Where could I find a book, or some web reading, that could explain to
my teenager the elemental theory of the subconscious mind as
discovered by Freud and further developed by others?  He's 17 and
doesn't understand the stress he's under. He's having psychosomatic
phantom illnesses.  I'd love to throw him a book to get him started on
basic ideas of psychotherapy. Something like "principles of the
subconscious mind" if there is such a book.   Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 20 Jul 2003 23:42 PDT

ah_oooh...

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I recommend against giving psychology books to a troubled teen; this
could make things worse rather than better. Please try to get him into
psychotherapy or another form of counseling. I had a difficult
adolescence, but reading Freud gave me no useful insights into my
problems, since I was intelligent enough (and neurotic enough) to
rationalize my way out of recognizing myself in any of Freud's case
histories.

A caring therapist can do more for this young man than can all the
psychology books in the world.

ah_oooh...

Here's a page which lists a good basic introduction to
'Understanding the Subconscious', by Edith Packer, J.D., Ph.D.

"Understanding the Subconscious"

"Shows how the automatic functioning of the subconscious rests
 on “core evaluations,” which are fundamental, universalized
 evaluations based on concrete experiences. Explains how core
 evaluations underlie our everyday integration of aspects of
 reality and our emotional responses. No Q&A. Running time of
 60 minutes. Price: $12.95
 Pamphlet version, 16 pages (no Q&A). $3.25."
http://www.capitalism.net/edith.htm

A preview of the pamphlet can be viewed in this pdf file:
http://www.capitalism.net/E_Packer/1-931089-11-6.pdf

As PinkFreud notes, it might be better to read about it
yourself and open a dialog with him to see whether he is
receptive to the concepts. If he's not particularly
interested in the theories at this point, it would
likely be more productive to have a therapist utilize
the concepts in actual sesssions, rather than worry
about his comprehension of them. A good therapist will
first productively apply the principles, and, as progress
is noted, begin to instruct the client in the principles
which are producing the obvious results. In this way,
a client can move from, say, having a dream interpreted
in a way that produces insight, to learning to interpret
their dreams for themselves - something that may not 
interest them in the least until they have seen the
practical benefits which can accrue from doing so.

sublime1-ga

Sublime1 & PinkFreud:

You are both probably right. Good advice. The problem is he lives in a
small town in Illionois and he can't find a good therapist. One of
them he saw actually laughed at him. Here's his question I was trying
to answer, (he's 17)  He's reporting "thinking problems" and...
"My left chest has also been having pains for a while.  I think it's
due to stress, but it keeps coming back, even when I don't feel
stressed.  Do you think I could be stressed and anxious subconciously
and not know it?"

Thanks. 

BTW: How come there's Dianetics links at the top on this page?

ah_oooh...

Coincidentally, my 20 year career in the field of mental health
began in a small town in Illinois - Elgin, to be exact.

As for your son's question, unconscious (repressed) stressors
can lead to somatic (feeling) sensations, and a good way to
approach these is simply to schedule some time to feel them
fully, and meditate on their significance (meditate, not in
the sense of thinking, but of 'listening', intuitively, to
what may arise from focusing on them, breathing deeply and
slowly, and opening to what they may have to reveal.

As for 'thinking problems' he'd have to be much more specific
than that, and any therapist who laughed at that without
drawing him into elaborating on his meaning should be 
taken out back and....never mind. The point is that without
clarifying his meaning, there is no way to preclude that
his thoughts are not seriously troubled - suicidal or
psychotic at the worst. While this may not be the case,
and probably it is not, if he peceives his thinking as
problematic, that is enough to indicate that some therapy
and/or education is in order.

The links for Dianetics would be the result of Google's 
'targeted' ads, which show up (conveniently) in response
to certain 'keywords' - in this case, probably 'psychotherapy'
or 'subconscious'.

sublime1-ga

I have little confidence in modern stress management. I'm 71 now and
got adequate advice from ancient copies of the Readers Digest and from
Sunday school. It is also helpful to get suggestions from older adults
who seem to be well balanced = avoid extremes.  Neil