The Freudian view seemed to be that people consist of Ids, ego's and superego's. People are supposedly also inhabited by something called a subconscious, a mysterious entity with a tendency to think naughty thoughts and keep them a secret from one's conscious self. When this naughty subconscious takes over and controls one's actions - without permission - people become neurotic. If the patient lies on a couch and talks, and a psychiatrist listens, the subconscious might be tricked into revealing itself. Once enticed out into the open by a therapist, the subconscious supposedly looses its power to cause neurosis.