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Summarizing, expanding and updating recent regional dictionaries (Akhtar, 2009; Auchincloss, 2012; Laplanche & Pontalis, 1967/1973; Borensztejn, 2014), the following definition(s), of the Unconscious can be formulated: Throughout the evolution of psychoanalytic theory, the concept of (The) Unconscious is used mainly in the following ways: the Dynamic Unconscious , which refers primarily to actively repressed material, unacceptable to the conscious mind; in a broad sense, it refers to all contents that are actively kept out of conscious awareness and which exert pressure in the direction of consciousness; the System Unconscious , which refers to an aspect of mind operating solely according to the ‘pleasure-unpleasure’ principle and ‘primary process’ thinking, governed by ‘unconscious logic’; the Descriptive Unconscious , also called ‘preconscious’, which refers simply to the fact that a mental content is not at the moment conscious. The contents of the Unconscious include instincts (drives) and instinctual representatives; material accrued due to ‘primal repression’; contents pushed down by the force of repression; and phylogenetic schemata that organize ‘primal phantasies’. The Unconscious as a quality , in an adjective form , appears in the Structural theory/Second Topography of Id, Ego and Superego. Here the whole of ID (ES=it) is unconscious, but parts of Ego (Ich=I) and Superego (ÜBER ICH = Ideal I, internalized moral principles) are unconscious as well. Throughout the Freudian oeuvre and in many post-Freudian and contemporary psychoanalytic models, the adjective form is also part of ancillary notions such as unconscious processes and processing , unconscious object relations, unconscious conflict , unconscious fantasy , unconscious ego functioning , unconscious communication , unconscious logic , amential unconscious, and the ‘real’ (undecipherable) unconscious. Chronologically , Freud’s work can be divided into the following time periods : The Discovery of the Dynamic Unconscious which covers the period 1893-1900, until the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams ; the period between 1900 and 1923 can be titled either The System Unconscious or The Topographic Unconscious . Lastly, the period after 1923, following the publication of The Ego and The Id , can be referred to as The Unconscious of the Structural Model/Second topography model of the Mind. As Freud’s theory building was non-linear and marked by increasing complexity, these necessarily overlap. As a matter of form and style, Freud’s abbreviations of Ucs, Pcs, and Cs will refer to the words Unconscious, Preconscious, and Conscious, respectively. Use of the capital or small letters in words like Unconscious, Id, Ego, Superego is consistent with the specific school’s usage. The nomenclature of Topographic Theory (English-Speaking North American Psychoanalysis) is synonymous with the First/Early Topography of European and parts of French-speaking Canadian psychoanalytic parlance; North American Structural Theory and Late/Second Topography of European and parts of French-speaking North American psychoanalysis are also synonymous. Throughout, both names for respective theories are used side by side. Unless stated otherwise, the italics are used throughout to highlight conceptual terminology. Freud’s major theoretical contributions to the subject of the unconscious can be found in the following works: Chapter VII of The Interpretation of Dreams (1900b), Papers on
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