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In this article associations between traumatic emotional experiences and their possible effects on the development of the psyche are depicted. Attention is drawn to the process that regulates the development of the psyche based on appropriate reactions of the caregiver to the child. A mother must be able to distinguish between the child's needs and her own claim to dominance. The appropriate frustrations serve to curb omnipotence and confer consistency to the recipient's personality. If this does not happen emotional growth can come to a halt; however, the relationship between emotional trauma and psychopathological development is not linear. There is a capacity for resilience that enables children to find their way out of even very difficult circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After some reflections on the intuitive unconscious that scientists employ, the focus of the first part of this article concerns the analytic method, based on associations and symbolic interpretations, as formulated by Freud and his most important followers. I see this as a valid method when used with patients we can ascribe to the neurotic area, but not with the more seriously ill, non-neurotic patients. This distinction does not particularly concern symptomatology, but a kind of unconscious functioning. When working with more seriously ill patients, such as those who have suffered infantile emotional trauma, or have a borderline or a psychotic disorder, analysts are confronted with more complex tasks. Considered here are functions of the mind outside awareness, the problem of non-representability, and several aspects of psychotic functioning. As the title states, this article goes beyond the dynamic unconscious to investigate areas of the mind that have not yet been systematically explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]