Conceptual status of the unconscious in Freud and some of its implications for psychoanalytic practice. The article deals with the relationship between clinical and metapsychology, taking as object of analysis the methodological bases that articulate the concept of the unconscious and clinical practice based on it. It is argued that the unconscious psychism understood as the object of psychoanalysis, can only be apprehended by the scientific and conceptual network constructed by Freud, the metapsychology. From this perspective, the stance of psychoanalytic practice would depend on the conception that the analyst has of the unconscious.
Metapsychology; unconscious; psychoanalytic practice