Reaction formation
Reaction formation is actually mental process, transforming
anxiety-producing thoughts into their opposites in consciousness.
This is where a person goes beyond denial and behaves in
the opposite way to which he or she thinks or feels. By using the reaction formation the id is
satisfied while keeping the ego in ignorance of the true motives.Conscious feelings are the opposite of the unconscious.
Love - hate. Shame - disgust and
moralizing are reaction formation against sexuality.
Usually a reaction formation is marked by showiness and
compulsiveness.
In short, reaction formation means expressing the
opposite of your inner feelings in your outward behavior.
Theory
Reaction formation depends on the hypothesis that "the instincts and their derivatives may be
arranged as pairs of opposites: life versus death, construction versus
destruction, action versus passivity, dominance versus submission, and so
forth. When one of the instincts produces anxiety by exerting pressure on the
ego either directly or by way of the superego, the ego may try to sidetrack the
offending impulse by concentrating upon its opposite. For example, if feelings
of hate towards another person make one anxious, the ego can facilitate the
flow of love to conceal the hostility."
Where reaction-formation takes place, it is usually
assumed that the original, rejected impulse does not vanish, but persists,
unconscious, in its original infantile form. Thus, where love is experienced as
a reaction formation against hate, we cannot say that love is substituted for
hate, because the original aggressive feelings still exist underneath the
affectionate exterior that merely masks the hate to hide it from awareness.
In a diagnostic setting, the existence of a
reaction-formation rather than a 'simple' emotion would be suspected where
exaggeration, compulsiveness and inflexibility were observed. For example, reactive
love protests too much; it is overdone, extravagant, showy, and affected. It is
counterfeit, and is usually easily detected. Another feature of a reaction
formation is its compulsiveness. A person who is defending himself against
anxiety cannot deviate from expressing the opposite of what he really feels.
His love, for instance, is not flexible. It cannot adapt itself to changing
circumstances as genuine emotions do; rather it must be constantly on display
as if any failure to exhibit it would cause the contrary feeling to come to the
surface.
Reaction formation is sometimes described as one of the
most difficult defenses for lay people to understand; this testifies not merely
to its effectiveness as a disguise, but also to its ubiquity and flexibility as
a defense that can be utilized in many forms.
For example, solicitude may be a reaction-formation against
cruelty, cleanliness against coprophilia, and it is not unknown for an analyst
to explain a client's unconditional pacifism as a reaction formation against
their sadism. In addition, high ideals of virtue and goodness may be reaction
formations against primitive object cathexes rather than realistic values that
are capable of being lived up to. Romantic notions of chastity and purity may
mask crude sexual desires, altruism may hide selfishness, and piety may conceal
sinfulness."
Even more counter-intuitively, according to this model "phobia is an example of a reaction
formation. The person wants what he fears. He is not afraid of the object; he
is afraid of the wish for the object. The reactive fear prevents the dreaded
wish from being fulfilled.”
The concept of reaction formation has been used to
explain responses to external threats as well as internal anxieties. In the
phenomenon described as Stockholm Syndrome, a hostage or kidnap victim 'falls
in love' with the feared and hated person who has complete power over them.
Similarly paradoxical reports exist of powerless and vulnerable inmates of Nazi
camps creating 'favorites’ among the guards and even collecting objects
discarded by them. The mechanism of reaction formation is often characteristic
of obsessional neuroses. When this mechanism is overused, especially during the
formation of the ego, it can become a permanent character trait. This is often
seen in those with obsessional character and obsessive personality disorders.
This does not imply that its periodic usage is always obsessional, but that it
can lead to obsessional behavior.
Development
Reaction-formation can also become a permanent character
trait and its significance can grow more general; it can become not just a
symptom of a specific pathology, but it heralds the process of socialization.
Reaction-formation is not restricted to character and
moral virtues, but also includes the domain of thought and intellect. The
counter-cathexis of the system of conscience, organized as a reaction
formation, supplies the first repression. In "Thoughts for the Times on
War and Death", Freud showed how altruism may originate from selfishness,
and compassion from cruelty. "Noble" motives can have the same effect
as "non-noble" motives. We cannot divine the instinctual life of a
subject, however; we only can observe his or her behavior.
Humankind's capacity to reshape instinctual selfishness
is otherwise known as its aptitude for culture. People have unequal abilities
in this regard, and the most solid among them may prove the least
well-defended. This explains how instinctual remodeling can be more or less thoroughly
undone by circumstance—war being an event that puts culture most completely at
risk—and how acquired civility, or the capacity to conduct oneself towards
others according to ethical considerations, may entirely unravel.
Reaction-formation thus exposes the fragility of morality and suggests how
repressed instincts are able to return with a great intensity, as acts of
barbarism and cruelty.
Examples
Freud claimed that men who are prejudice against
homosexuals are making a defense against their own homosexual feelings by
adopting a harsh anti-homosexual attitude which helps convince them of their
heterosexuality.
Other examples include:
* The dutiful daughter Mary, who loves her mother, is
reacting to her Oedipus hatred of her mother.
* Anal fixation usually leads to meanness, but
occasionally a person will react against this (unconsciously) leading to
over-generosity.
* George feels that his younger son, Gary, is
unattractive and not very smart. He accuses his wife of picking on Gary and
favoring their other son.
* Lucy dresses in provocative clothes and uses suggestive
language although she fears that she is unattractive and she really isn’t very
interested in sex.
* John has a lot of unconscious hostility toward his
father but he acts very affectionate toward him and tells other people that he
and his father have a wonderful relationship.
* Peter, a man who is overly aroused by pornographic
material, uses reaction formation defense mechanism to take on an attitude of
criticism toward the topic. He may end up sacrificing many of the positive
things in his life, including family relationships, by traveling around the
country to anti-pornography rallies. This view may become an obsession, whereby
the man eventually does nothing but travel from rally to rally speaking out
against pornography. He continues to do this, but only feels temporary relief,
because the deeply rooted arousal to an unacceptable behavior such as watching
pornography is still present, and underlying the implementation of the defense.
At that point he can be said to have developed an obsession personality above
and beyond the defense mechanism.
* Ann, a mother who has a child she does not want,
becomes very protective of the child.
* Perhaps the most common and clearest example of
reaction formation is found in children between seven and eleven or so: Most
boys will tell you in no uncertain terms how disgusting girls are, and girls
will tell you with equal vigor how gross boys are. Adults watching their
interactions, however, can tell quite easily what their true feelings are!
Most people don't realize that this defensive process is
quite unhealthy. Since anxiety provokes the demands that are created by reality
and the superego, these defensive mechanisms are developed to cope with anxiety
and stress. In many cases, it is your unconscious that works to distort
reality. Defensive mechanisms can be unhealthy, especially when they are
overused to avoid dealing with a problem. The goal in psychoanalytic therapy is
to uncover the mechanisms so the individual can find a healthy way to deal with
their feelings.
When a person takes a position or stance on something,
and particularly if that position is extreme, you may consider the possibility
that their real views are opposite to this. This offers you two options in
persuasion. You can either support their current position or carefully expose
how their underlying tendencies are opposite (and how it is ok to admit this).
To cause a Reaction Formation pattern, show the other
person that a particular behavior is socially unacceptable. Then give them the
space and ideas to react against this undesirable pattern and create their own
way of showing how they are actually very far away from the undesirable
behavior.
In a therapeutic situation, help a person who is
dysfunctionally forming contrary reactions by first create a supportive
environment where they can admit and accept what is happening to themselves.
Then support their changing of position to somewhere that is more acceptable
and appropriate for them.
When a therapist discovers someone who utilizes this
defensive mask the challenge is to begin to reflect back to them the emptiness
that surrounds their emotional reality. Gently, softly, slowly one shows them
that they are being dishonest. That they do not really like or “love” their
mother-in-law but, it does not matter. They suggest that it is possible to see
this person as a real and whole person with flaws and good points. It is
possible to negotiate a relationship that is based on reality and mutual need
or respect without forcing it into a scripted dishonesty of the “good family.”
These messages are challenging and difficult to
communicate. The best thing about it is the therapeutic relationship. Because
of a phenomenon called transference, it is believed that all issues will
eventually present themselves in the therapy session as issues between the client
and the therapist. The therapist is trained to recognize this and to reflect it
safely and non-accusatively back to the client. The message becomes “I see you
accurately, or I think I do. Let me tell you what I see and you tell me if it
is accurate. I do not judge you and I will not be the critical parent who
shames or punishes you. I will just be the person who cares enough about you to
see you accurately and honestly and still even after that….I care about you.”
If this message is communicated genuinely and repeatedly,
it has a chance to break through the defenses of the client and help them find
a place to stand where they can resolve the damage of their childhood and
create a new and honest script for moving forward. It does not mean that they
have to end their dysfunctional relationships. It means they can change them
into functional ones. It is the job of the therapist to create the environment
and facilitate the adaptation to self-knowledge, self respect and change.
Sources and Additional Information:
