The Freudian Unconscious Essay

The unknown forces behind our backs influence most of the decisions we make today: the forces of the of the encounters or things that happened to us, things that we saw, things that we heard about, things that we feared, or those we overcame in the past, maybe dring or childhood times. They still haunt us through the unconscious memories to influence the decisions we make today, the actions we do, and the words, and even thoughts we have today. This is exactly what was explored and presented by an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud. In his argument, Freud likened the unconscious mind to a tip of an iceberg, saying that, what is available to our consciousness is just a tiny portion of what is hidden in the unconscious mind. Numerous personal experiences perfectly align with Freud's conception (Boag, 2012). The following are some cases through which I have experienced the effects of the unconscious.

While I was still a child, I loved watching movies for entertainment especially while the parents were away at their workplace. In some series of movies, there were depictions where teachers harshly punished students at the school. The students were mercilessly whipped and harassed in front of their colleagues. The mistreatment intensified as the movie proceeded to the point where I saw male teachers assaulting female students especially in lone places in the school (Mannoni, 2015). The students were assigned tasks in the teacher's office where the teacher found the best opportunity to force them into sexual harassment while other teachers could not notice what was going on.

In some instance, the teachers were so rude to students that nobody asked any questions during the classroom sessions. Most of the lessons were accompanied by a thorough caning of students who were not able to give correct answers to the challenging questions posed by the teacher. The movie depicted a very harsh schooling environment that was too hard to tolerate in any way. While closely following such acts, I became furious and bitter with teachers, and I felt I would not wish to interact with them since I thought teachers are evil people who are constantly willing to punish students without any proper cause. In addition to that, the memory of teachers ruthlessness instilled into my memory very unjust feelings toward them.

Currently, teachers are outstanding people whose aim is to mentor students abilities and talents to realize the unique objectives that is far much beyond their thoughts. Teachers are very friendly, social mentors and instructors who can be described as the well-wishers of societal development. Moreover, teachers are the best companions and destiny helpers to students who strive hard to provide correct guidance to students. Furthermore, the activities at school are very relaxed, participatory and enjoyable instilling both academic as well as the extra curricula knowledge to students. The real case is a complete opposite of what I encountered in the past through the movies.

However, the impacts of past feelings, thoughts, and memories still influence my behavior, attitude, and feelings toward teachers. I cannot say that I hate teachers, no. Teachers are especially extraordinary people in my life. I love seeing and participating in class work and most of the teaching activities just like my colleague students. However, when it comes to the outside classroom, I feel uneasy interacting with them. I naturally shrink from freely interacting with teachers and sharing with them (Boag, 2012). This is just an automatic reaction that I cannot explain. The reaction comes from an independent force which is unknown. The dislike for teachers especially while outside of the classroom is a unique experience. As a result, it becomes challenging speaking to them, greeting them, or just meeting them face to face with joy.

At some instance, the attitude toward teachers becomes worse especially when I am called to the office. The response is not good. I, therefore, like to be accompanied by another student just in case anything happens. The lack of trust is very intense, although it is hidden and secret. While talking to a teacher, I feel very reluctant, suspicious, and worried about any comment or complement the teacher makes. This is exceptionally unique as it happens even within the classroom. Teachers, especially the male ones, spur the most of this experience. Every time the male teacher complements about the goodness of some students, especially female students, there is an odd feeling flashing through my mind and thoughts. The feeling is negative and unjust at the same time. However, the teacher is a good person, and no any cases of student's moral degradation have occurred in the school but the feeling still triumphs the reality - the negative feelings about the teachers who are essentially innocent and unaware (Boag, 2012).

The psychological discernment of this attitude by others is especially very difficult since I am a person of mostly melancholic personality. Loyalty is my principle. Most of the time I try to hide my emotions, feelings, attitude towards the people so that they may not realize exactly what is inside my mind. In addition to that, I am very careful at every step mad, and words were spoken to anyone at any given time, trying to think it over for relevance and order. The confidence that is in my heart does not only cover my attitudes but also deceives the people of my intense loyalty and interest in what they gladly cherish, even if it is such rust to me. This experience depicts the true conception of the Freudian unconscious theory in such a way that, the emotions, feelings, and attitudes during the childhood can still influence the actions, behavior, thoughts, and emotions in the current setting.

Another case stems up within my family. While I was a young person aged four, both of the parents were working in one company but comes back to the house at different intervals. The mother was more punctual to the house than the father since she had to come to look into our affairs. The father, however, reported to the house late in the night. Sometimes the father could come back when everyone was asleep and just do his things by himself before sleeping. This behavior was especially useful to my mother who quarreled with him almost every day when the father arrives back at home late in the night.

The experience of constant parental quarrels, involving fierce arguments was so shocking and undesirable to me. At some point of time, having tried, so much to solve things out in vain, my mother decided to take a short break from the family and went back to her father and mother, leaving us behind lonely and desperate (Mannoni, 2015). The break took almost one week and the experience we had during that one week seemed to be the whole years' experience in prison. Despite the intimate relationship with the father, it could not be complete without seeing the mother around every day, and I blamed the father for causing the mother to go away. I was very bitter with my father that I felt that he had no human characteristic in him.

The issue was later solved, and we now live in peace and harmony. Both parents are very good to me, giving me every possible support, I need to push on with my life as a student. I also respect them to the latter and always willing to be loyal to them. Parents are my mentors especially when I come from school. They give me pieces of advice on how to live a joyful life. They motivate me to study well at school and pass well in my exams with promises of great gifts and handouts. The parents are very key to both my social, academic and also the future economic life. They offer shrewd guidance, motivation, and mentorship to me most of the time to help me soar to greater heights every day.

However, sometimes I cannot explain some of my behaviors towards my father or mother. Every time there is a conflict of interest between my parents, and they ask me to express my view, most of the time I give my support to my mother even when she is on the wrong side. If anything goes bad, the father is to blame for it, and I strongly believe so (Mannoni, 2015). The feeling of compassion to the mother and hostility to the father is independent of their current characters and behaviors. However, these feelings, attitudes, and behaviors are mostly influenced by the experience of the emotions, feelings, and conclusions made during the time my mother fled to her parents due to lack of concern from my father. The memories still haunt me to influence the way I behave towards the father or the mother. This is consistent with the Freudian approach to the unconscious.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Freudian approach to the unconscious is a very true conception of reality in today's life. Most of the behaviors, feelings, emotions, attitudes, and decisions we make today are just like the tip of an iceberg while the rest of information from which they stem is hidden in the unconscious part of the mind. According to Freud, many of our emotions, desires, and feelings are repressed out of conscious awareness. He argues that the information hidden in the unconscious are unpleasant or unacceptable, such as feelings of anxiety, pain, or conflict. Freud intimates that the unconscious continues to influence the way we behave, or make decisions, even though we may not be aware of the underlying influences.

References

Boag, S. (2012). Freudian repression, the unconscious, and the dynamics of inhibition. London: Karnac Books.

Mannoni, O. (2015). Freud - the theory of the unconscious.