Counterphobic attitude is a response to
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
that, instead of fleeing the source of fear in the manner of a
phobia
A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avo ...
, actively seeks it out, in the hope of overcoming the original anxiousness.
Contrary to the
avoidant personality disorder
Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) is a Cluster C personality disorder characterized by excessive social anxiety and inhibition, fear of intimacy (despite an intense desire for it), severe feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, and an overrelia ...
, the counterphobic represents the less usual, but not totally uncommon, response of seeking out what is feared:
codependents
In sociology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achiev ...
may fall into a subcategory of this group, hiding their fears of
attachment in over-dependency.
Action
Dare-devil activities are often undertaken in a counterphobic spirit, as a denial of the fears attached to them, which may be only partially successful.
Acting out
In the psychology of defense mechanisms and self-control,
acting out is the performance of an action considered bad or anti-social. In general usage, the action performed is destructive to self or to others. The term is used in this way in sexual ...
in general may have a counterphobic source, reflecting a
false self
The true self (also known as real self, authentic self, original self and vulnerable self) and the false self (also known as fake self, idealized self, superficial self and pseudo self) are a psychological dualism conceptualized by English psychoa ...
over-concerned with compulsive doing to preserve a sense of power and control.
Sex is a key area for counterphobic activity, sometimes powering
hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...
in people who are actually afraid of the objects they believe they love. Adolescents, fearing
sex play, may jump over to a kind of spurious full sexuality; adults may overvalue sex to cover an unconscious fear of the harm it may do. Such a counterphobic approach may indeed be socially celebrated in a postmodern vision of sex as gymnastic performance or hygiene, fuelled by what
Ken Wilber
Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.
Life and career
Wilbe ...
described as "an exuberant and fearless
shallowness".
Traffic accidents have been linked to a counterphobic,
manic attitude in the driver.
Language
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva (; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, bg, Юлия Стоянова Кръстева; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has ...
considered that language could be used by the developing child as a counterphobic object, protecting against anxiety and loss.
Ego psychology
Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind.
An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical c ...
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.
Freud
Didier Anzieu Didier Anzieu (; 8 July 1923, Melun – 25 November 1999, Paris) was a distinguished French psychoanalyst.
Life
Anzieu studied philosophy and was a pupil of Daniel Lagache, before undertaking his first psychoanalysis with Jacques Lacan. Then, aft ...
saw Freud's theorisation of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
as a counterphobic defence against anxiety through intellectualisation: permanently ruminating on the instinctive, emotional world that was the actual object of fear.
Wilhelm Fliess
Wilhelm Fliess (german: Wilhelm Fließ; 24 October 1858 – 13 October 1928) was a German otolaryngologist who practised in Berlin. He developed the pseudoscientific Biorhythm theory, theory of human biorhythms and a possible nasogenital conne ...
has been seen as playing the role of counterphobic object for Freud during the period of the latter's self-analysis.
Therapy
Otto Fenichel
Otto Fenichel (2 December 1897 in Vienna – 22 January 1946 in Los Angeles) was a psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation".
Education and psychoanalytic affiliations
Otto Fenichel started studying medicine in 1915 in Vienna. Already ...
considered that undoing systematised counterphobic defences was only a first step in therapy, needing to be followed by analysis of the original anxiety itself. He also considered that
psychological trauma
Psychological trauma, mental trauma or psychotrauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape, or natural disasters. Reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical. ...
could break down counterphobic defences, with results that "may be very painful for the patient; they are, from a therapeutic point of view, favorable".
David Rapaport
David A. Rapaport (September 30, 1911, Budapest, Austria-Hungary – December 14, 1960, Stockbridge, Mass.) was a Hungarian clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic ego psychologist.
Biography
Rapaport was born in Budapest, Hungary on Septem ...
emphasised the need for caution and extreme slowness in analyzing counterphobic defences.
Cultural examples
The attraction of
horror movies
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...
has been seen to lie in a counterphobic impulse.
Actors often have a
shy personality, released counterphobically in conditions of performance.
''
Sick
Sick may refer to:
Medical conditions
* Having a disease or infection
* Vomiting (British)
Music
* The Sick, a Swedish band formed by two members of Dozer
Albums
* Sick (Loaded album), ''Sick'' (Loaded album), 2009
* Sick (Massacra album), ' ...
'', the documentary on masochistic performance artist Bob Flanagan, discusses the counterphobic attitude of Flanagan, who sought to escape the chronic pain of his cystic fibrosis by engaging in extreme acts of masochism.
See also
*
Accident-proneness
*
Counterdependency
Counterdependency is the state of refusal of attachment, the denial of personal need and dependency, and may extend to the omnipotence and refusal of dialogue found in destructive narcissism, for example.
Developmental origins
The roots of count ...
*
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy to treat anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves exposing the target patient to the anxiety source or its context without the intention to cause any danger (desensitization). Doing so is thou ...
*
Extraversion
*
Overcompensation
*
Paradoxical intention
Paradoxical intention (PI) is a psychotherapeutic technique used to treat recursive anxiety by repeatedly rehearsing the anxiety-inducing pattern of thought or behaviour, often with exaggeration and humor. Paradoxical intention has been shown to ...
*
Reaction formation In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation (german: Reaktionsbildung) is a defense mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency. ...
*
Russian roulette
*
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a Asociality, lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotion ...
*
Sexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation on a nonliving object or nongenital body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has ''a fetish'' for that object is a fetishist. A sexual fetish may be regard ...
References
{{Reflist, 2
Further reading
*
Ernst Kris
Ernst Kris (April 26, 1900 – February 27, 1957) was an Austrian psychoanalyst and art historian.
Life
Kris was born in 1900 to Leopold Kris, a lawyer, and Rosa Schick in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.
Kris not only practiced as a psychoanalyst, he ...
, 'Ego Development and the Comic', ''
International Journal of Psychoanalysis
''The International Journal of Psychoanalysis'' is an academic journal in the field of psychoanalysis. The idea of the journal was proposed by Ernest Jones in a letter to Sigmund Freud dated 7 December 1918. The journal itself was established in ...
'' XIX (1938)
*
Nina Searl
Mary Nina Searl (13 October 1883 – 26 February 1955) was an English psychologist and one of the earliest British child psychoanalysts, who came by way of the Brunswick Square Clinic to become a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Sh ...
, 'The Flight to Reality', ''International Journal of Psychoanalysis'' X (1929)
* Thomas S. Langer, ''Choices for Living'' (2002)
External links
Francis Drossart, 'Counterphobic''Counterphobic Behavior'E. Poznanski/B. Arthur, 'The Counterphobic Defence in Children'
Psychoanalytic terminology
Defence mechanisms