ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud’s theoretical formulation that the unconscious determines motivation and behavior was revolutionary a century ago. D. W. Winnicott, in writing about clients’ “fear of breakdown” and their potential regression to early childhood emotionally charged experiences, departed from classical psychoanalytic theory which postulated that the dynamic unconscious was composed of repressed drives and conflictual experience. When there is a therapeutic contract for in-depth psychotherapy aimed at fundamental change in the client’s script, deconfusion and resolution of Child ego state conflicts, and decommissioning of influencing Parent ego states, the therapeutic goal is to facilitate making conscious what has been unconscious. Attachment styles are unconscious pre-symbolic procedural forms of memory based on early relational patterns. Body language is an important conveyer of unconscious communication, and it is essential in psychotherapy to focus on clients becoming aware of the communication inherent in their physical movements, gestures, and postures.
