An interpretative phenomenological analysis for the experience of the unconscious and conscious conflict in Greek adults: The trauma response of conscious self-rejection, projective understanding of anxiety, and the oxymoronic experience of emotion.

Abstract

The purpose of this is to unfold the presence of anxiety in its incomprehensible form that is experienced at a collective level, with the global literature arguing that incomprehensible anxiety is a derivative of the lack of awareness of the unconscious level, causing a four-dimensional discomfort in human biology, the intelligence quotient, emotional and spiritual intelligence. Having in the central background the research of Parlapani and colleagues, which wants Greek adults to be on a spectrum of social depression and anxiety in response to the social changes of recent years and in the absence of psychodynamic and analytical approaches related to the research of the immersive experience conflict of the conscious and the unconscious in Greece, this research, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, attempted to capture the emotional variation caused by this conflict, and its potential refraction in overall health in 8 (4 women & 4 men) Greeks adults. Semi-structured interviews were used and specific questions, in order to direct participants’ attention to the conflict in question, were asked. From the data analysis, three super-themes were selected for their ability to more realistically capture the experience of experiencing the conflict: “The traumatic response of repulsion of the conscious self”, “The projective understanding of the anxiety” and “The oxymoronic experience of emotions”. In conclusion, the analysis reflects questions about the difficulty that individuals have in maintaining beliefs based on both awareness and their philosophical ability to be able, not necessarily to interpret, but to approach with intentions of understanding the unconscious, in order for the incomprehensible anxiety to be more understood. Overall, social factors seem to explain the incomprehensible form of anxiety.