New Ideas in Psychology

[ Terminology ] [ Abreaction of Guilt ] [ Abreaction of Pride ]

[ End Stages ] [ Universality ] [ Examples ]

The binaries that switch are 'vanity - self-pity' and 'love - hate '.

Consider the abreaction of pride, or non-moral abreaction.

This begins with sorrow or sadness, and ends in bitterness.
The sequence is :

Jealousy leads to narcissism ; then narcissism leads to pride ; then pride leads to bitterness.

There are also four steps involved in this sequence.

Step 1.
This abreaction usually follows the abreaction of guilt. The sorrow arises when I reflect on the problem highlighted by the preceding guilt. The sorrow requires the self-pity mode of jealousy ; when it ends, the self-pity transforms into vanity, and narcissism is generated.

Jealousy (= love + self-pity) leads to narcissism (= love + vanity).

Step 2.
The person now feels good after the previous sorrow ; when we have a cry we feel better afterwards, but nobody noticed the sting that follows the good feelings. When narcissism fades the love mode changes to hate, and pride arises. Now hostility to others (especially to people in positions of authority over oneself) becomes dominant ; hostility is felt even towards the therapist.

Narcissism (= love + vanity) leads to pride (= hatred of others + vanity).

Step 3.
Finally, as pride fades, bitterness is felt over the way that the sorrow and self-pity have limited my sense of individuality.

Step 4.
The end result is detachment. As in the previous abreaction of guilt, this stage of detachment is not always achieved.

Abreaction mixes together the subconscious and the unconscious minds. The sequence derives from the unconscious mind, but the content originates in the subconscious mind of the person.

In these two types of abreaction, the first one, focusing on guilt, usually concerns issues of morality and social conditioning. So I also call it ‘moral abreaction’. The abreactional process starts from an insight into the cause of a psychological problem. The second one, focusing on pride, concerns non-moral issues such as those of dependency and freedom ; hence I also call it ‘non-moral abreaction’. This process does not require any insight in order to initiate it. Simple reflection on the preceding abreaction of guilt is enough to trigger it.

Anxiety is attached to two aspects of character, which are the person’s sense of having a social identity and their sense of being an individual.
In the abreaction of guilt, the stage of narcissism represents the release of anxiety from the sense of individuality, whilst the stage of guilt represents the release of anxiety attached to the social identity.
In the abreaction of pride, the initial stage of sorrow allows the person to release the anxiety attached to their social identity. Finally the stage of pride releases the anxiety attached to the sense of individuality. [6]

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Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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