Counterphobic attitude

Counterphobic attitude is a response to anxiety that, instead of fleeing the source of fear in the manner of a phobia, actively seeks it out, in the hope of overcoming the original anxiousness.^[1]

In terms of avoidant personality disorder, the counterphobic represents the less usual, but not totally uncommon, response of apparently seeking out what is feared:^[2] codependents may fall into a subcategory of this group, hiding their fears of attachment in over-dependency.^[3]

Action

Dare-devil activities are often undertaken in a counterphobic spirit, as a denial of the fears attached to them - a denial that may be only partially successful.^[4] Acting out in general may have a counterphobic source,^[5] reflecting a false self over-concerned with compulsive doing to preserve a sense of power and control.^[6]

Sex is a key area for counterphobic activity, sometimes powering hypersexuality in people who are actually afraid of the objects they believe they love.^[7] Adolescents, fearing sex play, may jump over to a kind of spurious full sexuality;^[8] adults may overvalue sex to cover an unconscious fear of the harm it may do.^[9] Such a counterphobic approach may indeed be socially celebrated^[10] in a postmodern vision of sex as gymnastic performance or hygiene^[11] - fuelled by what Ken Wilbur described as "an exuberant and fearless shallowness".^[12]

Traffic accidents have been linked to a counterphobic, manic attitude in the driver.^[13]

Sprache

Julia Kristeva considered that language could be used by the developing child as a counterphobic object,^[14] protecting against anxiety and loss.^[15]

Ego psychology points out that through the ambiguities of language, the concrete meanings of words may break down the counterphobic attitude and return the child to a state of fear.^[16]

Freud

Didier Anzieu saw Freud's theorisation of psychoanalysis as a counterphobic defence against anxiety through intellectualisation - permanently ruminating on the instinctive, emotional world that was the actual object of fear.^[17]

Wilhelm Fliess has been seen as playing the role of counterphobic object for Freud during the period of the latter's self-analysis.^[18]

Therapy

Otto Fenichel considered that underdoing systematised counterphobic defences was only a first step in therapy, needing to be followed by analysis of the original anxiety itself.^[19] He also considered that psychological trauma could break down counterphobic defences, with results that "may be very painful for the patient; they are, from a therapeutic point of view, favorable".^[20]

David Rapaport emphasised the need for caution and extreme slowness in analyzing counterphobic defences.^[21]

Cultural examples

The attraction of horror movies has been seen to lie in a counterphobic impulse.^[22]

Actors often have a shy personality, released counterphobically in conditions of performance.^[23]

References

^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 480-1
^ Martin Kantor, The Essential Guide to Overcoming Avoidant Personality Disorder (2010) p. 30
^ Kantor, p. 36
^ Salman Akhtar, Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2009) p. 60
^ Judy Cooper, Speak of Me as I Am (2011) p. 66
^ Rosalind Minsky, Psychoanalysis and Gender (1996) p. 122
^ Fenichel, p. 518
^ D. W. Winnicott, The Child, the Family, and the Outside World (1973) p. 218
^ Julia Segal, Melanie Klein (2001) p. 46
^ Lesley Caldwell ed., Sex and Sexuality (2010) p. 116
^ Elisabeth Roudinesco, Philosophy in Turbulent Times (2008) p. xi
^ Ken Wilbur, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (2000) p. 7
^ Graham P. Bartley, Traffic Accidents (2008) p. 166
^ Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror (1982) p. 41
^ Adam Phillips, On Flirtation (1994) p. 82-3
^ Selma H. Fraiberg, The Magic Years (1987) p. 123-5
^ Didier Anzieu, Freud's Self-Analysis (1986) p. 182 and p. 577-581
^ Lydia Flem, Freud the Man (2003) p. 59
^ Fenichel, p. 485
^ Fenichel, p. 549-53
^ David Rapaport, 'The Autonomy of the Ego', in Glen T. Morris ed., Dimensions of Psychology (nd) p. 14
^ Robert Newman, Transgressions of Reading (1993) p. 63
^ Kantor, p. 62

External links

[1] Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 480-1

[2] Martin Kantor, The Essential Guide to Overcoming Avoidant Personality Disorder (2010) p. 30

[3] Kantor, p. 36

[4] Salman Akhtar, Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (2009) p. 60

[5] Judy Cooper, Speak of Me as I Am (2011) p. 66

[6] Rosalind Minsky, Psychoanalysis and Gender (1996) p. 122

[7] Fenichel, p. 518

[8] D. W. Winnicott, The Child, the Family, and the Outside World (1973) p. 218

[9] Julia Segal, Melanie Klein (2001) p. 46

[10] Lesley Caldwell ed., Sex and Sexuality (2010) p. 116

[11] Elisabeth Roudinesco, Philosophy in Turbulent Times (2008) p. xi

[12] Ken Wilbur, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (2000) p. 7

[13] Graham P. Bartley, Traffic Accidents (2008) p. 166

[14] Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror (1982) p. 41

[15] Adam Phillips, On Flirtation (1994) p. 82-3

[16] Selma H. Fraiberg, The Magic Years (1987) p. 123-5

[17] Didier Anzieu, Freud's Self-Analysis (1986) p. 182 and p. 577-581

[18] Lydia Flem, Freud the Man (2003) p. 59

[19] Fenichel, p. 485

[20] Fenichel, p. 549-53

[21] David Rapaport, 'The Autonomy of the Ego', in Glen T. Morris ed., Dimensions of Psychology (nd) p. 14

[22] Robert Newman, Transgressions of Reading (1993) p. 63

[23] Kantor, p. 62

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