Recently I read a short book called Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, by Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli. Rovelli describes two great theories of physics: general relativity and quantum mechanics. Both theories go a very long way to describe and predict the nature of the universe, but the theories do not agree with each other. As both theories describe the same universe, it stands to reason that in some way we don’t now understand, these theories can be integrated into a unified theory. But for the time being, they are distinctly different ways of understanding.
These theories have often been developed through predictions about phenomena that were not observable but could be inferred. Scientists, sometimes decades later, devise methods to test these theories. Both theories have periodically been strengthened by confirmation of these predictions.
I use this as inspiration in my psychotherapeutic work. The unconscious is unknowable, yet we accept that it exists and that its impact on our experience and behavior is significant. We can make inferences about the content and action of an individual’s unconscious through indirect observation. But unlike physics, in psychotherapy we do not have any ability to test our hypotheses empirically, so the satisfaction of definitive confirmation is not available for us.
Despite this perhaps discouraging obstacle, we will not get far in our understanding of people, and their feelings, thoughts, and behavior, without considering the unconscious. We are foolish to ignore it.
I find these facts to be humbling, and I find the humility liberating. In short: 1. The unconscious is a significant factor in the human experience and we must consider its role in any individual, relationship, or group. 2. Our hypotheses regarding the content and action of the unconscious are impossible to confirm.
This understanding can really help get one’s ego out of the way. As far as the contents and action of my unconscious for example, fundamentally your guess is as good as mine. In therapeutic relationships, this understanding encourages collaborative wondering, challenging, and co-creating of hypotheses regarding the unconscious’s contributions to our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and motivations. -All the while holding the humility that we don’t know, and nor will we know.
We can use this understanding to deepen the work together. And while we can’t directly test our hypotheses, we can observe whether their consideration provides relief to the patient.
References
Rovelli, C. (2016). Seven brief lessons on physics (S. Carnell & E. Segre, Trans.). Riverhead Books. (Original work published 2014)
Michael Murray, LMHC, M.Ed 