Difference between unconscious and subconscious

Hello friends!

A common question that has appeared in our Jung Course, Psychiatric Studies, is about the difference between the unconscious and the subconscious. The book Psychiatric Studies gathers publications from the beginning of Jung’s work, between the years 1902 and 1906, and for that reason it is the 1st Volume of his Complete Works. In some of the articles in this book, we find the word subconscious still being used at certain points, and the word unconscious also being used.

But what’s the difference? In this text, therefore, I will explain to you what one is and what the other is, with the respective terms in German (the original language of Freud and Jung’s publications) and the usage that has been consecrated and why it is, to a certain extent, common to hear about to this day in subconscious.

If we stop to think about the main concepts of psychoanalysis (Freud’s) and analytical psychology (Jung’s), we will see that the fundamental concept is the concept of the unconscious. Although there may be varied definitions – throughout the works of these authors – it is possible to begin to understand the concept of the unconscious through the idea of ​​something that is not conscious.

As Lacan said, because it is a negative, non-conscious (un-conscious) concept, it would even be a target of confusion. In any case, regardless of the theoretical line, what basically lies behind the idea of ​​the unconscious is that consciousness is not the totality of the psyche. In other words, there are “parts” or “functions” of our psyche that are not conscious or under the control of consciousness.

The words unconscious and subconscious precisely want to indicate this relationship with consciousness. Unconscious in German is Unbewusste and subconscious is Unterbewusste. That is, the two words – just like in Portuguese – have the word conscious – Bewusste. And just like in Portuguese, the difference lies in the suffix. In-conscious is Un-Bewusste and sub-conscious is Unter-Bewusste. Bewusste comes from wissen, a verb that means to know. Therefore, it is also common to notice in the texts the reference that the unconscious is the unknown.

So Un in German is a negative suffix. Then we would have the unconscious as what is non-conscious. And Unter, in German, means underneath. With that, we have sub-consciousness, below or underneath consciousness.

In that sense, we can see that the two words practically mean the same thing, that which is beyond consciousness, or that which is non-conscious, or that which is beneath consciousness. In principle, any of the words could have been chosen to designate this concept.

However, as the main authors of psychoanalysis and analytical psychology chose the term unconscious, this was the term that was consecrated to define the concept that, by the way, is controversial and presents a series of possible definitions.

But, historically, at the beginning of the century it was common for authors to use both the unconscious and the subconscious, so it can be a little confusing for those who are starting to study.

Another source of confusion is that the most popular literature still uses the term subconscious, although 100 years and even more have passed since the term has been progressively replaced by unconscious. We have, for example, a book that was bestseller, “The Power of the Subconscious”, by doctor Joseph Murphy. Thus, although major authors never used the term subconscious again after 1906, popular, self-help authors continue to use the term which has been abandoned, as Freud is still said to champion trauma theory.

And another reason for confusion is that the concepts of the unconscious, as I said, also vary from author to author. Until 1920, Freud made use of the concepts that became known as the first topic (first theory regarding locations within the psyche): conscious, preconscious, unconscious. After 1920, he started to use the concepts of the second topic: Ich, Es, Uberich, in literal translation, Eu, Isso, Supereu – or in the translation made from English, Ego, Id and Superego.

For Jung, it was necessary to distinguish between the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, that is, a part of the unconscious originated in the subject’s personal life, while another part would be collective, archetypal and close, as a symbolic form, to the experience of humanity, regardless of of culture.

Conclusion

During psychology college, I learned that the term used doesn’t matter as much as understanding the concept. Evidently, if the author speaks of the unconscious, we will use the term unconscious. But we have to remember that the term used is the German term.

As I said above, there are translation errors. If we are being fussy about the terminology, we would say that there is no such thing in Freud’s theory as Id, Ego and Superego. What he writes, in a correct translation, is That, I, Superego. However, as the terms ended up becoming consecrated, even if literally mistaken, we have to skip the designation of just the signifier, just of the word, and understand the term in depth.

The same is true with regard to the use of the unconscious and subconscious. The correct term is unconscious for the main authors we study within psychoanalysis and analytical psychology. However, if we want to study other authors, such as Murphy (from the book The Power of the Subconscious), we can imagine that what he is saying about the psyche is related to this field of psychology. It may not be identical, that is, it may not be a psychoanalysis book, but in one way or another it ends up being heir to this tradition that defends the point of view according to which the psyche does not belong entirely to the field of consciousness.

For him, there will be a sub-conscious, one underneath consciousness, which influences behavior, just as for psychoanalysis there will be a non-conscious, a part of the psyche that is beyond consciousness, with its own dynamics.

Anyway, despite the term being identical in the literal sense, we have to be aware of the concepts that are being worked on. In Murphy’s book, for example, there is the idea that we can directly control or influence the subconscious, an idea that will not be shared by psychoanalysts.

With that, I want to conclude by saying that it is important to know the origin of terms, the etymology of words, the language in which they were thought of. However, even more important is to understand the concepts behind the terms. Without the concept, the term is just an empty idea.

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