We have observed that the psyche is the scene of a constant and often
intense conflict between the more primitive and the more social human
impulses. It is in the course of this physical conflict and to serve
its ends, that the repressions are manifested.
In considering the relations of cause and effect in the psychic realm,
we must bear one great fact in mind, a fact that should be quite
self-evident, but which, because of our lack of knowledge of the
Unconscious, has not been realized, namely: Nothing is accidental in
the psychic region. There is no “chance” in the psychic world any more
than in the physical. Every effect has a definite cause; every cause
produces a definite effect.
What seem to be accidental, unexpected happenings are not so in
reality. We observe only some of the unconscious manifestations without
realizing that they are logical reactions of some positive force. Thus,
they appear as something detached and causeless, and we give them no
further consideration.
The human psychic apparatus produces a ceaseless flow of impulses
or discharge of energy whose aim is the fulfillment of two great
principles, upon which all life is grounded--that is, the pleasure
principle, and the reality principle.
_The Pleasure Principle._--The pleasure principle represents the
primary original form of mental activity, and is characteristic of
the earliest stages of human development, both in the individual and
the race. Therefore, it is found in its typical expression in the
mental life of the infant, and to a less extent in the savage. Its main
attribute is a never-ceasing demand for immediate gratification of
various desires that give pleasure to the Unconscious, regardless of
cost or consequences. Thus, it may be said to be egocentric, selfish,
personal, anti-social.
The infant illustrates in a very observable manner the existence of the
pleasure principle as the basic motive for all its actions. Nothing but
its own desires concern him, and he demands with unqualified insistence
their fulfillment in the shape of food, warmth, petty attentions, and
any object that may come to his notice.
But while the infant offers the most perfect example of the pleasure
principle in operation, because it works through him with no disguise,
it can be noted more or less prominently among all people. No
individual is free from this trait. It is of course good that this is
so, or life would be more dull and drab than it is at its worst.
A normal, well rounded personality is one in which all the basic
characteristics are present in the proper degree, one balancing the
other, thus preserving a desirable equilibrium, and fitting one to face
and grapple with the realities of life. This is what constitutes a
healthy, adaptable human being.
But, as we so well know, not every one is in this favored category.
Leaving aside those who are the victims of so outrageously pernicious
an environment that any approach to normal life is impossible, there
are still millions and millions of people in all walks of life who fall
short, some seriously so, of this standard.
These unadapted people, some fitting like the proverbial square peg
in a round hole, are suffering from exaggerated neurotic tendencies.
They range from the mildly hysterical or temperamentally unsettled to
the definitely insane. And notwithstanding the bleak picture which the
more extreme cases make, and which are unfortunate enough even when
moderately advanced, they are expressions of the pleasure principle
that has followed afar some line of least resistance.
People who maintain their grip on the vitals of reality avoid the
alluring pitfalls to which undue surrender to the pleasure principle
leads. Where the temptation is strong, there are often elaborate
precautions taken to escape the dreaded fate. This is true, even
when the exact situation is not consciously realized and when the
precautions are the result of intuitive rather than logical effort.
Primitive man offers an excellent example of this fact. He has erected
an intricate set of taboos to avert the consequences of his fierce,
self-seeking impulses. He realizes vaguely there are inexplicable inner
forces pulling him this way and that. He does not know what these
emotions and passions are, nor why or whence they come, but senses the
danger in their dominance.
The so-called “civilized” man differs in degree rather than kind from
his primitive brother. He disguises and distorts, unconsciously for the
most part, and often with surprising ingenuity, that same principle
which governs so largely his behavior.
We have only to study our own dreams, phantasies and often unreasonable
emotions of jealousy, vanity, etc., and our tendency not to face
reality, or our disinclination to recognize the constant pressure and
frequent dominance of the pleasure principle within us.
Thousands of years of civilization with the accompanying development
of cultural, ethical, religious and social factors and influences have
done much to modify and adapt the power of this pleasure principle, but
no amount of civilization can eliminate or crush this dynamic force.
As a matter of fact, the objection is that our civilization is becoming
so constantly ramified, and with such increasing swiftness, by
scientific achievements, mechanical inventions and natural discoveries,
etc., that we can hardly adapt our primitive, slow-evolving
characteristics to the more rapidly changing environment. And this
condition is intensified because, as a social unit, we have preferred
to avoid any serious discussion or study of psychic phenomena so as
better to cope with the problems that confront us.
_The Reality Principle._--The reality principle, to all intents and
purposes, is the antithesis of the pleasure principle. They are both
present in all of us all the time. The condition which makes us either
“normal” human beings or neurotic misfits in society, is largely
governed by the proper balance on the one hand, or on the other, the
lack of relative proportion of these two principles in our psychic
make-up.
Directly as they manifest themselves in our Unconscious, or indirectly,
as in disguised forms in the Conscious, these two principles are ever
exerting their respective influences--operating, or co-operating with
each other, or coming into conflict.
Freud has described the reality principle as having for its function
the adaptation of the organism to the exigencies of reality--that is of
the world animate and inanimate, which lies outside and around every
individual.
It is evident that if the individual were not capable of acting upon
the reality principle to a very large degree throughout life, he would
as a consequence be unable to exist.
He must realize the uncompromising force of sea, air, gravity, fire,
wild animals, in order to maintain life. He must recognize the claims,
needs and superior force of his fellow men, even in the most primitive
society or community.
Thus, by the very act of living, even without definite instruction to
that end, we are gathering consciously and unconsciously a working
knowledge of the reality principle. It is exemplified in the old adage
of “learning by experience” rather than by hearsay or being told.
Sometimes, as we all know, this is a very painful way of learning,
although its effectiveness is unquestioned. The child who touches a hot
stove is learning by a very drastic method to adapt himself to reality.
The writer once saw a bright, eight-year-old youngster attempt to walk
quickly over the water as the row-boat he was in neared the shore.
Although it was only the equivalent of four or five short steps, the
youth got a rather sudden and aqueous awakening to a certain phase of
the reality principle. This was obviously a perfect illustration of the
unconscious in action, as consciously he knew that it is impossible to
walk on the water, but he was seized with an inexplicable “impulse.”
The development of the reality principle is through the channels of
reason. Those who are of the most logical, rational turn of mind best
exemplify the reality principle.
This principle is expressed in directed thinking, in contrast to the
phantasying and intuitive expressions of the pleasure principle.
People who have a high degree of intuition may be said to be under the
influence of their Unconscious to a greater extent than those who are
not so intuitive in their decisions and actions. In many respects,
this is a valuable asset, when co-ordinated with a discriminating
Conscious, which acts as a regulator in preventing undue extremes in
manifestations of the Unconscious.
It is the inevitable conflict between these two great principles in
our psychic make-up which is the cause of repressions. And repressions
which become so severe that they cause serious disharmony in our
Unconscious result in a neurosis.
In considering the curative value of psycho-analysis, it is well to
remember that conflicts are present in all of us. This is assured by
the fact that we are all endowed, more or less, with primitive passions
and certain instinctive desires, and these tend inevitably to conflict
with the social and ethical standards to which we consciously subscribe.
Therefore, there are neurotic strains and tendencies in every
individual, which the most rational of us demonstrate at times in
little temperamental outbursts, in streaks of unreasonableness, and
even physical indispositions that are the positive reactions of a
neurosis, incipient or chronic.
When we realize that a neurosis, slight or severe, and many of the
incipient forms of insanity, reflect a lack of harmony in the psychic
mechanism, instead of being some mysterious, far-fetched visitation of
fate, we begin to see the possibilities of remedying the situation.
This is especially so when we consider that every “normal” person
experiences the same tendencies in a light form, which contribute to
the function of a neurosis and insanity.
_Physical Effects of Neuroses._--To thoroughly appreciate the
widespread effects of neurotic tendencies, it is only necessary to
scan the list of physical ailments and symptoms that may be due to
unconscious ideas that unduly influence our conduct.
Dr. William A. White in his _Principles of Mental Hygiene_ states:
The number and duration of physical and apparently physical
disorders which may originate at the psychological level is endless.
It includes many forms of asthma, sore throat, difficult nasal
breathing, stammering, headache, neurasthenia, backache, tender
spine, “weak heart,” faint attacks, exophthalmic goitre (Graves or
Basedow’s disease), aphonia, spasmodic sneezing, hiccough, rapid
respiration, hay fever, gastro-intestinal disturbances (constipation,
diarrhea, indigestion, colitis, ulcer of stomach), ptosis of kidney,
diabetes, disturbances of urination, polyuria, incontinence,
precipitancy, menstrual disorders, auto-intoxication (from long
digestive disturbances), nutritional disorders of skin, teeth and
hair, etc.
It should be emphasized, however, that while any of these disturbances
may be of psycho-genic origin, no reputable psycho-analyst would claim
they are always due to this basic cause.
After soberly considering this formidable agglomeration of
possibilities from repressions in the Unconscious--the very existence
of which the overwhelming majority of people are in ignorance--we
should see the necessity for some rational understanding of, and
insight into, our psychic processes--particularly the unconscious ones.
The modification of the elemental urges and wishes and their adaptation
to the realities of environment is a long, difficult and painful
process. Beginning with the infant life, thoroughly bound up in its
egocentric activities, and progressing through childhood which is
dominated by primitive emotions, we finally reach adulthood in years,
but still influenced profoundly by primitive impulses and modes of
thought.
In fact a large percentage of people never grow up psychologically and
emotionally, but remain at an infantile, or at the most, an adolescent
level in these respects.
_Low Mental Average Among Adults._--It is interesting to observe in
this connection very significant statistics gathered by the Surgeon
General of the American Army during the World War, of men drafted
in 1918.[A] Elaborate tests were made attempting to “size up” the
brain power of the soldiers, irrespective of education. For instance,
children under the age of five seldom can learn to tell time on a
clock, but practically all normal children can learn to do so before
they are over the age of six. There are other analogous problems or
tests which children five or six can do, but which they cannot do if
they are younger.
[A] Army Mental Tests (Surgeon General) Washington, D. C., Nov. 22,
1919.
As an example, it is found that the normal child of five can name the
four primary colors, even if never taught them. On the other hand, some
grown people are so deficient in mental power that, although they can
dress themselves and do many kinds of every-day work, they can never
learn to tell time by the clock or do the other five-year-old tests.
Such people are said to have a “mental age” of under five--that is,
they have the potential brain power of a child under five.
Similar tests have been devised for other ages. For example, the
normal child of eleven can detect absurdities in sentences; can define
three out of five abstract words, “pity, revenge, charity, justice,
envy”; can repeat backward five digits given orally; can interpret
fables, etc.
The Surgeon General divided the mental age of many thousands of drafted
men according to their occupation. He thought the “average” would be
misleading, so instead of finding the average, he omitted from each
occupation one-quarter of the men having the lowest mental age, or
brain power, and also the quarter having the highest brain power. The
men who remained were the middle half.
Now, after dividing these men into some seventy-four occupational
groups, they were classified into seven grades of brain power, instead
of using the literal term “mental age.” The result was as follows:
A _Very Superior Intelligence._ This grade was ordinarily reached by
only four or five per cent of a draft quota. It was composed of men
of marked intellectuality, with the ability to make a superior record
in college or university.
B _Superior Intelligence._ Less exceptional than that represented by
“A,” and was obtained by eight to ten per cent of the draft. Men of
this grade are capable of making an average record in college.
C+ _High Average Intelligence._ This group included about fifteen
to eighteen per cent of the draft. Can not do so well as “B,” but
contained some men with capacity for leadership and power to command.
C _Average Intelligence._ Included about twenty-five per cent of
the drafted men. These men are rarely capable of graduating from a
high school. They are of a grade that is said to make “excellent
privates” in the army. Their “mental age” may be put at about
fourteen.
C- _Low Average Intelligence._ These men made up about twenty per
cent of the draft, and were considered satisfactory in work of a
routine nature. They are distinctly of lower intelligence than the
“C” group, but their mental age is probably not below twelve.
D _Inferior Intelligence._ Included about fifteen per cent of the
draft. They are slow in learning, and rarely suited for tasks which
require special skill, resourcefulness, or sustained alertness. It
is unsafe to expect these, or those of grades “D--” and “E” to read
intelligently or understand written directions.
D- and E. _Very Inferior Intelligence._ The majority of these men are
below the “mental age” of ten--some were discovered with a mental age
as low as two or three, and were being passed upon for sending to
France in 1918.
When such a representative body of men as the American Army drafted
under the Selective Service law shows an “average intelligence”
comprising about twenty-five per cent that are rarely capable of
graduating from high school; twenty per cent that have a mental age of
about twelve; fifteen per cent of an even lower mental age, incapable
of reading intelligently or understanding written directions; and two
other classes that are still inferior with mental ages ranging from
below ten years to as low as two or three, then we can get at least
some approximate idea of the infantile state of mind of a large section
of the general population.
_Kinds of Neuroses._--According to the theory of Freud, the neuroses
are divided into the true neuroses and psycho-neuroses.
The true neuroses are neurasthenia and anxiety-neurosis. The causes
of these diseases, Freud maintains, is the disturbance of the sexual
processes which determine the formation and utilization of the sexual
libido.
As he summarizes it:
We can hardly avoid perceiving these processes as being, in their
last analysis, chemical in their nature, so that we recognize in
the true neurosis the somatic effect of disturbances in the sexual
metabolism, while in the psycho-neurosis we recognize besides the
psychic effects of the same disturbances. The resemblance of the
neuroses to the manifestations of intoxication and abstinence,
following certain alkaloids, and to Basedow’s and Addison’s diseases
obtrudes itself clinically without any further ado, and just as these
two diseases should no longer be described as nervous diseases, so
will the genuine neurosis soon have to be removed from this class,
despite their nomenclature.
Neurasthenia, in Freud’s opinion, is due to exaggerated sexual
self-gratification which weakens the individual’s will-power by
making the goal too easily obtainable, affords inadequate relief,
diminishes potency and by ignoring too many psychological sources of
excitement, may cause physical injury. The neurasthenic turns away
from society, from reality, and, if a man, from women, for he cannot
tolerate feminine imperfection. Thus, he becomes anti-social and
betrays the result of his vain strife against passion in many ways,
lack of will-power, doubts about the possibility of achievements and
self-reproaches.
Among the symptoms of anxiety neurosis are general irritability,
exaggerated visual and auditive sensations which are frequently the
cause of sleeplessness, anxious expectations of accidents, death,
insanity, accompanied in some cases by a disturbance of one or more
bodily functions, respiration, circulation, glandular functions, etc.
One of the most characteristic symptoms of anxiety neurosis is a form
of dizziness which never leads to complete loss of equilibrium.
The symptoms of anxiety neurosis are considered by Freud as substitutes
for the specific action which should follow sexual excitement and
which is accompanied by acceleration of the respiration, palpitation,
sweating and congestion.
It is popularly supposed that anxiety neurosis is the result of
overwork. Freud says, however, that the physician who informs a busy
man that he has overworked himself, or an active woman that her
household duties have been too burdensome, should tell his patients
they are sick, not because they have sought to discharge duties which
for a civilized brain are comparatively easy, but because they have
neglected, if not stifled, their sexual life while attending to their
duties.
Men who resort to ungratifying forms of sexual activity and women left
unsatisfied by the impotence or _ejaculatio praecox_ of their husbands,
are often found to be suffering from anxiety neurosis.
Characteristic of the emotional obsessions of psycho-neurosis,
sometimes referred to as psychasthenia, are various phobias or fears,
agoraphobia, fear of open spaces; claustrophobia, fear of closed
spaces; astrapaphobia, fear of thunder and lightning; aerophobia, fear
of being in high places; morbid desires for drink or drugs; volitional
obsessions; kleptomania, impulse to steal; pyromania, impulse to
set fire to things; arithmomania, impulse to count everything;
onomatomania, impulse to repeat one word, and so on.
To afford a more scientific classification, these symptoms of
psychasthenia have been divided up by psycho-analysts into hysteria,
anxiety hysteria and compulsion neurosis.
Hysteria, Freud states, is due to an emotional conflict between the
usual urge and the sexual repression, and its symptoms have the value
of a compromise between both psychic streams.
Anxiety hysteria is frequently associated with hysteria proper. In
this case the anxiety arises not only from physical sources, but from
a part of the ungratified desire which embraces a number of complexes.
As the normal mind reacts to danger through anxiety, we might propose
the analogy that in this case the mind is defending itself against
internal danger. The psycho mechanism is the same as in hysteria
except that it does not lead to conversion into physical symptoms.
Anxiety hysteria invariably tends to develop a phobia. The most common
of hysterical phobias is agoraphobia, which prevents the patient from
walking comfortably across an empty space, although he can do so when
accompanied by certain persons. Another anxiety hysterical disturbance
is erythrophobia, or fear of red, which has as its motivating basis
self-reproach or shame of some sort, the feeling of being slighted or
of anger.
Hysteria is more peculiar to the female sex, obsessional neurosis to
the male sex.
The obsession neurosis is featured by constant ambivalence, or the
experiencing of opposite feelings at the same time, such as love and
hatred for the same person, although of course, one of these emotions
may predominate in the Conscious and the other in the Unconscious.
In compulsion neurosis, the thought of the possibility of death to
others is often present. In every conflict, the subject awaits the
death of someone important or dear to him, a rival or one of the
love objects between whom his inclination wavers. His obsession is
anchored upon a superstitious belief in the potency of his evil wishes.
Superstitions of all kinds, in fact, occupy a prominent place in the
compulsion neurosis.
The difference between neuroses and psychoses has been made very clear
by Adler, who says:
Longing for an unattainable ideal is at the bottom of both. Defeat
or fear of defeat causes the weaker individual to seek a substitute
for his real goal. At this point begins the process of psychic
transformation designated as a neurosis. In the neurosis, the
pursuit of the fictitious goal does not lead to an open conflict
with reality, the neurotic simply considering reality as a very
disturbing element, as he does in neurasthenia, hypochondria,
anxiety, compulsion neurosis and hysteria. In the psychoses, the
guiding masculine fiction appears disguised in pictures and symbols
of infantile origin. The patient no longer acts as though he wished
to be masculine, to be above, but as though he had already attained
those ends.
In substance, the neurotic is grieved by not being all-powerful. The
psychotic is all powerful, and attempts to force his environment to
share his belief.
_Curative Value of Psycho-Analysis._--From the foregoing array of
psychic disturbances and physical complications, it should readily
be perceived that medicine--the importance of which in its place is
fully recognized by analysts--can be of little or no service. This
explains why people of neurotic disposition are frequently found who
are under-going medical treatment either constantly or intermittently
for years without relieving the trouble, when, in fact, it doesn’t grow
more pronounced.
To those who have regressed definitely into severe neuroses, or
worse, have sunk into a pathological condition of incipient or
chronic insanity, even of a non-violent type, there is little hope of
self-relief.
If the expert services of a competent psycho-analyst practitioner are
not available, a change for the better is hardly likely, unless nature
in her great resourcefulness overcomes the tremendous odds and brings
a favorable turn or, as is more probable, some distressing causative
factors are unwittingly or with design alleviated.
We should, therefore, emphasize everything that would tend to promote
the latter. Among the great outstanding causes of neuroses is an
irrational sexual life. Very many of these cases can be afforded
relief, especially among married persons when well mated, by obtaining
rational knowledge of marriage psychology and of the emotional and
spiritual significance of the sex act, thus giving new meaning to the
marriage relations and changing the whole outlook on life, resulting
in improved mental and physical health.[B]
[B] The writer has discussed this phase of the question at length in
several divisions of his _Sanity in Sex_, notably in the chapters “Sex
Enlightenment and Conjugal Happiness,” “Sex Ignorance--A Cause of
Marital Discord and Divorce,” and “Birth Control--the New Morality.”
Notwithstanding the economic barriers so frequently in the way of a
rational sex life in marriage, the advantages of realizing this goal
are so great that it behooves every individual and couple who expect to
continue living and have anything to live for, to avail themselves of
the knowledge that is accessible.
This will bring with it a new and healthier attitude in facing
the problems of life. It will also banish the false notions of an
irrational, soul-crucifying prudery and prurience, and enable the
father and mother to be better parents and the companions of their
children.
The young people, in turn will profit by this superior training and
the improved insight into vital matters which it will bring them, and
consequently the new generation will be healthier, more adaptable and
freer from baneful neurotic afflictions.
As we have intimated, every individual has neurotic tendencies, which
assert themselves at times in minor ways, but the normal individual
(adult) has adapted himself to the exigencies of reality. Thus, he is
not constantly swept and tossed about by these inner forces, like a
rudderless craft on the surging sea, as is the case of the victim of
malevolent repressions.
Insanity (except when due to disintegration of the brain structure,
such as may result from syphilitic lesion, alcoholic deterioration,
tumor or other malignant growth, etc.) is essentially an extreme
neurotic state. It has all the symptoms in a more or less exaggerated
form of the various neuroses.
This impresses us with the fact that there is not a hard and fast
dividing line between the sane and the insane. Even the sanest
people sometimes have fits of rage that have all the features of
insanity while they last. People with pretty good practical minds
occasionally do some very irrational or foolish things when seized by
an unaccountable impulse--even to the extent of committing murder, or
suicide.
All of these exhibitions are regressions from reality. Some people,
it may be said, have a predisposing temperament which makes their
struggles with reality harder than for others. It is these individuals
that childhood repressions or complexes affect the most profoundly. But
psycho-analysis offers relief to them--in fact the only possibility for
relief as has been proven many times.
The regressions from reality are toward childhood and the infantile
state. Neurotics invest themselves with the prerogatives of children.
And it is not without reason (an irrational one, however.) To the
child, many things are obtainable, and by very simple means, that the
adult cannot command. The child cries for food, or pleads for something
it desires, and it is brought to him. Without consciously realizing
it, this easy process appeals irresistibly to the neurotic type of
mind. So he regresses; maybe he develops some disability or sickness,
purely as a result of his psychic condition, and he finds he is waited
on and cared for much as he was when a child. Any number of similes
could be cited to illustrate the parallel.
The insane regress even further to the infantile plane. The more
hopelessly insane the person is, the more infantile he becomes in his
actions. Cases are not uncommon where the victim is so far removed
from all interest in life that he lies down, utterly disregarding his
environment and all the bodily functions, often assuming the prenatal
position of the fetus.
Suicide may be said to be a supreme manifestation of the neurotic
symptoms. By this final act, the neurotic successfully and
irretrievably flees from reality and returns to the embracing arms of
Mother Earth where the problems of life will beset him no more. If he
has religious scruples or superstitions, the prospect of being damned
in another world is no more forbidding than the hellishness of reality
in this. If he is unencumbered by theological dogma, he enters the
endless cycle of oblivion, whose incomparable attraction is an eternity
of inertia, silence, peace.
NOTE: _Unconscious Love Elements in Psycho-Analysis_, by William
J. Fielding (Little Blue Book No. 1353), is the conclusion of his
discussion of psycho-analysis. All readers of the present book should
obtain this supplementary volume.