activities of which an individual is unaware. The term is also used in PSYCHOANALYSIS to characterise that section of a person’s mind in which memories and motives reside. They are normally inaccessible, protected by inbuilt mental resistance. This contrasts with the subconscious, where a person’s memories and motives – while temporarily suppressed – can usually be recalled.... unconscious

Basal Ganglion

Grey matter near the base of the cerebral hemispheres, consisting of the corpus striatum (caudate nucleus and lenticular nucleus [globus pallidus and putamen]), claustrum, and amygdaloid nucleus (see BRAIN). The basal ganglia are involved in the subconscious regulation of voluntary movement, and disorders in this region cause DYSKINESIA.... basal ganglion

Freudian Theory

A theory that emotional and allied diseases are due to a psychic injury or trauma, generally of a sexual nature, which did not produce an adequate reaction when it was received and therefore remains as a subconscious or ‘affect’ memory to trouble the patient’s mind. As an extension of this theory, Freudian treatment consists of encouraging the patient to tell everything that happens to be associated with trains of thought which lead up to this memory, thus securing a ‘purging’ of the mind from the original ‘affect memory’ which is the cause of the symptoms. This form of treatment is also called psychocatharsis or abreaction.

The general term, psychoanalysis, is applied, in the ?rst place, to the method of helping the patient to recover buried memories by free association of thoughts. In the second place, the term is applied to the body of psychological knowledge and theory accumulated and devised by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers. The term ‘psychoanalyst’ has traditionally been applied to those who have undergone Freudian training, but Freud’s ideas are being increasingly questioned by some modern psychiatrists.... freudian theory

Fugue

The term literally means ?ight, and it is used to describe the mental condition in which an individual is suddenly seized with a subconscious motivation to ?ee from some intolerable reality of everyday existence: this usually involves some agonising interpersonal relationship. As a rule, fugue lasts for a matter of hours or days, but may go on for weeks or even months. During the fugue the individual seldom behaves in a particularly odd manner – though he or she may be considered somewhat eccentric. When it is over there is no remembrance of events during the fugue.

Three types of fugue have been identi?ed: (a) acute anxiety; (b) a manifestation of DEPRESSION; (c) a manifestation of organic mental state such as occurs after an epileptic seizure (see EPILEPSY).... fugue

Masochism

A condition in which a person gets pleasure from physical or emotional pain in?icted by others or themselves. The term is often used in the context of achieving sexual excitement through in?icted pain. Masochism may be a conscious or subconscious activity.... masochism

Oedipus Complex

A description used by psychoanalysts of the subconscious attraction of a child for its parent of the opposite sex. This is accompanied by a wish to get rid of the parent of the same sex. The origin of the phrase lies in the Greek story in which Oedipus kills his father without realising who he is, then marries his mother. It has been suggested that the arrest of psychological development at the Oedipal stage may cause NEUROSIS and sexual dysfunction.... oedipus complex

Psychoanalysis

The term applied to the theories and practice of the school of psychology originating with Freud and developed by Jung and other psychotherapists (see PSYCHOLOGY). It depends upon the theory that states of disordered mental health have been produced by a repression in the subconscious of painful memories or of con?icting instincts, thus absorbing the individual’s mental energy and diverting attention from normal mental activities.

Psychoanalysis aims at discovering these repressed memories, which are responsible for the diversion of mental power and of which the affected person usually is only dimly aware or quite unaware. The fundamental method of psychoanalytical treatment is the free expression of thoughts, ideas and fantasies on the part of the patient. To facilitate this, the analyst uses techniques to relax the patient and maintains a neutral attitude to his or her problems. In the course of analysis the patient will re-explore his or her early emotional attitudes and tensions.

The fundamental conception of psychoanalysis, although hard to prove by orthodox scienti?c methods and therefore challenged by some psychiatrists, has been widely adopted and developed by other schools of psychology. Freud’s work changed the attitudes of the scienti?c community and the public to the problems of the neurotic, the morbidly anxious, the fearful and to the mental and emotional develoment of the child.... psychoanalysis

Basal Ganglia

several large masses of grey matter embedded deep within the white matter of the *cerebrum (see illustration). They include the caudate and lenticular nuclei (together known as the corpus striatum) and the amygdaloid nucleus. The lenticular nucleus consists of the putamen and globus pallidus. The basal ganglia have complex neural connections with both the cerebral cortex and thalamus: they are involved with the regulation of voluntary movements at a subconscious level. Diseases of the basal ganglia cause a range of disorders predominantly affecting movement, the commonest being *parkinsonism.... basal ganglia

Subliminal

adj. subconscious: beneath the threshold of conscious perception.... subliminal

Psychotherapy

A psychological rather than physical method for the treatment of psychological and psychiatric disorders (see PSYCHOLOGY; PSYCHIATRY). Almost every type of disease or injury has a mental aspect, even if this relates only to the pain or discomfort that it causes. In some diseases, and with some temperaments, the mental factor is much more pronounced than in others; for such cases psychotherapy is particularly important. The chief methods employed all depend on the client-therapist relationship being of prime importance.

Suggestion is a commonly employed method, used in almost every department of medicine. It may consist, in its simplest form, merely of emphasising that the patient’s health is better, so that this idea becomes ?xed in the patient’s mind. A suggestion of e?cacy may be conveyed by the physical properties of a medicine or by the appearance of some apparatus used in treatment. Again, suggestion may be conveyed emotionally, as in religious healing. Sometimes a therapeutic suggestion may be made to the patient in a hypnotic state (see HYPNOTISM).

Analysis consists in the elucidation of the half-conscious or subconscious repressed memories or instincts that are responsible for some cases of mental disorder or personal con?icts.

Group therapy is a method whereby patients are treated in small groups and encouraged to participate actively in the discussion which ensues amongst themselves and the participating therapists. A modi?cation of group therapy is drama therapy. Large group therapy also exists.

Education and employment may be important factors in rehabilitative psychotherapy.

Supportive therapy consists of sympathetically reviewing the patient’s situation with him or her, and encouraging the patient to identify and solve problems.... psychotherapy

Repressed Memory Therapy

Also called recovered memory syndrome, this treatment was developed in the wake of the widespread exposure in the 1980s and 90s of the frequency of child sexual abuse. A controversial concept emerged in the USA, picked up later by some experts in the UK, that abused children sometimes suppress their unpleasant memories, and that subsequent PSYCHOTHERAPY could help some victims to recover these memories – thus possibly aiding rehabilitation. This recall of ‘repressed’ memories, however, was believed by some psychiatrists to be, in e?ect, a false memory implanted into the victim’s subconscious by the psychotherapy itself – or perhaps invented by the individual for personal motives.

In 1997 the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK produced a comprehensive report which was sceptical about the notion that the awareness of recurrent severe sexual abuse in children could be pushed entirely out of consciousness. The authors did not believe that events could remain inaccessible to conscious memory for decades, allegedly provoking vague non-speci?c symptoms to be recovered during psychotherapy with resolution of the symptoms. Supporting evidence pointed to the lack of any empirical proof that unconscious dissociation of unpleasant memories from conscious awareness occurred to protect the individual. Furthermore, experimental and natural events had shown that false memories, created through suggestion or in?uence, could be implanted. Many individuals who had claimed to have recovered memories of abuse subsequently withdrew and, often, non-speci?c symptoms allegedly linked to suppression worsened rather than improved as therapy to unlock memories proceeded. The conclusion is that recovered memory therapy should be viewed with great caution.... repressed memory therapy

Brain

The major organ of the nervous system, located in the cranium (skull). The brain receives, sorts, and interprets sensations from the nerves that extend from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) to the rest of the body; it initiates and coordinates nerve signals involved in activities such as speech, movement, thought, and emotion.

An adult brain weighs about 1.4 kg and has 3 main structures: the largest part, the cerebrum, consisting of left and right hemispheres; the brainstem; and the cerebellum. Each hemisphere in the

cerebrum has an outer layer called the cortex, consisting of grey matter, which is rich in nerve-cell bodies and is the main region for conscious thought, sensation, and movement. Beneath the cortex are tracts of nerve fibres called white matter, and, deeper within the hemispheres, the basal ganglia. The surface of each hemisphere is divided by fissures (sulci) and folds (gyri) into distinct lobes (occipital, frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes), named after the skull bones that overlie them. A thick band of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum connects the hemispheres.

The cerebrum encloses a central group of structures that includes the thalami and the hypothalamus, which has close connections with the pituitary gland. Encircling the thalami is a complex of nerve centres called the limbic system. These structures act as links between parts of the cerebrum and the brainstem lying beneath the thalami.

The brainstem is concerned mainly with the control of vital functions such as breathing and blood pressure. The cerebellum at the back of the brain controls balance, posture, and muscular coordination. Both of these regions operate at a subconscious level.

The brain and spinal cord are encased in 3 layers of membranes, known as meninges.

Cerebrospinal fluid circulates between the layers and within the 4 main brain cavities called ventricles.

This fluid helps to nourish and cushion the brain.

The brain receives about 20 per cent of the blood from the heart’s output.... brain


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