Malfunction in the language - such as a slip of the tongue, a bungled word, a misreading, mishearing, or forgetting words or things, - that indicates the presence of underlying conflicts- Freudian Slips. Freud argued that parapraxes were those things which were commonly referred to as mistakes, but were actually the manifestation of subconscious truths and intentions. There are many different types of parapraxes, but the type we are most familiar with are misspeakings, or slips of the tongue. Misunderstandings/ misspeakings are more the category under which the classic "Freudian Slip" would fall, as well as acts of miswriting, mishearing, or misreading. These mistakes are often felt to reveal what the person making the mistake is REALLY thinking, or what the person wishes to express subconsciously. Freud says that these mistakes are often caused by an influence from another element in the chain of thought, an anticipation of a word or sound, the emergence of what one's true intention is, or through an outside interference. Interestingly enough, Freud reports that the instance of such occurrences arises while a person reaches lower states of consciousness, such as being very tired or intoxicated. This form of parapraxis is the most valuable to the aiding a therapists n discovering a patient's underlying conflicts. Things that are said cannot be taken back, I think that patients and people in general subconsciously see it as an opportunity to free themselves of a burden. Family issues, personal issues, as well as interests are not always easy to confront. A good therapist picks up on this and is then ready to ask the right questions to further help the patient.
The act of forgetting, Freud says, is in many ways like the act of repression; in .
repression, one either intentional or subconsciously forgets something as a defense mechanism, because the memory of such a thing causes great discomfort.