INTRODUCTION
The previous lesson gave an
introduction to Psychoanalysis and it dealt with the structure of personality,
and dynamics of personality. The present chapter will talk aobut object that
determine the behaviour of an individual, and the defensive structures a person
unknowingly creates to shield him/herself from these forces.
It further discusses how behaviour is
driven by the unconscious, biologically based urges that demand gratification.
When expression of these demands is blocked by moral constraints, how the
individual negotiates behavioural compromises that focus on substitutions for
or symbolic representations of the originally desired object. The chapter also
discusses Freud's fascinating analysis of such everyday phenomena as demands,
jokes anda slips of tongue.
DYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY
It was seen in the previous chapter
how instincts play an important role in motivating a person into action, and
how the psychic energy is diverted towards the Ego for further action plan and
gratification of the needs. Since the behaviour is an outcome of the three
systems of personality; the Id, the Ego and the Superego. Further the dynamics
of personality consists of interplay of the cathexes and anticathexes. The Ego
traps enough energy from the Id, to control and maintain a balance between the
demands of the Id and the Superego at appropriate time in appropriate ways
acceptable to the external world. However, if the Id and the Superego tend to
retain more energy, a pressure will build up on the Ego, because both the Id
and the Superego will want immediate gratification of their needs. Overwhelmed
by excessive stimulation, the Ego is unable to maintain control and becomes
flooded with anxiety.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a state of tension that
motivates a person to do something. Its function is to warn of impending
danger- that is, to signal to the Ego that unless appropriate measures are
taken the danger may increase until the Ego is overthrown. Freud called this
anxiety "Psychic pain". He recognized three types of anxiety: reality
anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety, which are feelings of guilt.
The basic type is reality anxiety, or
fear of real danger in the eternal world; from it the other two types are
derived. Neurotic anxiety is the fear that the instincts will get out of
control and cause the person to do something for which he or she will be
punished. Neurotic anxiety is not so much a fear of the instincts themselves as
it is the fear of the punishment likely to ensure from instinctual has a basis
in reality, because the world as represented by the parents and other
authorities does punish the child for impulsive actions. Moral anxiety is the
fear of the conscience. People with well-developed Superego's tend to feel
guilty when they do something or even think of doing something that is contrary
to the moral code by which they have been raised. They are said to feel
conscience stricken. Moral anxiety also has a realistic basis; the person has
been punished in the past for violating the moral code and may be punished again.
Anxiety is a drive like hunger or sex,
but instead of arising from internal tissue conditions, it is produced
originally by external causes. When anxiety is aroused, it motivates the person
to do something, and he or she may flee from the threatening region, inhibit
the dangerous impulse, or obey the voice of the conscience.
Anxiety that cannot be dealt with
effective measures is said to traumatic. When the Ego cannot cope with the
anxiety by rational methods, it turns to unrealistic ones. These are called the
defense mechanisms of the Ego.
Defense mechanisms
Under the pressure of excessive
anxiety, the Ego is sometimes forced to take extreme measures to relieve the
pressure. These measures are called defense mechanisms. These defense
mechanisms alleviate the painful anxiety, but they do so by distorting reality
instead of dealing directly with the problem. All defense mechanisms have two
characteristics in common:
- They deny falsely or distort reality.
- They operate unconsciously so that the person is not aware of what is taking place.
Some of the Ego defense mechanisms
that are commonly used are:
A) Denial of Reality: The individual
makes an attempt to "screen-out" disagreeable realities by ignoring
or refusing to acknowledge them. One may turn awal from unpleasant topics,
faint when confronted with a traumatic situation, deny critism, or become so
pre-occupied with work there is no time to deal with other problems.
B) Repression: This is a defense
mechanism by means of which threatening or painful desires are excluded from
consciousness. Although it has often been referred to as "selective
forgetting" it is more in the nature of selective remembering. Although
the material that is repressed is denied admission to conscious awareness, it
is not really forgotten. Repression is an extremely important defense
mechanism, for it affords protection from sudden, traumatic experiences until
time has somewhat desensitized the individual to control dangerous and
unacceptable desires- and at the same time alleviate the anxiety associated
with such desires. Repressions once formed are difficult to abolish. The person
must reassure herself that the danger no longer exists, but she cannot get such
a reassurance until the repression is lifted so that she can test reality. It
is a vicious cycle. That is why many adults carry with them a lot of childish
fears; they never get a chance to discover that these fears have no basis in
reality.
C) Projection: This is a defense
mechanism by means of which (i) others are seen as responsible for one's own
shortcomings, mistakes and (ii) others are seen as responsible for one's
unacceptable impulses, thoughts and desires. E.g., the student who fails an
examination may feel the teacher was unfair, the delinquent teenager may blame
her problems on a rejecting and non-understanding parents. The individual also
attributes his own unacceptable desires and thought others. This tendency
appears to be particularly common among those with rigid moral values and
strict conscience development. E.g., a man who is sexually attracted towards a
woman may say, that she is behaving seductively towards him.
Projection often serves a dual
purpose. It reduces anxiety by substantiating a lesser danger for a greater
one, and it enables the projecting person to express his or her impulses under
the guise of defending one against one's enemies.
D) Fantasy: By means of this mechanism
frustration is overcome by the imaginary achievement of goals and meeting of
needs. Two common varieties of wishfulfillment fantasy are the conquering hero
and suffering hero pattern. In the first, one may picture oneself as a great world
leader, a celebrity, a superstar, and the idea being the individual is capable,
powerful and respected. Frequently, hostility is dissipated safely, who all
stand in one's way is destroyed or punished. Such fantasies act as safely
valves and provide some measure of compensatory gratification for the
individual.
In the suffering hero pattern, no
admission of inferior personality is necessary, since one is suffering from
some dreaded disease, a handicap, or just unlucky. When others find out about
such difficulties and realize the bravery and courage it took to carry on under
such circumstances, they will be sympathetic and understanding. Thus, the
inferior perfomance is explained away without any threat to one's feelings of
adequacy and worth.
E) Reaction Formation: This defense
measure involves the replacement in Consciousness of an anxiety- producing
impulse or feeling by its opposite. For example, hate is replaced by love. The
original impulse still exists but it glossed over or masked by one that does not
cause anxiety. Reaction Formation can be recognized by extravagant showiness-
the person protects too much- and by compulsiveness. Extreme forms of behaviour
of any kind usually denote a reaction formation.
F) Regression: Regression is a defense
mechanism in which one returns to the use of reaction patterns long since
outgrown. When a new addiction to the family has seemingly undermined his
status a little boy may revert to bed-wetting and other infantile behaviour
that once brought him parental attention. In the fact of severe stress or new
challenges, an individual may retreat to a less mature level of adjustment.
G) Rationalization: Rationalization is
justifying maladaptive behaviour by Faulty logic or ascribing it to noble
motives that did, not infact, inspire it. Rationalization has two major defense
values: a) it helps justify specific behaviours, and b) it aids in softening
the disappoinment connected with unattainable goals. Typically, rationalization
involves thinking up logical, socially approved reasons for past, present, or
proposed behaviours. Rationalization is also used to soften the disappoinment
of thwarted desires. Behaviours that commonly indicate rationalization are:
a) hunting for reasons to justify
one's behaviour or beliefs; b)being able to recognize inconsistencies or
contradicting evidences, and c) becoming upset when one's reasons are
questioned. Such questioning is threat to the defenses the individual has
managed to construct against self-devaluation.
H) Displacement: In displacement there
is a shift of emotion or symbolic meaning from a person or object towards which
it was originally directed to another person or object. E.g., a person angry
with his boss may divert it hastily towards his wife. In some instances the
individual whose hostility has been aroused by an outside person or event may
turn the hostility inwards, engaging in exaggerated self-occupation. This is a
dangerous form of displacement, for it does not help much in reducing tension,
and may lead to depression and even to attempted or even actually suicide. In
other instances, if the original object choice becomes inaccessible, the
individual may settle for a substitute object, which yields some relief for the
pent up tension.
The Unconscious
Another important concept in the
psychoanalytic model is that of the unconscious. Freud thought that the
conscious represents a realtively small area of the mind, while the unconscious
part, like the submerged part of an iceberg, is the much larger portion. In the
depths of the unconscious are the hurtful memories, forbidden desires and other
experiences that have been pushed of conscious. Although the individual is
unaware of such unconscious material, it continues to seek expression and may
be reflected in fantasies, dreams and slips of tongue, when Ego controls are
temporarily lowered. Until such unconscious material is brought to awareness
and integrated into the Ego structure, it presumably leads to irrational and
maladaptive behaviour. However, Freud regarded material in the unconscious, as
being relatively inaccessible to conscious awareness, for it is said ato be in
a state of repression. Repression, as we have already metioned in the previous
section, is a defense mechanism. It is used, to push out of conscious awareness,
any thoughts, memories, desires or events that cause a high level of anxiety.
To retrieve this material a person has to undergo psychoanalysis, using the
techniques developed by Freud-that will be discussed in the later part of this
chapter.
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
The child passes through a series of
dynamically differentiated stages during the first five years of life,
following which for a period of five or six years- the period of latency- the
dynamics become more or less stabilized. With the advent of adolescence, the
dymanics erupt again and then gradually settle down as the adolescent moves
into adulthood.
The Oral Stage
This stage lasts about a year. The
mouth is the principle region of dynamic activity. The principle source of
pleasure derived from the mouth is that of eating. Eating involves tactual
stimulation of the lips and oral cavity and swallowing, or if the food is
unpleasant, spitting it out. Later, when teeth grow, the mouth is used for
biting and chewing. These two modes of oral activity, incorporation of food and
biting, are the prototypes for many later character traits that develop.
Pleasure derived form oral incorporation may be displaced to other modes of
incorporation such as the pleasure governed form acquiring knowledge or possessions.
Fixation at this stage can be of two types: a child, who swallows a lot, might
become an adult who is very gullible and vulnerable, and swallow almost
anything others say. A biting child will be very sarcastic and argumentatic as
an adult.
The Anal Stage
After the food has been digested the
residue accumaltes in the lower end of the intestinal tract and is reflexly
discharged when the pressure upon the anal sphincters reaches a certain level.
The expulsion of the feces removes the source of discomfort and produces a
feeling of relief. When toilet training is initiated, usually during the second
year of life, the child has its first decisive experience with the external
regulation of an instinctual impulse. It has to learn to postpone the pleasure
that comes from relieving anal tensions.
The Phallic Stage
During this stage of personality
development, sexual and aggressive feelings associated with the functioning of
the genital organs come into focus. The pleasures of masturbation, and the
fantasy life of the child that accompanies autoerotic activity set the stage
for the appearance of Oedipus complex.
The Genital Stage
The oral, anal and phallic stages are
called the pre-genital stages. The child then goes into a prolonged latency
period. During this period the impulses tend to be held in a state of
repression. The dynamic resurgence of adolescende reactivates the pre-genital
impulses. If these are successfully displayed and sublimated by the Ego, the
person passes into the final stage of maturity- the genital stage.
THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES
Freud worked for some time in
collaboration with an older physician, Dr. Joseph Breuer, who had introduced an
interesting inovation in the use of hypnosis on his neurotic patients, chiefly
women. He let the patient under hypnosis to talk about her problems and about
what bothered her. Under these circumstances the patient ususally spoke rather
freely, displaced considerable emotion, and on awakening from the hypnotic
state felt considerably relieved. Because of the emotional release involved,
this method was called "cathartic method" or "catharsis" or
"talking cure". Freud, soon discovered, that he could dispense with
the hypnotic state entirely. By encouraging the patient to say freely wantever
came into her mind without regard to logic or decency, Freud found that she
could eventually overcome inner obstacles to remembering and would discuss her
problem freely. This new method of telling freely without beign hypnotized, was
called free association, and the term psychoanalysis was given to the
principles involved in analyzing and interpreting what the patient said and
did, and in helping her gain insight and achieve a more adequate adjusment.
Free Association
The free association method requires
the patient to say everything that comes into consciousness no matter how
ridiculous or inappropriate it may sound. Unlike the cathartic method, the free
association method does not stop with the origin of symptoms. It demands, that
the patient talk about everything and anything that occurs to them without restraint
and without any attempt to produce a logical, organized, meaningful discourse.
The role of the therapist is, to a great extent, a passive one.
Dream Analysis
Talking about dreams was natural
consequence of the instruction to patients that they talk about everything that
comes to their minds. The patients spontaneously recalled their dreams and then
proceeded to give free association to them.
Interpretation
Interpretation is the basic procedure
used in analyzing free association, dreams, resistances and transferences. The
procedure consists of the analyst painting out, explaining and even teaching
the patient the meanings of behaviour that is manifested by free associations,
dreams, resistances and the therapeutic relationships itself.
Evaluation
Freud's theory has been criticized as
being too closely allied with the mechanistic and deterministic out-looks of
the nineteenth-centurey science; as a consequence it was not sufficiently
humanistic. The theory is regarde by many today as painting too bleak a picture
of human nature. Feminists such as Millet (1970) and others have vigorously
attacked Freud's speculations about the psychology of women, particularly the
concept of penis envey, although one prominent figure in the women's movement,
Mitchell, 1975 has come to Freud's defense.
Summary
When the Ego is overwhelmed by
excessive stimulation, which it is unable to control, the Ego becomes flooded
with anxiety. Anxiety is a state of tension, and is warning signal to the Ego
to take appropriate measures to reduce tension. There are three types of
anxiety: reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety and moral anxiety. When the Ego
cannot cope with anxiety by rational methods, it will fall back on unrealistic
ones. They are known as the Ego defense mechanisms.
