The idea of the unconscious mind is central to hypnosis for many hypnotherapy practitioners, but does it exist, or is it just a convenient way of speaking or metaphor? That’s a question that’s kept not just hypnotherapists but psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers debating for many years. The answer could be important to how we work with clients every day, so I decided to look at the evidence to see what I could find out.
What is the Unconscious Mind?
Have you ever had a gut feeling about something without knowing why? Or found yourself reacting emotionally before you even have time to think? Some people believe that this sort of experience points to the existence of an “unconscious mind”: a mostly hidden part of us. It can shape our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, but is beyond our conscious awareness.
The Origins of Unconscious Mind Theory
Sigmund Freud (1915) was one of the first to talk about the unconscious mind, though he subdivided it into the ego (which deals with reality), the superego (the moral compass or conscience) and the id (in charge of biological drives and self-gratification). He saw emotional issues as something that arose from conflict between these different elements.
Carl Jung (1921) expanded on Freud’s work and also introduced the idea of the collective unconscious. This was a genetically inherited store of knowledge, ideas, and archetypes common to all human beings, regardless of culture or background.
The Case Against the Unconscious Mind
Behaviourism
Early behavioural psychologists like Watson and Skinner (1953) dismissed the unconscious mind as unscientific because it lacked empirical evidence, something that was expected more and more in research. In fact, both Behaviourism and Cognitivism arose from attempts to provide this sort of evidence and bring psychology more in line with other sciences such as biology and chemistry.
Behaviourism teaches that we are all born as a ‘tabula rasa’ (a clean slate) and that we learn all our behaviours through association and trial and error as we experience more and more of the world. Behaviourists are not interested in internal processes because they cannot be verified. Instead, they focus on observable behaviours that can be measured and recorded.
As an example, an earthworm, after a couple of shocks, will avoid touching an electric plate placed in its vivarium. But saying that it ‘learns’ or ‘remembers’ is a big step. It implies a kind of anthropomorphic consciousness that we can’t know that an earthworm has. Behavioural conditioning explains this perfectly adequately without guessing whether the earthworm can think or learn.
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Cognitivism
There are limitations to the behavioural model. For one thing, it fails to explain responses which seem to be inborn or which involve complex learning, like language. And it doesn’t really reflect people’s subjective experiences, which are often influenced by thoughts, memories, and perceptions.
Cognitive psychology (Baars, 1988) allows for this by admitting those internal processes as a valid part of research. They can’t be observed, but they can be reported by the participant, measured on scales of one to ten and so on. Therefore, different participants can be compared over time. Statistics can be produced, and conclusions can be drawn. (Always supposing, of course, that we are consciously aware enough of our internal processes to report them.)
Predictive Processing Theory
Predictive Processing Theory (Friston, 2010) suggests that the brain continuously creates predictions about the world based on our experiences. These predictions come from a trial-and-error process, and they constantly update themselves based on new experiences. Predictive Processing suggests that what we think of as our unconscious is simply low-level, automatic processing that happens without us having to pay it any attention.
These are pretty reductionist explanations due to limited space, but you get the idea. And none of these theories allows for the existence of an unconscious mind.
Does Science Support the Idea of an Unconscious Mind?
Far too late for Freud and Jung to say, “I told you so!”, neuroscience is starting to provide evidence that the unconscious mind may be more of a reality than some would think. A lot of this work is about memory and the way we use it.
Implicit Memory & Priming
Implicit memory refers to the sort of process that helps us carry out familiar behaviours automatically: driving a car or writing our name. And priming refers to how associative memory can shape our reactions. For example, read this word and say the first word that comes into your mind. Pepper.
Did you have to think about your response, or did the word just appear? It probably just popped into your mind. Was the word salt? Salt and pepper are so strongly linked that, for many of you, it probably was. Both priming (the word just being there instead of having to think about it) and implicit memory (we automatically associate pepper with salt) happen without us being consciously aware of them, implying that some sort of thinking or reaction is going on underneath conscious awareness. (Schacter, 1987).
In addition, research using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) shows that, when we are making decisions, thoughts are happening in the brain up to eleven seconds before we are consciously aware of them. (Soon et al, 2008).
Standby thoughts
Professor Joel Pearson (cited in Gilbert, 2019) says that we may have thoughts ‘on standby’, often from previous experiences, in parts of the brain we are not consciously aware of. He called them ‘unconscious hallucinations’. When we make a decision, the executive parts of the brain (traditionally connected with the conscious mind) tend to choose the strongest standby thought. For example, if you have a scary moment with a spider, RUN AWAY may become the strongest automatic thought the next time you encounter one. As you’re not aware of the standby thoughts, you’d be heading for the door before you consciously thought about what to do.
It’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that implicit memory, priming, and standby thoughts offer insight into unconscious processing.
The Unconscious Mind and Hypnosis
Does it really matter whether the unconscious mind exists or not? Maybe, because whether you see the unconscious as a literal and influential part of the client’s mind or simply a metaphor, you are often working with those parts of the mind that the client is unaware of.
The concept of the unconscious mind can be useful to explain to clients why they might do things, like smoking, that they’re consciously aware are harmful. It also shows why willpower isn’t enough to overcome them.
However, not all clients (or therapists) will identify with the concept of an unconscious mind. In these cases, the alternative explanations – ‘working with the automatic part of your mind’, ‘reshaping the predictions your brain makes about the world’ or ‘tapping into the part of you that controls the things you do automatically, like habits and reflexes’ – may be better.
The Role of Hypnosis and Unconscious Processes
Regardless of how we define it, hypnosis seems to engage parts of the brain responsible for automatic and emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies show that hypnosis changes activity in areas linked to self-awareness and executive control, such as the anterior cingulate cortex and default mode network (Oakley & Halligan, 2013). This supports the idea that hypnotherapy is capable of accessing mental processes that might otherwise remain outside of conscious awareness.
The idea of an unconscious mind in the sense that Freud described it is by no means universally popular these days. However, the concept of “unconscious processing” is widely accepted, and research shows that some thoughts, feelings, and responses happen below conscious awareness.
References:
Baars, B. J. (1988). A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Freud, S. (1915) ‘The Unconscious’, Collected Papers, Volume 4. London: Hogarth Press.
Friston, K. (2010) ‘The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?’, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), pp. 127-138.
Gilbert, L. (2019). Our brains reveal our choices before we’re even aware of them: study. [online] UNSW Sites. Available at: https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2019/03/our-brains-reveal-our-choices-before-were-even-aware-of-them–st. [Accessed May 2026]
Jung, C. G. (1921) Psychological Types. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Oakley, D. A. and Halligan, P. W. (2013) ‘Hypnotic suggestion and cognitive neuroscience’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(10), pp. 576-586.
Schacter, D. L. (1987) ‘Implicit Memory: History and Current Status’, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(3), pp. 501-518.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behaviour. New York: Macmillan.
Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J. and Haynes, J. D. (2008) ‘Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain’, Nature Neuroscience, 11(5), pp. 543-545.
About Debbie Waller
Blog Author Debbie Waller is a hypnotherapist, supervisor, and trainer with more than twenty years of experience. As well as having a busy client practice, she runs Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training and writes books and articles for therapists who want to deepen their knowledge and develop effective practice.
Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.
