How then could a psychology that emphasized the unconscious mind emerge? The answer is that it did not come from academic or experimental psychology. Indeed, it did not come from the tradition of empiricism and associationism at all, as so much of psychology had. Rather, it came from clinical practice. Those who developed the psychology of the unconscious were not concerned with experimental design or the philosophy of science; nor were they concerned with substantiating the claims of the associationists. They were concerned with understanding the causes of mental illness and using that under- standing to help mentally ill patients.