Drug Abuse

CHAPTER V

DEVELOPMENTAL MECHANISM OF MENTAL DISTURBANCE OF THE 16 12

Nervous Tension

Anxiety

Psychoticlike/Psychotic S & P

§ 117 A neuronal process which plays a most important role in the way R's nervous system is 'activated' by stimuli is this: Every rejecting stimulus tends to make uncon scious primitive terror conscious.

Because conscious primitive terror is an unbearable symptom, R's existential identity tries to hinder or equilibrate the process mentioned with all the means at its disposal. Among these means are the various clinical pictures of mental disturbance: nervous tension or neurotic S & P or psychoticlike/psychotic S & P.

The basic cause of the clinical pictures of mental disturbance is fear, which escalates because the quality of the rejecting stimuli causing the fear changes (see § 119, 120, 121, 127).

§ 118 The existential identity also uses other means to hinder or to equilibrate reactivation of the rejecting womb/primitive terror. Among them are:

(a) Deifying the womb, ie. R deifies the womb, endows it with the property 'whoever loves me, tortures me' and accepts suffering with pleasure (masochism, see R 10 p.42). (b) Identifying with the rejecting womb, ie. R identifies with the rejecting womb and becomes as aggressive towards his environment as the rejecting womb was towards him (instances of torturers in dictatorial systems, sadism, see R10's example of sadism p.45).

(c) Imitating a foreign existential identity, order to avoid reactivation of the rejecting womb, R abolishes his existential identity and replaces it with the existential identity of someone who impresses him. Example: After R9 had carefully studied the biography of an author, he then tried to feel, think and behave on all occasions as he supposed the author would feel, think and behave on similar occasions. For other examples of imitating foreign existential identities see R5 p.90 and R10 p.41.

NERVOUS TENSION

§ 119 If the rejecting stimuli which excite R's nervous system are specific, R is 'activated' to equilbrate the stimuli in one of the following ways which characterize nervous tension:

Nervous tension I

Symptoms:

Neurovegetative:   tachycardia, tachypnoea, dyspnoea, sweating and so forth.

Limbic:   unconscious and sometimes also conscious fear, unsconscious and conscious anger.

Phenomena:

Behaviour-defensive attack:   overt aggressiveness which ranges from hostile silence or an almost imperceptible ironic smile to violently destructive muscular activity towards the fear-producing - anger-producing stimuli.

Note: The fiercer the attack, the greater the unconscious fear.   If the anger-attack does not equilibrate the fear-producing - anger-producing stimuli, the latter give rise to:

Nervous tension II

Symptoms:

Neurovegetative:   tachycardia, tachypnoea, dyspnoea, sweating and so forth.

Limbic:   intense unconscious and conscious fear.

Phenomena:

Behaviour-defensive flight:   overt flight-withdrawal from the fear-producing stimuli.

Note: The direct result of specific rejecting stimuli may be S & P of nervous tension II and not of nervous tension I, that is, when nervous tension II occurs, it is not necessarily preceded by nervous tension I.

Comment: Nervous tension I and II are frequently accompanied by strong guilt feelings. When R suffers from prolonged nervous tension, other S & P besides the ones already mentioned appear: nervousness-irritability, physical and mental fatigue, lack of mental concentration (R8 and R12 had to stop university and R6 and R14 high school because they could not concentrate on their studies), insomnia or somnolence, anorexia or gluttony, and so on.

ANXIETY § 120 If.

(a) the anger-overt attack or the fear-overt flight does not equilibrate the rejecting stimuli which caused nervous tension, or

(b) R is, for whatever reason, unable to attack or to withdraw from the rejecting stimuli, or

(c) R tries but fails to check his attack or flight, or (d) nervous tension is accompanied by guilt feelings, then R is overcome by perplexity and indecisive behaviour. Simultaneously the fol lowing neuronal mechanism begins: the rejecting stimuli which caused R nervous ten sion reactivate (on an unconscious level) 'memory traces' of other rejecting stimuli which had excited his nervous system at various periods in the past. As a result, the fear involved in nervous tension expands because the 'memory traces' of fears caused by the past rejecting stimuli are also reactivated. Simultaneously, the cause of the ex panded fear becomes obscured because the 'memory traces' of the past rejecting stimuli are not reactivated on a conscious level.

If the rejecting stimuli continue to excite R's nervous system, he feels helpless. Thus, unconsciously and sometimes also consciously, he seeks protection from a 'power' which will neutralize the rejecting stimuli for him. Unconsciously, this power is the womb which is symbolized by its substitute.

If R does not obtain completely accepting womb-protection through a womb substitute, he is overcome by anxiety - a fear characterized by an agonizing, vague threat to his existence (chronic anxiety neurosis) which may periodically present sudden exacerbation (acute anxiety state).

The vagueness and agony in anxiety neurosis derive from the fact that the anxietyproducing stimuli incline towards reactivating the rejecting womb/primitive terror.

§ 121 R's unconscious and sometimes also conscious effort to equilibrate anxietyproducing stimuli results in neurotic S & P (obsessions, psychosomatic S & P, conversion hysteria, phobias and so on).

Through his neurotic S & P, R unconsciously and sometimes also consciously endeavours to create conditions of 'security' which will equilibrate the rejecting stimuli with a different kind of attack or flight.

§ 122 Obsessional acts are a kind of flight-withdrawal from the 'real' dangerous (rejecting) stimuli. R transfers his emotional and motor 'activation' to other stimuli which symbolize the 'real' dangerous stimuli but which are 'supposedly' less dangerous than them.

Examples:

(a) For R12, any woman was a dangerous-castrating-rejecting stimulus because she symbolized his mother. To defend himself, R12 gave up heterosexual activity. This was tantamount to fleeing from the dangerous stimulus. However, the ever-hostile environment constantly drove him, together with physical need, to seek security in sex. Thus, the only safe ways left open to him were homosexuality and masturbation. Conclusion: R 12's homosexual behaviour was obsessional and helped him avoid heterosexual activity which, to him, was far more dangerous.

(b) Another case of obsessional neurosis is a 68-year old woman, married and childless.13 For ten months she had presented the following: every night, as soon as she began to feel sleepy, she was filled with uneasiness which motivated her in a stereotyped manner. She sat at her desk and placed a paper-knife and two ink-bottles in a certain position. She then changed the positions of the three objects until they returned to their original positions. She repeated these movements until, exhausted, she lay down and slept. If she happened to wake up during the night, she could only sleep again by repeating the same ritual until exhaustion. Attempt to hinder the stereotyped movements caused here severe anxiety.

During a 'frank' - as she characterized it - discussion, the 68-year old woman revealed that the obsessional phenomena appeared after months of unsuccessful attempts to neutralize persistent sexual desires. These desires always began as soon as she lay down to sleep and caused her guilt and anxiety. She did not dare confess them even to her husband. 'How could this respectable, aged lady have such desires? It was inadmissible.' She felt that her dignity was in danger of crumbling, that her whole existence was threatened. She was unable to give further details about how the obsessional acts began but she had noticed that they temporarily neutralized her sexual desires.

Note: It is clear that the paper-knife and two ink-bottle symbolized the male genital organs for the 68-year old woman.

Author's intellectual interpretation of the mechanism involved in the development of her obsessional behaviour: If the 68-year old woman had decided to satisfy her sexual desires, she would have had to use the male genital organs. The latter, however, were dangerous stimuli: they would reject her dignity/existential identity/self-preservation. Thus, unconsciously, she transferred her sexual activity to other stimuli - the paper-knife and two ink-bottles - which were less dangerous.

§ 123 Obsessional ideas result when rejecting stimuli 'activate' R's behaviour which takes place in fantasy.

Example: The obsessional idea of matricide is, in fantasy, neutralization of the stimulus which is dangerous for the existential identity/self-preservation - the mother's castrating behaviour.

§ 124 Phobias are excessive fear of animals, insects, spaces (closed or open), and so forth, which symbolize or are associated with rejecting stimuli and/or the rejecting womb. R4, for example, who suffered from claustrophobia, realized during Sessions that closed spaces symbolized the asphyxiating rejecting womb.

Note: Avoiding phobia-producing stimuli is like avoiding the basic rejecting stimuli.

§ 125 Psychosomatic S & P are a kind of introverted attack, that is, R 'activates' his motor neurons and effectors against himself. R's aim is to create conditions of 'secu rity'which will 'protect' him from rejecting stimuli.

Example: As a child R3 would make herself vomit to send her mother into a panic and keep her by her side. The mother, symbolizing the safe womb, would protect R3 from any danger which might 'threaten' her during her mother's absence.

§ 126 S & P of conversion hysteria are another kind of introverted attack in order to create conditions of 'security'.

Example: The married woman who fears the consequences of her unfaithfulness 'suddenly suffers' paraplegia. This prevents her from keeping a date with a man waiting for her at a motel.

PSYCHOTICLIKE/PSYCHOTIC S & P

§ 127 The terms 'psychoticlike' and 'psychotic' S & P are used in the text as follows: In both quality and intensity psychoticlike and psychotic S & P are identical. The difference between them lies in their duration: the psychoticlike are temporary whereas the psychotic are permanent. This also applies to the terms 'depressivelike/depressive S & P', 'schizophrenic] ike/schizophrenic', 'hallucinatorylike-/hallucinatory', 'paranoiaclike/paranoiac'.

If neurotic S & P fail to equilibrate anxiety-producing stimuli, the latter reactivate primitive terror, ie. R's fear reaches an intensity which is unbearable. As a result, R is 'activated' with psychoticlike S & P. These express his unconscious endeavour to equilibrate the rejecting stimuli which are now the unconsciously reactivated 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb and not the anxiety-producing stimuli nor the original specific fear-producing stimuli which had caused nervous tension.

The reactivated 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb may function as another existential identity within R which wages war against his existential identity/selfpreservation and/or his sex identity. In other words, on a conscious level R feels as if he has two existential identities which are at war with one another and/or he feels that he is both man and woman (see R10 p.49). The reactivated 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb may also function as a superpower which 'activates' R as it wishes. R feels that the superpower either resides within him or belongs to the external environment (see R10 p. t64).

Note: The reactivated 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb in combination with the functioning of the.existential neurons may take the form of multiple existential identities.

The psychotic like symptomatology and phenomenology are based on disturbances of the existential and/or sex identity and are characterized by depressivelike or maniclike S & P and/or schizophreniclike S & P and/or hallucinatorylike S & P and/or paranoiaclike S & P.

§ 128 Depressive like S & P Basic depressive like S & P are bitter sadness, which is reflected in the face, and suicidal thoughts.

Note: All 16 cases suffer periodically from bitter sadness and suicidal thoughts but there is 'something' which sets these symptoms in R6, R10 and R14 apart from the analogous symptoms in the remaining cases. To avoid confusion, the term 'depression' is used for the symptomatoloy of R6, R 10 and R 14 and the term 'melancholia' for the symptomatology of the remaining cases.

The 'something' which sets depession apart from melancholia cannot be easily described from the point of view of quality or intensity. The distinguishing factor, however, is this: Melancholia is cause by rejecting stimuli which do not reactivate the 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb whereas depression is caused by rejecting stimuli which do reactivate the'memory traces' of the rejecting womb on an unconscious level. § 129 R6, R 10 and R 14 realized that their depressivelike S & P resulted from disturbances in their existential identity/self-preservation and the latter's subsequent submission to the rejecting womb. The mechanism involved in this: Various rejecting stimuli excite their nervous system, reactivate the rejecting womb 'memory traces' and revive the past. In other words, just as they had felt the external environment - intrauterine environment - rejecting their foetal existence, so in their everyday life after expulsion-birth they feel that the external environment - everyone and everything - rejects them as well. Just as they had felt weak and terrified, so now they feel helpless and overwhelmed by primitive terror. In order to escape from the primitive terror, they submit to the will of the womb, identify with it and reject their existential identity/self-preservation to the point of total death (see R 10's description p.47-49). R14 attempted suicide before beginning autopsychognosia sessions and was saved only by timely medical care.

Interesting to note is the case of R13 who presented acute depression when her lover abandoned (rejected) her. She thereupon attempted to commit suicide because her rejection by the womb substitute (her lover) reactivated the primitive terror of her expulsion-birth and caused acute disturbances in her existential identity/selfpreservation.

§ 130 Maniclike S & P These are characterized by psychokinetic hyper-activity, hy per-euphoria, hyper-optimism and so on.

Note: None of the 16 of Table 1 present manic S & P.

R2 and R8 periodically present euphoria and excessive optimism (light hypomanic S & P) which they characterize as a semi-conscious effort to repress their painful melancholia with the help of diametrically opposite 'activation'. R2 and R8's realizations indicate that, if they had developed manic S & P, the latter would have been the result of unconscious hyper-repression of depression and unconscious hyper'activation' with S & P diametrically opposite to depression. In other words, behind mania lurks depression and behind depression primitive terror.

§ 131 Schizophreniclike S & P These are characterized by bipolar 'activation' at all levels - emotional, intellectual, motor and so on.

Emotional:   For example, one minute R loves a person and the very next minute he hates him; one minute he feels he is God and the very next the devil.   -

Intellectual:   For example, one minute he thinks of various ways of helping himself and the very next of destroying himself.

Motor:   For example, one minute he obeys orders and the very next he resists.

R l, R4, R6, R8, R9 and R10 realized that their schizophreniclike S & P resulted from disturbances in their existential identity/self-preservation and/or sex identity and their subsequent resistance to the rejecting womb. The mechanism involved is this: The 'memory traces' of the rejecting womb and primitive terror are reactivated by various rejecting stimuli. In the face of the reactivated rejecting womb, R's existential identity musters its small forces and tries to resist. A vain attempt. The womb easily neutralizes the resistance. But the existential identity continues its struggle and the outcome is bipolar 'activation' of R at all levels (see R10 p.49-50). When the tactic of resistance alternates with the tactic of submission, then the schizophreniclike S & P alternate with depressivelike S & P. The resulting clinical picture presents schizoaffectivelike S & P.

§ 132 Hallucinatorylike S & P Hallucinatorylike symptoms are very vivid sensory impressions produced exclusively by internal stimuli which reactivate the latent 'mem ory traces' of stimuli which had excited the nervous system in the past. Because the symptoms are not caused by external stimuli, an observer considers them false, non existent. This is naturally so as the symptoms do not exist in his nervous system. But for R whose nervous system presents them they are as real as the sun he sees.

According to their quality, hallucinatorylike symptoms are differentiated into acoustic, optic, olfactory and so on. The emotional-intellectual content of hallucinatorylike symptoms is moulded, as a rule, by disturbances of the existential and/or sex identity and motivates behaviour accordingly, that is, it causes phenomena which come to the observer's attention (see R 10 p.48).

§ 133 Paranoiaclike S & P These are ideas of persecution, grandeur, reference and so forth.

Example: R9 feels that the world whispers about him and accuses him of being homosexual. The mechanism of R9's paranoiaclike symptoms is the following: The 'memory traces' of primitive terror - which was casued by the womb-mother's rejection of his sex - are reacitvated in everyday life by any rejecting stimulus. As a result, R9 suffers from disturbances in his sex identity and is dominated by primitive terror. However, because he does not know what caused the disturbances, he projects the cause to persons and/or situations in his environment. Thus, he feels that known and unknown persons slander and plot against him. He feels that the presence of motorcycles whose licence plates begin with XXX14 is somehow mysteriously connected to the dark powers which accuse him of homosexuality. In the face of these persons and situations, R9 feels the need to attack and destroy them or to flee from them. He adds: 'Through the light of the Sessions, I realize that I project the rejecting womb to people and situations. My desire to destroy them symbolizes my desire to destroy the tyrannical womb which oppresses me even though I've done nothing to it. If I could, I'd destroy the womb - and without a trace of remorse.'

Another example of paranoiaclike S & P is R 10's (p.49-50).

 

12 The aim of this chapter is not to describe the clinical pictures of mental disturbance. These are mentioned in broad outline only so that a simplified description of how mental disturbance develops may be given. The reader who is interested in detailed descriptions of the S & P of mental disturbance should consult the traditional psychiatric textbooks.

13 This case is not included in Table l, nor did she undergo autopsychognosia sessions.

14 During a Session R9 remembered that, when he was twelve years' old, a friend of his who owned a motorcycle with licence plates XXX had said something ambiguous which R9 interpreted as questioning his maleness. These ambiguous words formed the foundations of his paranoiaclike ideas concerning XXX licence plates.

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