<h2><span>CHAPTER X</span> <span class="smaller">SELF ANALYSIS</span></h2>
<p>In attempting to cure ourselves of hyper-Narcissistic characteristics,
there are several lines of treatment which may be followed, some of
which depend upon the particular manifestation of Narcissism with
which we have to deal. One, however, which should be followed in
every case, we borrow from the methods of psycho-analysis. We cannot
call it psycho-analysis because the technique employed by an amateur
in examining himself must be vastly different from the technique
employed by a psycho-analyst in dealing with his patient. But it is a
modification of one detail of the technique of psycho-analysis which,
if properly applied, may have far-reaching results. It is on the lines
of that phenomenon which is known generally as ab-reaction, and is as
follows.</p>
<p>When an individual has come to the conclusion that he is suffering from
some characteristic of Narcissistic nature, which he would rather
be without, he should, first of all, carefully call to mind, and if
possible make historical notes of the situations which stimulate the
particular temperamental reaction to which he objects. If he can, he
should go further than this, and recall as many as possible of the
actual situations of recent date, when this particular reaction has
been called forth.</p>
<p>If he have an ungovernable temper, for example, he should, in detail,
go first into the type of situations which call forth that temper, and
secondly, he should revise in detail the recent occasions upon which he
has lost his temper, and thirdly, <i>he should attempt to find out the
particular moment, the particular words, the particular occasion which
first began to stir feelings of temper within him before he actually
began to show violent manifestations of it</i>.</p>
<p>Having all these things set forth satisfactorily, it would be well
if he spent half-an-hour every day, for a considerable period, in
performing the next part of the treatment. He should go into a room
by himself, where he will not be disturbed, recline on a couch or
a comfortable chair, and allow his mind to drift backwards, year by
year, remembering as far as possible, every instance on which the
unfavourable symptom has been called forth. He will find that if he
does not concentrate too hard, but merely keeps in mind the various
causes of his temper and recent manifestations of it, other times
and instances will come into his mind unbidden. He will, in fact, be
surprised at the amount of detail which he can remember concerning
the matter. Things which he had not thought of for years, happenings
which he had passed over as trivial, will come into his mind, and be
found to have stimulated, in some way or the other, the ill-temper (or
other Narcissistic trouble) which he is endeavouring to get rid of. He
must take himself, as far as possible, right into childhood. He will
not necessarily of course, go back as far as this on the first few
occasions, but after he has been at work on himself in this way for
some days, he should have no trouble whatever in beginning to recall
some of the infantile occasions upon which his Narcissism called forth
temper. </p>
<p></p>
<p>In all the instances which he brings up into his conscious mind, he
should write down and study not only the facts remembered, but also the
emotions which he felt. These he should examine from every possible
point of view, and see what Narcissistic element appears to be present
in them. Many memories will come into his mind of an infantile nature
which do not express the particular symptom from which he now suffers,
but will obviously have some bearing on it. These he should examine in
the same way, because it is important for him to get into his conscious
mind as much as possible of the various occasions in his life on which
Narcissism acted, when he was not conscious of it. Not only must he
see how these various occasions were exhibitions of Narcissism, but he
must try and trace them back, and must compare them with his typical
infantile methods of expression. These may be represented by shouting,
crying, stamping, weeping or any other infantile manifestations
of those omnipotent phantasies which now seem to him to be the
starting-point of his more recent expression of them. He has, in fact,
to lay bare before himself, as much as possible of his previously
unconscious Narcissistic life; its beginnings, its evolution, and its
ultimate form. This making conscious of what was previously unconscious
or but partly conscious, is, in itself, a most potent factor in
improvement, if he will have the patience to steadily persevere and to
go over daily, for a considerable period, the material he has brought
to the surface. If he does not do this regularly, it is liable to sink
back, and become once again an unconscious factor and a determinant to
his actions over which he has no control.</p>
<p>This bringing into consciousness the unconscious causes and motives
under-lying behaviour is, in psycho-analysis, one of the powerful
factors at work producing cures of neurotic obsessions and so forth,
and it is equally potent with the minor temperamental abnormalities
with which we are dealing here. For it means that previous mental
conflicts which were either wholly or partially unconscious, are now
rendered conscious habitually; and a conscious conflict, or rather a
conflict in which the forces at work become conscious, is far easier
to direct than one in which the very forces themselves are hidden and
unknown. Let us take a more material example for comparison. Suppose an
officer to be in command of a company of soldiers out in the desert,
and attacked on a dark night by savages. It might very well be that he
was well armed, that his machine guns were efficient, but that he would
be quite overwhelmed because he could neither see the savages nor know
their numbers, their whereabouts nor their armaments. But supposing
that the War Office had thoughtfully equipped him with one or two good
search-lights, which he could direct upon the savages so that the
number of savages, their armaments, position, and so forth, could be
brought into his consciousness, he would be in a far better position,
for he could direct his machine-guns at the threatened points, instead
of being forced to fire them wildly and as likely as not miss his
targets altogether.</p>
<p>Exactly the same happens with these manifold feelings to which I
have just been referring. The more one can see of them, their
histories, their evolution, their beginnings, the more one holds them
in consciousness, the easier does the conflict between good and evil
become in the individual. Again, this method of self-help which I have
given here, differs considerably from that pursued in psycho-analysis,
in that it is following up only one unconscious factor, albeit, one
of the most important factors; but in psycho-analysis we follow up in
turn all the unconscious forces at work, great and small, and in any
temperamental abnormality there are certainly many more unconscious
factors than Narcissism concerned, although Narcissism may be the
predominant one. Thus, for instance, alcoholism, though always
possessing a Narcissistic element, frequently has other determinants
present of an exceptionally strong<SPAN name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_8">[8]</SPAN> nature. So that while an
analysis of Narcissism only, may be of the greatest value in some
cases, in others, where Narcissism does not occupy so great a field,
the other unconscious factors are too potent to allow much benefit to
accrue from a partial self-analysis of this kind.</p>
<p>In drug-taking, however, there is a slight difference from alcoholism,
for, as a rule, Narcissism is nearly always the essential factor. It
will be understood that Narcissism links itself to almost any other
characteristic, influencing it for the worse by fixing it more deeply,
and holding it back from becoming conscious more strongly than would
otherwise be the case.</p>
<p>The patient will find himself, during this self-examination, repeatedly
trying to excuse himself. He will find himself saying, “I remember on
such an such an occasion losing my temper, but on that occasion I was
perfectly justified.” Or in another instance, he may say, “I remember
weeping (or I remember being depressed or angry, or impatient), but
circumstances then existed which seem to me proper occasions for such a
manifestation to have taken place.”</p>
<p>Let me emphasise at the outset, that any such excuses will be
rationalizing; that he must say to himself, “Whether they appear normal
or abnormal, according to accepted standards, those occurrences most
certainly had their Narcissistic factor.” For it must be understood
that although there are many occasions when impatience or weeping may
be looked upon, conventionally, as normal occurrences, that is only
because everybody possesses certain imperfections due to Narcissism;
and if one is going to attempt to improve one’s temperament in this
way, every occasion must be examined without excuse or rationalization,
otherwise the individual who is thus at work upon himself will only
succeed in defeating himself to his own detriment, by putting up
a resistance to his cure or improvement. And, indeed, one of the
important factors in this work, just as in psycho-analysis itself, is
the factor which comes into play in overcoming these resistances of
seeing ourselves as we are, of seeing the evolution and beginnings of
our temperament as it really was.</p>
<p>This is bound to reveal in all of us without exception much that is
unpleasant, and that we would rather not see. Resistance to seeing such
material is inevitable, if the examination is sufficiently thorough. If
no resistance has to be overcome, the individual may be certain that he
is shirking the facts.</p>
<h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
<p><SPAN name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_8">[8]</SPAN> Alcoholism is further complicated by the fact that a habit
of <i>physical</i> craving is formed, which as a rule cannot be overcome
by mental treatment alone. This craving, fortunately, can now be
eradicated by medicinal means. Indeed, patients of mine have been cured
of all desire for alcohol in about one week as a rule. The patient
is then in somewhat the same condition as a man who has never tasted
alcohol, and he will have no craving for alcohol thereafter, unless he
deliberately drinks it again. Herein, however, we see the importance of
the psychic factor, for should the cured alcoholic begin again to take
alcohol, either because he thinks that he has attained self control
and can do so, or because he finds abstinence difficult on social
grounds, he will almost inevitably regress to his old condition of
uncontrolled desire, no matter how long has elapsed since he was cured
of it. <i>The same causes which originally led him to excess, viz., his
mental complexes, are still present and again produce similar results.</i>
Of course, a very large proportion of those who have been cured by
medicinal treatment do not relapse, because they have sufficient common
sense not to experiment with themselves. In the other cases, however,
the only hope of a permanent cure consists in following up the physical
treatment with mental treatment, i.e., analysis.</p>
<p>On the other hand, in most cases of drug taking a medicinal cure is
generally sufficient, for there is no “social urge” to taking drugs as
there is in the case of alcohol, and once the craving has been cured,
the tendency to experiment again is the exception rather than the rule.
But even here it is found that any indulgence in the drug, however
slight, will again produce in the individual his old craving. <i>He has
found a previous path of narcissistic regression and will inevitably
follow it, for though the craving had been eradicated the complexes
remain.</i> There are many potential alcoholics and potential drug-takers
in the world, but they will never know it unless unfortunate chance
induces them to open that particular channel of regression.</p>
<hr />
<p></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />