This is knowledge that we don't necessarily know we have (what might be referred to as "unknown knowns") and it relates to the Implicit psychoanalytic model that clearly connects Mentalizing approaches - which in many ways are radically different - to more classical forms of psychoanalysis.

This knowledge base may be acquired ((brought into explicit awareness) by each person working psychoanalytically from personal analysis, clinical work under supervision, clinical experience in psychotherapy as well as other more informal contexts such as discussions, listening to case material and so on.

See Broadcasting Intentions for how this links to mentalizing theory about the progress of therapeutic work, and one of the Videos at Active Planning describes this journey that client and KeyWorker make: from partially-shared implicit beliefs and intentions, towards larger areas of explicitly shared intentions.

This hidden, private or implicit knowledge base, if it becomes more explicit, can actually serve to guide clinical work; it contains unique information about both appropriate interventions and dynamic understandings (Mentalization, in other words) of behaviour. For example, the way past relationships impact on current relationships is never fully explicated in psychoanalytic writing, yet it is the bread and butter of the daily work of psychoanalytic clinicians.