This essay is a continuation of "A Fearful Species." Philosophically, there have been many descriptions and explanations of man's conduct that include motivation, knowledge, instincts, will,free will , consciousness, hedonism, fear, feelings and evolution. With that being said, anxiety and contentment are significantly pervasive components underlying man's thinking and behavioral actions.
From a neurological point of view, human beings have "three brains." They include the reptilian brain; the subconscious brain and the conscious brain. In each of these locations of the brain can be found defending territory, fear, flight, fight ,anger and abstract thought. Therefore, Homo sapiens are neurologically well equipped for survival- fear and anxiety.
Psychologically speaking, Freud and Rank, with sophistication, accurately described anxiety as a prototype based on the terror of the newborn's birth. Freud, in his psychoanalytic model, postulated the mental apparatus consisting of the id, the ego and the superego along with the psychosexual determinants of character and behavior that included the oral ,anal and phallic stages of development.
In the oral stage, the anxious infant is helpless and dependent. That infant can be characterized as essentially being in a constant or inordinate state of anxiety or tension with no relief and developmentally followed with feelings of "love" and "hate." Its contentment and/or confrontation is only provided by the ability of the caretaker.
A few of the characteristics that are associated with the oral stage include but are not limited to separation and stranger anxiety, obesity, oral aggression, drug and alcohol addiction, dependency trust, mistrust, passivity, cowardice, gullibility, and wishful thinking with numerous valences.
These conflictual dynamics, if not resolved from the oral stage, are present and transmitted into the anal stage of psychosexual development. Toilet training becomes a struggle of wills with aggression ,passivity ,tension and anxiety with the caretaker. At this stage, psychological issues of shame, control, independence, possessiveness, compulsiveness, stubbornness, coldness, suspiciousness and stinginess become apparent.
Moving to the phallic stage of psychosexual development, are anxiety issues related to competition and sex. Further ,problems with guilt, intimacy, celibacy, jealousy, adultery, masturbation, herpes, AIDS, sadomasochism, sexual abuse, divorce, and abortion dynamics associated with anxiety, fear, tension and action are associated in this stage of development.
Adler presented another aspect in his theory regarding human motivation that included smallness, weakness, helplessness, and compensation for weak ,injured or absent body parts. Further, Adler also postulated a psychic compensation mechanism, meaning a striving for superiority and that for him was perfection which was the ruling principle of life.
In essence, anxiety, insecurity, tension and fear underlies feelings of inadequacy, weakness, and inferiority . When striving for the betterment or social interests of society one becomes confronted with terror, injustices, income inequality, lies, oppression, wars, and discrimination within that system of tension .
In Murray's personology theory, he addressed tension reduction and the categorization of needs. He viewed the brain as an organization of perception, apperception, intellectualization,conation and action that's related to and accompanied by particular feelings or emotions which are associated with those needs.
The abasement need it described as accepting injury ,punishment ,mutilating the self ,seeking and enjoying pain and punishment which underlies anxiety or tension. In other words, a hypothetical state of tension results in a movement toward a goal. And with the abasement need, there are many actions related to harming self, which is of course related to character and self-esteem. In my running of the 100 mile Western States, there was anxiety and pain that was necessary to confront . This led to the achievement need, which is related to accomplishing something difficult.
Another example is the dominance need, which means controlling one's environment by suggestion ,command or by prohibiting which is also associated with neurotic behaviors of pursuing power, possession, status, and affection. Essentially, it's the dreadful experience of anxiety that underlines, needs, motives such as sex, achievement, affiliation, dominance, power, aggression, dependency abasement, and so forth.
From a cognitive point of view, Ellis hypothesized that thinking and emotion are associated and never separated fully from the other executive functions of perceiving, moving and feeling. He described emotion as an acute disturbance involving marked somatic changes which is experienced as a more or less agitated feeling. He felt that words can be emotionally charged and have physiological, psychological, and social components. Further, he added that emotions arose from physical stimulation located in the emotional center of the brain-the hypothalamus and the nerve network of the body-the autonomic nervous system. Second, through perceiving and moving-the sensorimotor process and third through desire and thinking-conation and cognition.
Rational Emotive therapy is based on the ability to use cognition or thinking to ameliorate one's emotional disturbances - thinking and emoting are related. Clear thinking leads to sane behavior and irrational thinking leads to neurotic behavior. And, attitudes, ideas, and use of negative or positive words affect emotions and behavior.
Ellis gave a number of examples of irrational ideas that stand in the way of leading an anxiety free life. A few examples: 1. The dire necessity for an adult to be loved or approved by almost everyone for virtually everything he does- need for approval. 2. Individuals should be thoroughly competent and adequate in achieving in all possible aspects-fear of failure. 3 if something is or may be dangerous or fearsome.one should not be terribly occupied about it-conquering anxiety.
Homo sapiens have created a capitalistic civilization in which individuals encounter enormous and ongoing fear and anxiety. Anxiety, fear, tension, stress is pervasive in socioeconomic's religion, politics and government. Economically speaking, the threat of inflation, savings, bankruptcy, homelessness, insurance ,war, criminal justice, lies ,and immigration is constantly witnessed in newspapers, television news, social media, TV advertisements, movies, novels, music, and so forth. It seems that just about every aspect of living in our civilization is associated with obstacles and plethora of threats to well-being.
Nature also poses threats from floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, snowstorms, and global warming. And man is feeble in his attempts to deal with these threats as exhibited by the injustices of insurance, government agencies, building codes, rules, regulations and so forth. It's no wonder that i Phone technology has become a security blanket for so many.
Freud, Rank, Adler ,Murray and Ellis have provided insight into man's dilemmas. Their insights are known, but a major stumbling block to man's security, safety, freedom and well-being lies within the brain's limbic system with its emotional non-evolutionary composition; the intellectual productiveness(cerebral cortex) to falsify, distort reality and identify with"father"saviors of power(defense mechanisms) which perpetuate minority control and take away freedom ,security and well-being . God messed up!
PS
About 15 years ago,at age 71,I wrote in "It Has Nothing To Do With Age," I prescribed seven prescriptions for creating a healthier lifestyle cognitively and emotionally. Factually, there's no need to make any adjustments as these ideas have served me well. I recently had a Bruce Protocol Treadmill and the doctor said “ I broke the record with my performance.” And, Benjamin Disraeli, "action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action."
Reference
Adler, Alfred. Individual Psychology
Freud, Sigmund. A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Harper, Robert A. and Ellis, Albert. A Guide To Rational Living
Lieberman, Frank. It Has Nothing To Do With Age.
Murray, Henry A. Explorations in Personality
