The subconscious is a word used in both psychology and philosophy. It refers to a psychic state of which one is not aware but which influences behavior. Etymologically, it means “under consciousness”. It is often confused with the term “unconscious”, which has a similar meaning. What is the subconscious? Other preconscious concepts such as “the id”, “the ego” and “the superego” describe our psyche according to Freudian theory.

Several words in psychology are used to describe the human psyche. The unconscious corresponds to the set of psychic phenomena to which our consciousness has no access. In contrast, the conscious is the immediate perception of our psychic state. It allows us to have access to the reality of the world, of ourselves, to think, analyze, and act rationally.

The notion of the subconscious is sometimes used in psychology or in certain spiritual approaches to complete or replace the term unconscious. It concerns psychic automatisms inherited from a distant past (our ancestors), or more recent (our own experiences).

The subconscious is thus what makes our body function, without our being aware of it: for example, certain automatic movements while driving, or even digestion, nervous reactions of the body, fear reflexes, etc.

It therefore corresponds to our instincts, our acquired habits and our impulses, without forgetting our intuitions.

The subconscious can reveal things that we did not think we had in us, during automatic movements (motor behavior), or even spoken or written words (slip of the tongue for example), unexpected emotions (incongruous crying or laughter). He thus tends to act independently of our will.

In some areas, there will be no difference. For others, we prefer to qualify the unconscious as hidden, invisible, while the subconscious can be more easily unmasked, because it is more spontaneous and easily observable.

The subconscious rests on acquired habits, while the unconscious rests on what is innate, more buried. Freud spoke more of the unconscious than of the subconscious, during his working sessions.

In Freudian theory, there is the conscious, the unconscious and the preconscious. The preconscious is the state that precedes consciousness.

While, as we have seen, the unconscious is involved in most mental phenomena, the conscious is only the tip of the iceberg.

The preconscious, for its part, and what makes it possible to make the link between the two. Unconscious thoughts can, thanks to it, become conscious little by little. Of course, unconscious thoughts are wisely chosen by the unconscious to be neither too disturbing, nor too unsatisfying or unbearable.

It is the “superego”, the “moral” part of our unconscious which is responsible for censoring the “id”, the part concerning our most shameful desires and impulses.

As for the “me”, it is the instance which makes the link between the “it” and the “superego”.

Diving into our subconscious or our unconscious is not easy. We often have to face disturbing thoughts, face our buried demons, understand fiendishly well-anchored mechanisms (by ourselves), in order to simply avoid suffering them.

Indeed, knowing yourself better, and knowing your unconscious better, allows us to overcome many irrational fears, our unconscious rejections, which can make us unhappy. It is a question of taking enough distance from our actions and a good reflection on what triggers them, to understand and then act differently and according to the values ​​that we advocate, without allowing ourselves to be governed or fooled by our “that”.

It is certainly illusory to want to completely control all our thoughts, our impulses and our fears. But better understanding oneself brings a certain regained freedom, and makes it possible to redo the link with a free will and an inner strength.