Last week's disquisition mentioned birth trauma with its implications. Some might question its relevance to today's understanding of man's motivation. After all, we know there can be deleterious effects to that embryo based on the mother's ingestion of harmful substances during pregnancy. Also, we are speculating about an embryo without a cognitive memory. In any event, this disquisition begs the question.
Both Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank hypothesized that the dependent embryo was nevertheless protected during a normal pregnancy. However, the birth with separation was traumatic and additionally the newborn now had to display initiative for its survival. In other words, the infant separated from a safe , secure and blissful environment to a very different and stressful situation . And that transition or parting was the first traumatic, and anxiety producing event for the newborn. It was so significant that Freud and Rank stated , this event was the basis and prototype for all future situations associated with danger ,anxiety and being apart or separated etc. Therefore the trauma of birth , unconsciously , resulted in major motivational tendencies to find , to return to a safe place and bliss of the womb (“ childhood home or breast” ) ; and avoid the death-like terror associated with this disconnection. In other words, there is a symbiotic connection with mother in the uterus and the birth results in death of that union. . Further, this leads to dependency and individuation conflicts throughout life unless resolved .. Rank also hypothesized that weaning, as the breast was an almost equivalent of the womb during the oral phase of psychosexual development, was a traumatic death like separation experience and was associated with frustration, conflict, and the parting, the dreaded fear of abandonment.
Henry Murray followed and created his own theory of personality in a book titled . "Exploration in Psychology" among other publications. His theory ,based in part upon Freudian thinking, included other variables as in identifying and defining 20 secondary needs ; importance of culture and societies institutions as well as acknowledging man's uniqueness , adaptability to his surroundings and addressed the challenges in explaining man’s behaviors, His research, included a variety of causes , stresses and conflicts that occurred in social settings ranging from non supportive families to individuals affected by physical, social and intellectual impairments.
Within this theory, he studied the importance of early childhood experiences with its impact on development. For instance, within the birth trauma , Murray acknowledged that there were compromises related to the painful experience of birth and separation .Murray suggested that this particular trauma could be best understood by conceptualizing different complexes to represent a set of important , significant early childhood experiences and their consequences for later expression. He acknowledged and understood that within the womb , there was protective security, passivity, and dependance for survival that was “compromised” by the painful expulsion of birth and separation .
Murray created his own terms to explain how infantile experiences affect later behavior. He referred to these experiences and called them complexes which he defined as having varying degrees of emotional value and strength. Pertaining to birth, he referred to this as the claustral complex. He described the claustral complex as a wish to reinstate the condition similar to those prevailing before birth; with anxiety and motivational seeking behaviors while attempting to reduce helplessness and driven by anxiety; with actions directed to avoid and reduce suffocation and confinement.
Murray suggested that the claustral complex, a reinstatement of uterine conditions ,was characterized by motivational tendencies for seeking and returning to womb-like enclosures with unconscious attempts to mitigate. the horror of separation . Therefore, an interpretation for returning to the womb might be motivation, and a behavioral tendency for seeking warmth , comfort,darkness, aloneness and quietness. Further, tendencies to engage in swimming and water activities such as kayaking , canoeing ,scuba diving and being on some floating flotation device are other examples. Other illustrations could be seeking and being attracted to unconditional nurturance or proclivity from motherly objects . A third category could be being attracted to sleeping bag activities, monk-like quietness , aloneness and sensory deprivation. Within this character type , could be individuals delighted in recalling and telling, in detail, stories and events of the glorious past. In other words, these character traits are associated in repeating, fantasizing and wishing for yesterday or the past. They likely have difficulty with innovation and change. The slogan make America great again is another example of a symbolic interpretation.
Is the simple claustral complex concept significant,and one of the most powerful variables affecting character development ? His two other claustral complexes, fear of in support and egression , depict a more complete picture of character development that provide construct validity . In any event, Murray’s theory has provided much to ponder about
In conclusion, all Homo sapiens experience fear and anxiety; face a multitude of separations , grief ,losses of temporary ,nonpermanent unions; seek repeated pleasure and "happiness" during a lifetime. Personally, mom passed over 20 years ago and I still grieve her loss more than any other separation . Thomas Wolfe wrote "you can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to young dreams of glory.. . Back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed so everlasting but which were changing all the time. All I have left of home now are my memories.
PS
Just yesterday I received a notice from the University of Michigan's Alumni Association that stated, " As A Member , Wherever You Go, You Are Home."
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