Revival: Repressed Emotions (1920)

Isador H. Coriat

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351345415
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Psychology in both its academic and practical aspects is now at the parting of the ways and the immediate future will determine whether it shall remain unproductive or become an instrument of practical importance in the guidance of human interests

Chapter I
The Meaning of Repressed Emotions

EMOTIONAL repression is the defense of conscious thinking from mental processes which are painful. This provides not only a method of mental protection, but if it fails, it may lead to severe neurotic disturbances. In the process of repression there is a continual conflict between the primitive emotions as they exist in the unconscious and the more highly evolved human impulses in consciousness. The mechanism of repression lies at the root of Freud's entire conception of the human mind and psychoanalysis cannot be understood unless the theory of repression is clearly comprehended. Repression accompanies the individual at every stage of mental development, from the primitive psyche of the child to the highly complex integrations of the adult mind.

In the course of development of the individual, certain powerful components of the mental life, particularly referring to the sexual impulse, may undergo a repression. Before this repression became a social factor it was first an individual phenomenon of great importance. From the earliest dawn of history, certain emotions were pushed aside and psychological barriers erected to prevent them entering into the field of consciousness. Repression is not suspension of the forbidden ideas or emotions. These ideas or emotions, although thrust into the unconscious, are as specifically active, as full of energy, as though clearly recognized in conscious thinking. These unconscious forces are of great importance in the development of the race or the individual. For the former they may lead to all sorts of mental epidemics which from time to time sweep over society, for the latter, they may act as forms of defense from painful Ideas or as symptom creators of a future neurosis.

This concept of emotional repression is very important for psychoanalysis. It leads not only to an understanding of the various types of neuroses, and those tricks of mind which produce the forgetting of familiar words, but at the same time its social importance is such, that civilized society would rapidly become a chaos if it were not for the action of individual repression in protecting the human personality and in erecting certain social barriers. Even among primitive tribes there exist certain religious and moral prohibitions, which are really forms of individual and social repression. The savage, although he appears more at ease than civilized man and may experience no sense of shame in his nakedness, is yet enmeshed by certain tribal prohibitions termed taboos, which are the oldest unwritten code of human laws.

Psychoanalysis has demonstrated, not only in everyday life, but in the behavior of subjects undergoing psychoanalytic treatment of the neuroses, that all forgetting, with the exception of forgetting produced by actual organic disease of the brain, is due to repression. The entire subject of forgetting and its motivation by emotional repression, can be best understood by giving the details of a simple case in which this mechanism was a predominating factor.

A young woman complained of difficulty in remembering or recalling words with which she was completely familiar. An examination showed no signs of organic disease of the brain and further enquiry into the difficulty disclosed the fact that there was no actual deterioration of memory, but that the forgotten words related to specific anxieties and situations in the patient's life. Neither did the forgetting of the word depend on inattention, because the more concentrated and intense her attention for a given fact, the less able was she to reproduce the word. In addition the forgetting referred only to familiar words. Sometimes the incorrect word would enter her mind and remain there in spite of efforts to dislodge it. An analysis of the forgetting of these familiar words demonstrated that it was motivated by an unconscious emotional factor, the factor of repression. Examples are the following:—

There was a complete inability to recall the phrase "latent powers" but free associations¹ showed that this forgetfulness of the phrase was closely linked up with painful and therefore repressed memories of her brother's former alcoholic habits when she feared that the alcohol might ruin him mentally and thus he would fail to utilize what was best in him (his latent powers).

On another occasion she could not recall the word "accoomraodator" (referring to domestic servants). An analysis of the forgetting process involved, here disclosed the fact that because of some financial reverses, she really did not want an accommodator for reasons of economy. It was her anxiety over this latter which blocked the word and prevented it from reaching consciousness.

A number of other instances of forgetting were analyzed and as the cause for the forgetting of each word was disclosed, this word was no longer forgotten and could be recalled at any time. The inability to recall familiar words finally disappeared. In this case it could be shown that the forgetting of familiar words was due to emotional factors and not to any actual deterioration of memory. This emotional factor was repression, which sidetracked and blocked the word and prevented it from entering consciousness, although the word was fully conserved in the unconscious. It was not the conservation of the word that was at fault, since it was completely stored up, but the reproduction faculty was defective, and this defect of reproduction was produced by emotional repression,—that is, the apparently forgotten words were associated with a disagreeable emotion. Consequently the inability of recollection was for the purpose of protecting the mind from this disagreeable emotion, in other words, the forgetting was a purposeful act of defense, it was motivated by an unconscious wish to forget.

In this case for the purpose of cure, it was not necessary to analyze all the forgotten words, because the removal of a few repressions, not only released other groups of repressions, but actually prevented new words from being forgotten. The forgotten words had not vanished, they were preserved in the unconscious; they were merely sidetracked and could not be recalled because of repression. The repression was purposeful, for the words were associated with disagreeable incidents. This is a simple instance of the action of emotional repression. In the neuroses the mechanism is the same, but more complicated, capable of extreme ramifications and can only be revealed by a long and searching psychoanalysis.

Repression lies at the bottom of ordinary forgetfulness, it is an inability to reproduce memories and not an incapacity for storing them up. Analysis of such conditions shows how unscientific are the various methods devised for improving the memory. They are all based on the erroneous supposition that a memory defect is due to an inability to store up facts, the emotional factor of reproduction being entirely disregarded.

Thus ordinary forgetfulness is not due to chance, but follows definite laws. In the case given, there was not only forgetfulness, but actual false recollection,—the striving for the escaped name brought substitutive names into the mind, which were recognized as false. The same process which produced the forgetting (an unconscious wish to forget), led to the substitution (an unconscious wish to keep the word hidden).

This forgetting is motivated by repression. The repressed material which side-tracked the word, prevented it from entering consciousness, was emotional, as around the apparently "forgotten" word were crystallized painful and rebellious feelings.

When we come to study the mental development of an individual, as revealed to us by the psychoanalysis of adults and those of children who develop abortive neuroses early in life, we find that the first repressions do not begin until about the third year, and refer principally to the primitive impulses of hunger and love. Then they start with the sense of shame, the sense of pleasure in a body, certain perversions relating to the excreta, the desire to run about naked and to become destructive to property. In adults the childhood repressions appear only in dreams because of the strict censorship of society. This explains the frequent non-embarrassment dream of being insufficiently clothed in company.

The unconscious is made up of repressed elements and the beginning of the unconscious coincides with the beginning of repression. Therefore in very young children the dreams, whose only source is the unconscious, are literal wishes for food and play, without any evidence of repression.

This brings us to the consideration of an interesting question, academic, it is true, yet fraught with the most practical applications, namely, first, why is the "unconscious" unconscious?¹ and secondly, what is the relation of the collective unconscious of the race to the important herd instinct?²

The best explanation of the psychology of crowds can be found in the herd instinct, that is that the collective unconscious is impersonal. It is really nascent thought, which has not become crystallized into conscious action. The personal unconscious, that is, the unconscious of the individual human beings, is a part of this collective unconscious and cannot be separated from it. This explains why no individual can be completely emancipated from the crowd or from the social structure of society in which he lives and moves and has his being. This also explains the so-called "mental contagion" which is so important for collective opinion.

Thus the herd instinct ensures that the behavior of the individual shall harmonize with the community as a whole, and determines the ethical code of man and his conduct and opinions. The herd instinct is, therefore, really the collective unconscious of society.

The unconscious mind has six chief characteristics, namely:—

1. It is the result of repression and this repression occurs because the unconscious mental processes are of a character incompatible with the civilized conscious personality.

2. It is dynamic in nature, for in the unconscious the most active mental processes are active and elaborated. This active striving is of the nature of wishing and these wish impulses form the external manifestations of the unconscious.

3. It is the repository of crude and primal instincts.

4. It is infantile in character and this infantile characteristic persists throughout the whole of life.

5. It is illogical and tends to ignore the ordinary standards of life.

6. Its sexual characteristics (using "sexual" in the broad, psychoanalytic sense) are predominant and as a rule, these characteristics manifest themselves in a symbolized rather than in a literal form.

It is impossible to agree entirely with the idea, that the unconscious embodies entirely the lower and more brutal qualities of man, that it is irrational, primitive, savage, cruel and lacks individuality and self control. Out of crowds, in war or in revolutions, there have crystallized acts of sublime heroism, sort of sublimations of the unconscious, and this in itself invalidates the idea that the unconscious is the repository of primitive and basal instincts alone.

Concerning the origin of the unconscious it is best to quote from Rank and Sachs, with whom we are in complete agreement. "Our first question will naturally concern the origin of the unconscious. Since the unconscious stands completely foreign and unknown to the conscious personality, the first impulse would be to deny connection with consciousness in general. This is the manner in which the folk-belief has ever treated it. The bits of the unconscious which were visible in abnormal mental states passed as proof of "being possessed" that is, they were conceived as expressions of a strange individual, of a demon, who had taken possession of the patient. We, who can no longer rely on such supernatural influences must seek to explain the facts psychologically. The hypothesis that a primary division of the psychic life exists from birth, contradicts the experience of the continual conflict between the two groups of forces; since if the separation were present from the beginning, the danger of shifting of boundaries would not exist. The only possible assumption, which is further confirmed by experience, is, the separation does not exist a priori but originates only in the course of time. This demarcation of the boundary line must be a level of culture; thus, we may say it begins in earliest childhood and has found temporary termination about the time of puberty. The unconscious originates in the childhood of man, which circumstance affords the explanation for most of its peculiarities."¹

Enmeshed as we all are in the complex structure of modern civilization, a certain amount of repression is often an instrument of safety for the individual. It is true that repression may reach a point of such intensity that there may be an outbreak of the repressed material after severe fatigue or emotional strain, leading to the development of neurotic disturbances or nervous "breakdowns" as they are popularly termed. A nervous breakdown is not due to overwork or over-worry, these merely act as precipitating factors in unlocking the material which has been repressed in the unconscious.

This psychoanalytic conception is perfectly sound and is diametrically opposed to the superficial view-point of the French school, particularly Babinski, who states dogmatically that "When the human soul is shaken by a profound and sincere emotion, there is no room left in it for hysteria." Of course such a conception deals only with recognized conscious processes. In order to understand the relation of repressed emotions to hysteria, it is necessary to approach the problem, not from the descriptive aspect, but from the interpretative, from the viewpoint of unconscious mental conflicts.

The curse of modern civilization lies in excessive repression leading to codes of behavior and standards which are fraught with great danger. As repression begins in the child, it is there that the difficulty arises. The child should be given free play and activity, adult codes should not be stamped on it, it should be taught to sublimate and not to set up an ideal so impossible of attainment that repression of this ideal becomes necessary, leading to all sorts of mental conflicts.

What is termed sadism is a form of repressed hate. In the early education of the child and in the suppressions of civilized society, hate is strongly repressed in its outward manifestations. The repressed tendency to hate is one of the stages in the development of normal children and shows itself in them in outbursts of irritability and anger. Children, too, take a keen delight in inflicting punishment on animals, or on other children, on toys or dolls, the latter for the child symbolizing the living object. Certain adults seem to have never been able to successfully sublimate this repressed cruelty so as to transform it into more useful social activity. They retain their childhood pleasure by procuring enjoyment out of pain inflicted upon others.

These individuals are unaware of their repressed cruelty and unconsciously seek positions where this repressed feeling can find an outlet. Here also are grouped the neurotic antivivisectionists whose unconscious sadistic tendencies to inflict pain on others are covered up or compensated by, an overtenderness for animals.

As an example of cruelty, which had become strongly repressed into the unconscious, the following case can be cited. In a young woman who was undergoing a psychoanalysis for a severe type of anxiety hysteria, the two following dreams occurred in one night.

Dream 1. Her little dog seemed to have been injured and was covered with blood and she carried him to a veterinary surgeon on a mattress.

Dream 2. Her canary bird had been killed by two cats and appeared covered with blood.

It is well known in psychoanalysis that where more than one dream occurs during the night, or rather during the same period of sleep, that it deals with the same repressed material. It is doubtful in these cases whether we are dealing with two dreams, or two halves of the same dream. Dreams ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• I THE MEANING OF REPRESSED EMOTION
• II REPRESSED EMOTIONS IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY
• III REPRESSED EMOTIONS IN LITERATURE
• IV THE SUBLIMATION OF REPRESSED EMOTIONS
• V THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
• VI THE DEPTH OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
• VII A FAIRY TALE FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS