Have Freud's/Jung's theories of unconscious/subconscious ever been proven or substantiated with evidence?

Question

I have always believed in the theory of the unconscious/subconscious because, not having thought deeply about it, I considered it fact. A friend once asked me what proof exists that a dream is anything more than a series of strange images produced from REM, or that "unconscious" desires are a real thing. I had no good answer to offer and still don't. Anyone care to offer one?

Answer 1

I'm an amateur Freudian. I've done a lot of dream analysis on myself following the procedures in Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" and benefited from it.

Modern psychology and psychiatry dismiss Freud, even though they have appropriated much of his basic theory on the unconscious. But modern psychiatry understandably doesn't want to be bothered with long-term depth analysis when there are drugs and simpler techniques that work much more quickly. And his theories on psychological illnesses (psychoses, hysterias, etc.) were pretty primitive by today's standards.

But Freud is enjoying a little comeback lately. I've read that some recent MRI studies are providing ammunition for Freudians. For example, MRI studies of dreaming patients are demonstrating brain activity in portions of the brain that would support Freud's theories about dreams (portions of the brain used for dream construction). I don't have any links to articles for you at the moment, however.

[Added later:]

Here is a link for an article on using brain scans (MRI and PET) to substantiate Freud's theories on dreams, from a journal associated with the APA (American Psychological Association)

http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug99/sc4.html

Here's another article on the same subject from “Psychology Today”:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_1_33/ai_58616848

Answer 2

Obviously its almost impossible to 'proove' the subconscious as it is just that, subconscious. However, other than dreams, which mainstream psychology tends not to consider as Jungian access to the subconscious but rather memory consolidation, there are other pointers that are recognised. One is repression....where individuals experience an extremely traumatic event and so push conscious knowledge/memory of that event into the subconscious. This is quite readily recognised in clinical psychology, for example people who have experienced abuse or extreme war conditions.

Depending on your view of hyponosis, this is also considered to access the subconscious...again, some psychologists recognise hypnosis as legitimate, other believe it to be more a result of suggestion from the hynotherapist.

I dont think there is a clear answer on this one, but I personally feel that psychology is not yet in a position to rule it out - and so go ahead believing!

Answer 3

We've proven the subconcious because we are able to subliminally percive things, we wouldn't be able to do that without a subconcious. In a study where a word flashes by really quick, people say they didn't see it but the reading part of the brain shows activity at that exact moment

Answer 4

A theory is just that a theory,
Check out the works of Skinner you may find some help there.