Reclaiming the Value of Assessing Unconscious and Subjective Psychological Experience

Abstract

The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual provides a model of the individual that emphasizes the prominence of unconscious subjective experience in shaping personality and psychopathology. Yet, modern psychiatry and psychology have avoided reference to and assessment of such processes. In this article, I review evidence from the cognitive neuroscience literature that supports the relationship of unconscious subjective experience to personality and behavior. Suggestions are made for how these findings should affect clinical assessment practice and how research methodology could be employed to further evaluate and enhance current assessment practice.