PSYC 1F90 Lecture Notes - Treponema Pallidum, Receptive Aphasia, Amobarbital
14 Apr 2013
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Two of sacks case histories were assigned for the seminar concerned with the issue of the unconscious mind. Donald killed his wife while under the influence of pcp. He had no memory of the deed- and neither hypnosis nor sodium amytal served to help him remember. When on temporary release, he crashed his bike and sustained severe head injury and severe contusion of both frontal lobes. He lay in a coma for almost two weeks and then unexpectedly he started to recover. The murder, lost to memory before, now stood before in in vivid, almost hallucinatory detail: based on this story, we can clearly see that we have an unconscious mind. Through defense mechanisms, we are able to repress, deny, regress, project, rationalize etc. Donald repressed his memories in order to avoid painful memories that threatened his daily life: the unconscious mind/unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires (especially those concerning sex and aggression) greatly influence our behaviour according to freud.
