Two . Identities

The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings in this article.

I look at both the ways of directing hatred. First I consider the flight from self-hate, and then I turn to the deflection of hate away from oneself to other people.

For convenience, I repeat the factors of four important emotions (described in the article Emotion) :

Guilt = self-pity + self-hate.
Pride = vanity + hatred of other people.

Narcissism = love + vanity.
Jealousy = love + self-pity.

The Flight from Self-Hate

The child’s identification with the parent has, as its initial emotional dynamic, the self-hate within guilt. It is guilt in self-hate mode that produces the emotional bonding with the parent. The act of identification then enables the child to switch from self-hate to love ; now jealousy becomes the derivative or final dynamic of identification. The sequence of emotions that generate identification is :

Self-hate

guilt (mode of self-hate)

jealousy (mode of love).

The arrow can be read as ‘leads to’ and indicates the direction in which these emotions change, so that self-hate leads to guilt, and guilt leads to jealousy.

The identification with the parent enables the child to switch from guilt to jealousy. The child has created a breathing space for itself from the suffering of trauma. After trauma the child hates itself ; after identification it jealously loves the parent.

The pattern of identification with a parent lays the foundation for future episodes of identification with other significant people. Identification may bring with it excitement and passion, as when the young adult jealously follows his rock-star idols. But when a psycho-analysis probes underneath all the veneer it reveals that identification is always a response to subconscious psychic pain (that is, the mental pain produced by negative psychological states such as depression).

The Deflection of Hate away from Oneself

After trauma the child directs its hatred at the mother, and generates pride. Pride in the mode of hate is not much of an alternative to guilt, since this mode of pride is always conducive to thoughts of violence. Now the child flees into self-absorption. The initial emotional dynamic of self-absorption is pride in the mode of hatred towards others. The act of becoming self-absorbed then switches this hate to love, so that narcissism arises. The sequence of emotions that generate self-absorption is :

Hate

pride (mode of hate)

narcissism (mode of love).

Again the child has created a breathing space from the suffering of trauma. After trauma the child hates the mother ; after self-absorption it loves itself.

Infancy trauma is a permanent reality for the sensitive infant. In order to survive, it has to originate long-term responses that can accommodate itself to this pain. Identification and self-absorption are the only responses that can do this and so in its ever-changing world the child swings between them. If these responses fail in later life, under the stress of social relationships, then the child (now become an adult) may slide into periods of madness. Therefore infancy trauma has the effect of producing profound changes in the character of the child, the degree of change being related to the intensity of the trauma.

I consider that the period within which the infant is vulnerable to trauma is roughly from seven months to fifteen months of age. The problem for the infant is that it is not born with a conscious mind, but only with a subconscious mind. (If it had a conscious mind then it would remember where it came from). Hence it does not have an ego and needs to create one. The time from seven months to fifteen months is the approximate period when the infant creates its ego – during this period the infant is very susceptible to trauma. [³]

I put these ideas into diagrammatic form. The arrows indicate the direction in which these states of mind change, so that infancy trauma can lead either to guilt and thence jealousy, or to pride and then to narcissism.

Diagramme 1
Infancy . Trauma . Responses

		Guilt		Identification with parent		Jealousy
Infancy trauma
		Pride		Absorption in self		Narcissism

Infancy trauma always remains a subconscious dynamic for the adult (unless he / she can abreact it). No one of the two responses is final ; the adult can oscillate between jealousy and narcissism according to the current activity in the subconscious mind (whether that of identification or of self-absorption). But usually one response becomes favoured over the other one. The person either centres themself on jealousy or else on narcissism.

When I abreacted infancy trauma I created diagramme 1 as a speculative way of explaining what happened to me. It ends in jealousy and narcissism (temporarily). I subsequently verified empirically that these ideas are true. When I examine my relationships from a perspective of emotional response, guilt always arises before jealousy, and pride always before narcissism. [However, when I examine my relationships from a perspective of desire then the standard patterns of abreaction produce different sequences]. [4]

The diagramme has to be continued to the right since jealousy and narcissism have two factors each. In the presence of anxiety, both jealousy and narcissism give rise to specific states of mind.

a). Jealousy in self-pity mode leads to the need for social approval, and narcissism in vanity mode to the inferiority complex.
In my use of terms, ‘social approval’ means the psychological requirement of a person to become socially integrated in an harmonious way. The ‘inferiority complex’ arises when a person finds themself in a situation where their abilities and attitudes are denigrated or rejected by other people. He / she then strives to develop themself according to their own standards and values. [5]

b). The love mode of jealousy terminates in transference and the love mode of narcissism terminates in egoism.
Egoism usually has a bad name in Western moral thought. This is due to the negative influences of anxiety. However, in general, egoism means individuality. Transference is a social product, focusing on social happiness and social power. Egoism centres on the search for individual happiness and the power to be an individual, independent of society. Transference is the binary (or complementary) attitude to egoism. [6]

Diagramme 2
Terminations of Jealousy & Narcissism

Jealousy	: self-pity mode + anxiety		need for social approval.
	: love mode + anxiety		transference.

Narcissism	: vanity mode + anxiety		inferiority complex.
	: love mode + anxiety		egoism.

My interpretation of these results is that these sequences structure the person’s sense of identity. I split consciousness up into two factors, that of social identity and that of individual identity. [7]

Social identity leads to problems of transference and of dependency (that is, the need for social approval).

Individual identity causes problems with authority and with alienation.

The two identities usually conflict. Social identity requires the person to lose his / her boundaries and become one of the group or the community ; consensus is needed. Whereas individual identity requires the person to remove confusion from his / her mind, thereby removing social dependency ; choice is desired. A person’s life becomes the drama produced by the interaction between their two identities.

Social Identity

Social identity links identification with transference. For the child, transference is the preferred pattern of parental attributes. Sexual transference determines its preferences in sexual attitudes, and authority transference becomes the kind of authority that it admires in the parents. These preferences continue into adulthood.

The emotional dynamics of social identity are shown in the sequence that is given in Diagramme 3a. Here, infancy trauma ends by fluctuating between transference or the need for social approval.

Diagramme 3a
Social . Identity

								Transference
Infancy trauma		Guilt		Identification with parent		Jealousy
								Need for social approval

Consider a male heterosexual child.
He identifies primarily with the mother. Now examine half of this sequence, which is that given in Diagramme 3b. Here, infancy trauma ends in transference (that is, the sexual form of Transference).

Diagramme 3b
Oedipus . Complex

Infancy trauma		Guilt		Identification with parent		Jealousy		Transference
								(sexual form)

This sequence, ending in sexual transference, is the psychological basis for the Oedipus complex as it relates to the mother (the second part of the complex, the relation to the father, is optional – my relation to my father was more one of envy than jealousy).

Freud’s postulation of this complex is not an imaginative fiction but a psychological reality. It forms half of the person’s social identity. Assuming that a homosexual boy identifies primarily with the father then the same sequence (but with the father replacing the mother in the identification role) becomes his structure of sexual identity. I generalise this view : the sequence from infancy trauma to sexual transference produces the child’s sexual identity.

However, sexual identity may become uncertain and changeable when anxiety becomes too intense. [8]

The authority structure of social identity is the sequence that is given in Diagramme 3c. Here, infancy trauma ends in transference (that is, the authority form of Transference).

Diagramme 3c
Authority . Transference

Infancy trauma		Guilt		Identification with parent		Jealousy		Transference
								(authority form)

The authority transference that is accepted by the child is the pattern of authority that is shown by the parent. Parental authority is usually ambiguous and variable. When it generates excessive anxiety in the child, then the child may swing between conformity and authoritarianism. Both responses are inharmonious methods of avoiding any feelings of self-hate rising into consciousness. In Western countries it is rather rare for a person to have a ‘natural ’ and harmonious sense of social authority, based on respect for others.

Individual Identity

The emotional dynamics of individual identity are shown in the sequence that is given in Diagramme 4a. Here, infancy trauma ends by fluctuating between egoism and the inferiority complex.

Diagramme 4a
Individual . Identity

								Egoism
Infancy trauma		Pride		Absorption in self		Narcissism
								Inferiority complex

Consider half of this sequence, as given in Diagramme 4b. This sequence is the psychological basis of a person’s assertion of his own authority. On this basis he rejects authoritarian attempts to control him.

Diagramme 4b
Individual . Authority

Infancy trauma

Pride

Absorption in self

Narcissism

Egoism

The factor of pride may give a ‘hard’ edge to this authority, and generate an attitude of intransigence to all social (and political) authority, including that which is merely incompetent. The inferiority complex may not be too troublesome to the child ; but when it generates excessive anxiety then that child may swing between a sense of failure and a sense of achievement and creativity.

The difference between the two patterns of authority revolves around the issue of control. Authority transference makes a person want to control other people. Whilst individual authority enables a person to control himself / herself.

Summary

Putting these ideas together means that :

social identity is made up of sexual identity plus a preference towards either a sense of conformity or a sense of authoritarianism.

individual identity is made up of self-assertion plus an oscillation between a sense of failure and a sense of achievement and creativity.

Abreaction affects the person’s values within both the conscious and the subconscious minds. For me, during much of my life, social memories were not usually important. I assume that for the socially-centred person, memories of individuality are not usually important. This pattern is not conducive to harmony.

The significance of abreaction is that it temporarily interchanges the relative importance of the two identities, so bringing character weakness and lack of conviction into awareness. Abreaction forces me, an individual, to examine my neglected social values. Whereas abreaction forces the socially-centred person to examine his / her neglected uniqueness. Also, any ideas that seem to be important during catharsis usually carry a lot of impracticality and naiveté with them ; the ensuing stages of resentment and bitterness help to make such ideas more realistic. [9]

Now I can fit in the function of the two main types of abreaction, when the psychic pain that they produce is not excessive. Character weakness is removed by resentment and bitterness. [However, when the psychic pain is excessive, then undesirable attitudes such as racism may be intensified ; this is a survival process, enabling a person to offload some of their distress onto other people].

Abreaction of guilt helps to strengthen social identity.

Abreaction of pride helps to strengthen individual identity.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it. The addresses on my websites are on the Links page.

[¹]. Infancy trauma is my name for psychological trauma that occurs in the first years of childhood. An article on Bonding focuses on some problems of a sensitive child and explains an unintentional source of infancy trauma.
In more detail, see the article Infancy Trauma. [1]

[²]. My definitions, descriptions, and analysis of emotions (which include anxiety) are given in the three articles on Emotion. See home page.
For an analysis of identification or self- absorption, see the article Identification and Self-absorption. [2]

[³]. The time period for the creation of the ego is explained in the article Creating the Ego, on my website Discover your mind. Or in the article Vulnerability of the Ego, on my website Patterns of Confusion. [3]

[4]. My analysis of the process of abreaction is given in the five articles on Abreaction. See home page. [4]

[5]. For a description of social approval and the inferiority complex, see the article Social Approval and Inferiority. [5]

[6]. See the article on Transference.
Transference and egoism are binary, or complementary, states of mind. See the article Projection and Introjection on my websites Discover Your Mind and The Strange World of Emotion.
The binary nature of emotions is the reason that states of mind can exist in binary form. See the first article on Emotion. [6]

[7]. There is a section on the two identities in the article on Confusion, on my websites Discover Your Mind and The Strange World of Emotion. [7]

[8]. There are several articles on sexual issues on my website The Strange World of Emotion. [8]

[9]. Resentment and bitterness are the subject of the fourth article on Abreaction : Resentment and Bitterness. [9]

The articles in this section are :

Two Identities

Effects of Infancy Trauma

Need for a Stable Identity

Diagrammes

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
All Rights Reserved

The copyright is mine, and the article is free to use. It can be reproduced anywhere, so long as the source is acknowledged.

Ian Heath, London UK

http://members.freezone.co.uk/ian-heath/

My email address is likely to change,
so if you want to write to me, go to the Home page
and use the address at the bottom.