08 – Why We Don't Change: The Vertical Split

Relationship Unconscious

2019-01-30

Freud divided the human mind horizontally, i.e., the unconscious was separated from the conscious by a horizontal line of psychic defense.  More contemporary theorists, however, have proposed a corollary mechanism of the mind that arranges experience side-by-side (vertically) rather than top-down (horizontally). Vertical splitting is necessary for optimal functioning in the world, but too much or too little vertical splitting results in problems and difficulties and prevents more adaptive experience of change and growth. Please download the following document to accommodate this recording. Click Here.