THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE*

G. BOSE

The mechanism of defiance in psycho-neurotics offers many Interesting points for study. A psycho-neurotic often shows symptoms that can be. easily interpreted as defiance against external social restrictions; The mental reaction in such cases is comparatively simple. The most important characteristic of defiance by a psychoneurotic is the factor of unconsciousness. Although the symptoms are often recognised even by a lay person as obvious defiance the patient himself does not realize their true meaning. It requires some analytical work before the resistance could be romoved and the patient made to appreciate his hostile attitude. In the present communication I shall. only consider the mechanism of defiance that is directed against 'the super-ego. It is well-known that in certain types of psychoneurotics the super-ego is excessively stern and harsh towards the ego. The super-ego issues positive commands as also prohibitions which the ego must fulfil on pain of severe punishment. Sometimes these prohibitions and commands are impossible to be carried out in their entirety by the ego. Under these conditions the ego raves and rages against the super-ego and adopts all sorts of tricks and subterfuges to evade the censoring influence of the latter ; here also the peculiarity that strikes the analyst most forcibly is that the entire process bf defiance is * carried on in an unconscious manner-. In the conscious mind the ego apparently accepts all the commands of the super-ego as ideals to be followed and cherished. It looks upon its own defying acts as undesirable slips and whenever the ego is forced to pay any attention to such conduct it shows extreme repentance and misery. A curious fact remains that in spite of protestations of high ideals and of repentance in connection with deviations from them the undesirable acts are repeated in a striking manner. It never occurs to the patient that in his conduct he persistently and repeatedly defies the ego-ideal. By the term ego-ideal is meant those ideals that are originally foreign
* Read'before the Indian Bsycho-Analytical Society on 14th May, 1938* sad reprinted from Indian Journal of Psychology Jati-Dec., 1945

58

G, BOSE

[SAMIKSA

Vol 5. No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

to the ego but have been accepted as the ego's own. Freud has pointed out the unconscious, element in the making of the ego. The ego maintains a. resistance against the id and a part of this resistance operates in an unconscious manner. There are other activities of the ego, particularly those associated with the super-ego, that are also carried on unconsciously.^ Freud says "if we come back once more to our scale of values, we shall have to say that not only what is lowest .but also what is highest in the ego, can be unconscious." The sternness of the super-ego against the ego has been emphasized by numerous workers but the fact that the ego can turn against the super-ego and defy its commands though in an unconscious manner has not been /studied thoroughly. The mechanism of defence is much better known .than that of defiance. In the present paper I have mainly followed the Freudian conception of the super-ego, the ego and the id and have tried to :explain the mechanism of unconscious defiance in terms of these three entities, so that it may be made easily understandable to all. My. own views regarding the constitution of the ego is somewhat different. Towards the end of the article I have briefly indicated the defiance mechanism in terms of my own interpretation. The Freudian ego has to accommodate itself to the demands of three different institutions, viz the id, the external reality and the super-ego: It has to deal with cravings of an instinctive nature that arise from the id and seek satisfaction without taking into consideration the external reality. The strivings of the id are governed by the .pleasure principle. If the ego were to accede to all the demands of the id it would come into conflict sooner or later with the environment and suffer pain in consequence. Guided by past experience the ego therefore allows only those desires of the id to become conscious that would not lead to any painful situation. The undesirable cravings of the id are repressed. The external reality thus controls the ego's acts to a marked extent. Then again after the super-ego has developed, further inhibitions are imposed on the ego that prevent it from indulging in certain types of desires coming from the id that were formerly allowable. Our moral sense serves to modify our behaviour to a considerable extent even in the absence of any external restraining agency. The moral sense is derived from the super-ego, so it is ultimately the super-ego that is responsible for. inhibitions of the moral

order. The desires from the id that succeed in reaching the conscious level in the adult have thus to pass through a double barrier, viz that of the external reality and that of the super-ego. Once the strivings from the id have passed these obstacles they are accepted by the ego which feels as if they were its own cravings. The desires that are acceptable to the ego have been called ego-syntonic. It will be noticed that certain positive commands of the super-ego are also accepted by the ego as a guide for its conduct. The ego-syntonic desires are therefore of two types, those having their origin in the super-ego and consisting in prohibitions and positive commands of the categorical imperative type and those arising from the id. The first group constitutes the ego-ideal and the second the ordinary everyday cravings of life. In its fight against the id, the ego is often supported by the super-ego. W e do not give vent to our criminal tendencies not only because of the fear of punishment by the society but also because our moral sense stands in the way of their fulfilment. It must not be supposed that the ego and the super-ego are always able to keep dystonic desires away from the conscious field. Wishes, from the id often escape the repressing force of the ego and appear as mental symptoms in the conscious mind. Similarly sinful wishes may arise in consciousness in spite of the prohibitions of our super-ego or moral sense. Under both these circumstances a,painful tension is felt as a result of the struggle, It is generally assumed that the ego is entirely powerless against the dictates of the super-ego but as will be evidenced in the present paper the ego is often able to defy the super-ego although it may suffer in consequence. The inter-relations of the id, the ego and the super-ego will be best understood if we keep in mind the fact that our wishes and cravings can only be fulfilled through muscular activity and that the control over the muscles rests with the ego alone. Neither the id nor the super-ego can act independently without the help of the ego. They have no access to the voluntary muscular system. It is conceivable that during sleep, moments of absent-mindedness and other states in which the censoring activity of the ego is relaxed the id may influence the musculature though there is no conscious appreciation of the significance of the act. For a full satisfaction of instinctive cravings it is necessary that the instinctive J&ct be consciously performed. It is therefore fairly correct to say that no adequate satisfaction of any desire is possible without the

60

G. BOSE

fSAMlKSA

Vol. 5. No. 2 J

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

61

co-operation of the ego. The id and the super-ego may be compared to the mistress and master of a house respectively who do not or cannot go out except in a car. The ego is to be compared to the driver of the car which may be supposed to represent the body. If the lady of the house orders the driver to take her to some impossible place the driver refuses to do so. Then again the orders of the mistress are often set at naught by the counter-orders of the master so that in spite of repeated commands of the mistress the driver may refuse to carry them out. It will be noticed that the Freudian ego like the driver of our illustration is more or less a passive agent under the ^control of the id, the super-ego and the external reality. That is why Freud following George Groddeck says "that the conduct through life of what we call our ego is essentially passive, and that we are lived by ^unknown and un-controllable forces," I shall have occasion to point out in this article that the Freudian ego is not so passive as it is supposed to be. I shall quote briefly certain relevant points from a case history to illustrate the mechanism of unconscious defiance of the ego against the super-ego. The patient is a young man married several years. He has several children. He has certain very strong ideas about sexuality. He thinks that even mild and moderate sexual activity is bound to lead to excess ultimately and that sexual enjoyment in any form is incompatible with religion and with the realization of God which should be the highest ideal in a man's life, He is of opinion that all the great religions of the world have definitely barred out sex from life. In support of his statement he often quotes isolated passages from religious books and misinterprets religious precepts. Although he is a Hindu his conviction in this matter is so strong that the argument that with Hindus marriage has been enjoined as a religious duty and begetting of children is considered an obligatory act, has no effect on his ascetic ideals. All statements'in favour of sex in the religious scriptures are naively brushed aside by him, but on the other hand the remotest suggestion against sex is considered as a definite injunction that can never be counteracted. The patient is a firm believer in the tortures of hell in after-life. According to him all great religious seers support the idea that the mildest sex activity even within the bounds of matrimony is sure to be punished severely in after-life. This patient sees^ no sense in restricted sex activities; if sex is permissible.

with one woman at all he does not see why it should not be held permissible with other women as well, including near relations such as sisters and mother. He believes in no compromise in the matter of sex. Either it should be 'all' or 'none'. He thinks that it is for this reason that no sex activity should ever be tolerated. 'No-sex* is his ideal and he thinks that he has deliberately and of his own accord taken up this ideal as the goal of life and as the means of realizing 'the great truth'. Sex pleasures, in fact all pleasures, are degrading and vulgar, so also all instinctive feelings like anger, etc. Although the patient is a firm believer in hell he has no faith in heaven. He does not believe in expiation and considers himself condemned to. eternal damnation. Symptoms of anxiety with reference to bodily conditions are pro-: minent and very troublesome at times with this patient. Anxiety hysteric states almost amounting to panic occur very frequently. Whenever the patient closes his eyes for free association a series of filthy sexual abuses in connection with the mother and sometimes with the father comes out. Sometimes the patients feels that these thoughts are forced on him as it were and that he is not responsible for them. Sometimes the abuse comes up in a mechanical manner without any feeling tone attached to it. There is always repentance and remorse after the abuse has been openly expressed. Whenever he tries to concentrate his attention on worship abuse against God supervenes in his mind and makes him miserable. Almost every thought is accompanied by its opposite. The patient is never free from inner mental struggle. In his dealings with others the patient is kind and sympathetic. He often allows himself to be cheated by people with respect to money. He cannot stand out against others even when he knows that they are taking advantage of him. There is a sort of compulsion for sexual intercourse with his wife which the patient must indulge in even when there is no sex desire. He expects that his sexual partner should get him excited so that the act. may be possible. If the partner is not agreeable to tHis there is usually irritation and outburst of temper. During the sexual act itself the patient indulges in a soit of make-believe that others are engaged in coitus. The images of near relations such as sister-in-law, sister, wife's mother and mothers of other girls are freely called into requisition for this purpose. The 'mother' idea has a special attraction-

G. BOSE

{SAMIKSA

Vol- 5. No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

63

for him, during intercourse. If the sexual partner is conceived of as a mother of somebody there is always greater pleasure than in other conditions. Intercourse with his wife is always succeeded by a feeling of depression the next morning. With numerous other women patient's sex activities mainly consist in kissing, cuddling and dallying. The patient however carried on an illicit love affair with another's wife for quite a number of months and had frequent coituses with her without having the slightest remorse or the feeling that he was doing anything wrong. Coitions with this woman excepted, extra-marital intercourses have been very few and far between although, as stated above, milder forms of love-making with different girls have been an every-day affair. All sex activities, even the milder ones, are followed by remorse, fear of hell and punishment which however have not the least effect in preventing the patient from repeating them again and again. It seems as if a compulsion drove him to this. He cannot look at any woman or a; girl or even a female infant without ideas of sex. All this gives him great mental pain but the obsessive ideas persist in troubling him. He will often make love to a girl and when he finds that the girl has begun to reciprocate his love he will give her moral and religious lectures exhorting her not to stray from the path of virtue. Cuirously enough on many occasions these moral lectures form a prelude to sex approach. If any girl ceases to care for him sexually his jealousy is aroused and all the wooing begins afresh. The patient must be in love-tie all the time with all women with whom he comes into contact and he must be assured that they feel love for him. In his own language he finds himself in 'sexual bondage' with every woman and is continually under a tension lest any caprice on the part of any woman should sever the bond. His peace of mind depends on the woman's attitude towards him. He feels this 'dependence' as a source of great humiliation. He must always think of sexual matters in terms of the woman. Consciously he does not feel any active sexual urge. His ego-ideal makes him think that such activity is gross and is reprehensible. The patient never realizes that under some pretence or other he seeks sex deliberately. With him 'it simply happens'. He seldom has an erection when he makes his covert sex approaches. The women must get him excited. The first overt sexual approach must come from the woman's side. When he finds that the woman is sexually inclined he will more often than not give moral

lectures to her as cited before and refrain from having intercourse. All sex-play is later on followed by fear of hell and great remorse. The only exception was with reference to the woman mentioned before with whom sex enjoyment did not lead to any conscious feeling of repentance or fear of punishment. This woman was sexually very active and practically forced the patient to have coitus with her. She always made the sexual approach herself without any impetus from him. The patient often keeps on grinding his teeth for hours together without being aware of it. Sometimes however the grinding of teeth is associated with ideas of defiance and violence as expressed in abuses without reference to any person in particular. At other times the patient gets irritated and feels, as he expresses it himself, 'a grip of anger' against some person or other at the slightest provocation. It seems to him as if there was a great amount of pent up anger in his system. As has already been mentioned the patient experiences attacks of anxiety and fear over trivial bodily affections. These anxiety attacks always evoke defiance and sexually abusive thoughts. Ideas of violence directed against all and sundry including himself are often present when the patient is in a fit of anger. The patient makes Herculean efforts to check these fits and often succeeds in doing so. The anger is followed by renewed and more intense fear. The patient sometimes feels that he has been leading the life of a hypocrite and that his religion and his big talk constitute a mere pose. At other times he thinks that his religious feeling is a sincere one. He is often m doubt about the true nature of his thoughts and external objects and feels that his intellect gets muddled when attempting to understand anything. Many times in the course of analysis when some undesirable trait was unearthed the patient would refuse to recognize it pointing out its opposite attitude in consciousness and pretending that his deficient intelligence would not allow him to grasp the subtleties of analysis. Regarding opposite traits in consciousness the patient displayed a very curious attitude. It was pointed out to him that his behaviour often showed contradictions, that he would protest against sex, yet at every opportunity he would indulge in it. The patient would reply that the feeling of avoiding sex was quite genuine with him and that he failed to see any deliberateness in his sex acts which were always.

G. BOSE

SAMIKSA

Vol. 5. No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

followed by remorse and fear. They were of the nature of lapses When further analysis made it possible for the patient to realize his deliberate sexual attitude he would still refuse to admit any contradiction in his behaviour. He would say that deliberate sex enjoyment and no-sex ideal were both.genuine attitudes with him and the feelings in connection with them were both real. Since both were real feelings and since both of them, existed there, could not be any contradiction. The patient always kept his attention rivetted upon his feelings and voided looking at his acts or towards external reality. Contradiction ^ ^ t o be detected in the domain of action and not in the domain of feelings and since the patient avoided looking at his actions and concentrated only upon his feelings he could easily harbour oppositions ^within the mind without having the necessity of ad-justing them. Had he turned his attention to his actual performances he would have been forced to arrive at some sort of solution regarding the conflict in his mind. The over-valuation of mental processes as compared with physical acts was a general trait of the patient; it enabled him to ^neglect unpleasant reality and it formed an efficient device to maintain his resistances. How this over-valuation of mental processes came into being I shall discuss presently. . The character of the super-ego of the patient shows certain points that are worth noticing. When the patient was about twelve years old he took a phial of medicine surreptitiously. The medicine was supposed to be a remedy for dyspepsia and was meant either for the father or one of the elder brothers, the patient does not remember for whom exactly. As far as could be gathered from the patient the . medicine was really a harmless one. Some time after taking the medicine the patient began to complain of giddiness. He was put to bed but he developed a raving attack of fright. Ail the members of the household flocked to his bed-side in alarm and they tried to soothe him, but all to no purpose. The patient had visual hallucinations. He began to see the faces of those around him distorted into horrible figures. The faces of his mother, maternal aunts and his elder sisters looked particularly frightfu1. Curiously the male faces did not appear so horrible. The attack lasted for a few hours, and then gradually subsided. After this attack, for years, the the patient could not look at his mother's face without feeling fright^ He could however easily face the male relations. Previous to this

'

attack the patient had been indulging in masturbatoryactivities and -homo-sexual practices mostly of the passive type. In the patient's conscious mind there was no connection between his sex activities, and the attack of fright, . but the patient has always associated the. hallucinatory vision that he had with the horrors of.hell. During the course of. the analysis he often expressed the idea that -the experience during the attack of fright was like being i n . hell; he thinks that he was made to go through this torture just to have an idea as to what awaits him: in hell in after-life. Whenever anybody expressed his doubt about the reality of hell to the patient he would reply that hell does exist as he had already had a vision of it. The patient's ideas about sin and punishment are very queer. He does not think that anybody need suffer torture in hell because of crimes like theft, murder, etc. It is only sex that is punished in hell. Analysis abundantly proved that the hell idea stood for punishment for activites of the sexual type only. As has already been mentioned the' patient does not believe in heaven, neither in any punishment in afterlife for other types of offences. Another peculiarity about the idea of punishment harboured by the patient is that sex activity is punished by the creation of desires for more sex so that the burden of. sin goes on accumulating and results in eternal damnation. The absurdity of the curious proposition that a new sin which by itself is the result of a previous sin, in its turn leads to further sin, never struck the patient. According to the patient's theology sin is punished by more sin which thus increases in geometrical progression till eternal suffering comes in hell. The patient tries to justify his peculiar theology by stray quotations from religious books. Since our moral and religious ideas have been found to be associated with the functioning of the super-ego and since it is the super-ego that takes up the role of the punishing conscience, it is to be noted that in the case of this patient sexual activities in early life must have been the main occasion for the development of such a stern super-ego. The patient .remembers that when he was about seven or eight years old he once tried to witness secretly parental intercourse by peeping from window. Fear prevented him from carrying out his intentions fully and he had. to come away hurriedly from his hiding place. The patient's early vision of.hell during the attack of fright referred to above clearly shows that it was the 'mother more than the father that the patient was afraid of. The mother

if

If
ill

IE

G, BOSE

[ SAMIKSA

Vol. 5, No. 2]

T H E MECHANISM O F DEFIANCE

67

i .5 *

! ; '
1

\-

' , \-K ' .;' i , f '

i . /, 'I

'*

^ image was thus the more important constituent of the super-ego. In this connection it may be mentioned that the patient throughout his life had been more eager to win the love of his father than that of his mother. Analysis revealed a very early introjection of the mother image. Passive traits of the feminine type have !been the dominant characteristics of the patient's life. The patient in early childhood found pleasure in the body odour of the father but not in that of his mother ; he often attempted under all sorts of pretests to see his father1 sjjenis. During analysis the. desire to see the analyst's penis frequently carBs^jnto his head. The lack of male aggressiveness, the feminine attitude during intercourse, the desire for the father's penis which frequently comes up in abusive thoughts of eating a big penis amply - prove that the patient had in his unconscious mind replaced the mother and wanted love from the father. The mother J thus stood as rival for love, There was another deep-seated reason for the patient's unconscious hostility against his mother. It was brought out in analysis that the patient's early male oedipus cravings had to be denied satisfaction owing to the unwillingness of the mother. This factor of unwillingness on the part of the female partner has played a very important part in the patient's adult sexual life. No sexual intercourse -has ever been possible with any woman who has not shown her willingness openly. Very often the patient has no erection and no physical sex feeling but he is compelled to entreat the woman to show manifestations of willingness and it is only when such signs are forthcoming that erection takes place and intercourse becomes possible. If the partner does not respond to his entreaties there arise anger, dejection and desire for violence in his mind. Analysis further revealed the fact that the patient's ideal of no-sex had one of its strongest roots in the desire for revenge against the unwilling mother image. All females, even female infants, were looked upon as so many mother images. Once\ a woman got excited the patient could take revenge on his unwilling mother image by refusing to have intercourse with the woman. An unconscious hostility existed between the patient and his mother. The hostile mother image formed the most important constituent of the punishing conscience of the patient. It forbade not only sexual pleasure but also pleasure of every type as there was the risk that one pleasure would lead to another a,nd cpntrol would

be difficult. The super-ego tried to keep the patient in the right path both by threats of hell and by offer of the reward of attaining the supreme bliss by the realization of God. According to the patient no efforts or religious practices were necessary for this. If he could keep away from sex, the realization would come automatically. There is no doubt however that the father image also contributed to the super-ego formation to a minor extent. The father imposed restrictions on play and on certain types of food. Hilsa fish, lichis and other delicacies were forbidden on grounds of indigestibility. The father however did not put any obstacle on the eating of mangoes. In fact he encouraged his children to eat mangoes at any time they liked during the mango season. In his later life although the patient looked upon all physical enjoyments as reprehensible and vulgar the relish that he got from eating mangoes was never spoiled by ideas of remorse or sin. The patient did not know consciously how it was that he could derive pleasure from mangoes when all other enjoyments were sought to be discarded till the connection was brought out in analysis. Another characteristic of the patient that deserves attention is the feeling of utter helplessness regarding the idea of punishment in hell. According to him nothing could be done to avert this punishment; it is useless to fight against this state of affairs. The mechanism of helplessness in the present case has an interesting genesis. In the early stage of its development the child is absolutely dependent on others for the satisfaction of its nutritional and other needs. The child up to a comparatively late period is practically ' helpless against the environment. In the case of the patient this normal infantile feeling of helplessness persisted even in adult life in certain types^of behaviour. The patient's oedipus tendencies received a rude shock from the unwilling and threatening mother. The stern mother image prevented the enjoyment "of pleasure in other directions as well. The net result was that the patient could not satisfy even the ordinary needs of life with a clean conscience. The satisfaction of every instinctive desire is- naturally attended with pleasure but as the pleasure element had been altogether banned out by the superego the patient could not make any active effort towards enjoyment. The childish attitude of looking to others for the satisfaction of his needs thus persisted. The patient began to think in terms of others particularly of the unwilling mother. So long as the mother image

G. BOSE

[-SAM! E S AC

Vpl 5, No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM O F DEFIANCE

69

did not relent, no conscious and adequate satisfaction of any instinctive need was possible. This resulted in conjuring up phantasies of the mother and in later periods of women who would be willing to give him every satisfaction in life. Thinking in terms of others thus became an important characteristic of the patient's mental life. Since active actions were all more or less under the ban, the centre of attention shifted from the external reality to mental process. It is in this manner that there was an~ over-valuation of feelings and emotions and a neglect of reality. As the^ttention was mainly turned towards the inner mental life contradiction could be harboured without the necessity of coming to a settlement. "When the patient grew up and had to meet the instinctive demands by his own efforts he. took up a peculiar passive attitude in which the necessary act was, - so to say, allowed to happen so that the patient satisfied the natural cravings surreptitiously and never realized the deliberateness of his acts. By this mechanism the super-ego was outwitted to some extent. The unwilling and threatning mother image of the early childhood being incorporated with the super-ego continued to be regarded as all powerful .and incapable of being defied or resisted. The feeling of utter helplessness regarding punishment in hell thus had its origin in this stern mother image of early childhood. A striking confirmation of this fact was to be found in the patient's attitude towards sin and hell. The reasoning that almost all persons of his own religious and social group lead a sexual life in matrimony without any fear of punishment in hell and that the patient would be in good company in hell could not argue away his ascetic-ideal. Strangely enough if the patient could feel that his sexual partner was willing to enjoy sex and run the risk of hell all scruples about sexual enjoyment disappeared. This is the explanation of the fact that, -the patient was able to carry on sexual relations with another's wife for a considerable period without fear of hell or without compunction at the time ; it is to be remembered that the- woman always showed willingness and aggressiveness in sex affairs. , We may how turn our attention ,to the mechanism of defiance. The case history and the analysis made it clear that the patient exhibited defiance both consciously and unconsciously. The conscious defiance was very often torn from its context and came up as an obsessive Idea. This obsessive idea of defiance sometimes manifested

itself as a colourless thought and sometimes again it was invested with cathexis. In all situations of conscious defiance the idea of deliberateness was totally wanting so that the patient never felt this outburst as defiance. The instances of defiance as found in the patient are the following. Every day during analysis the patient would begin his free association by uttering certain stereotyped abusive words which can be literally translated as mother-vagina-plantain-big erect penis,' often the expression 'shall eat' was added to the list. These abusive thoughts were sometimes colourless in tone and expressed in a sort of mechanical manner while at other times they were accompanied with feelings of anger and grinding of teeth. The image of the object against whom the abuses were directed was not present in consciousness on most of the occasions. The thoughts of God, of his religious preceptor and of the analyst and sometimes of the father also would evoke insulting language followed by repentance. The idea of female deities invariably brought up the obsessive thought of putting the penis against their bodies. This was followed by extreme fear and repentance. At times his religious preceptor and his mother were imagined as engaged in coitus. The idea of breaking away from all social and religious conventions sometimes came into his mind. Every pious thought provoked an impious one. The question 'why not* often troubled him in connection with sexual prohibitions.. Every occasion of fear gave rise to defiant ideas which again were followed, by more intense fear. Thoughts of uncontrollable violence often worried him. It is clear from these illustrations that the patient really raged at his super-ego. He was continuously defying in thought and deed the prohibitions of the super-ego and every time he did so the fear of punishment came into his mind to be followed by more defiance and fear. Continuous -struggle was thus going on in the mind of the patient v'between the super-ego on the one hand and the ego on the other. It is to be noted that the ego did not submit meekly to the behests of the super-ego in spite of the latter's apparent all-powerfullness and invulnerability." The ego was no doubt strengthened by the demands.of v'theidin its struggle against the super-ego but it is to be noted that the instinctive cravings that went to support the ego in its fight were hot ego-dystonic in character. In fact some of the demands of

G. BOSE

[SAMIKSA

Vol. 5. No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

^ the id prohibited by the super-ego were of such a character that without their satisfaction life would have been a burden. The ego had ample justification for putting up the fight. It seems that the egoideal imposed by the super-ego was not an ideal at all but a sort of J threat; it was never really accepted by the ego as its own. It was dystonic throughout although the patient believed in his conscious mind that the injunctions of the super-ego stood for desirable goals in his: life. The idea of reward of attaining perfect bliss was intimately associated with the idea of punishment. The reward idea was also a device of the super-ego to keep the ego in its 'proper' path. This is why the patient could not entertain the idea of any effcJi^ or religious y practice as being necessary for the realization of the blissful state. It was his due if he only kept away from the path of sex. \ The ego controls all motility and as such it is responsible for all actions. If there is any impediment against a desired line of action. the ego finds out method to circumvent the difficulties. This is what i/istermed 'an exercise of the intelligence' in academic psychology. Intelligence, therefore, is to be considered as an attribute of the ego that enables it to get over obstacles in its path. Intelligence does not provide the motive force for action. The instintive cravings alone v/ supply the power. Intelligence is really a handmaid to the wish. When the ego is under contrary orders and does not know which line of action to follow its intelligence ceases to work. The feeling of being muddled and the incapacity to know the true nature of thoughts and things, so much complained of by the patient were thus the result of his inner struggle. If the ego could be assured of a j definite line of action there would be no hindrance to the exercise of intelligence. There were two types of defiance in this case, namely one against the positive commands of the super-ego and the other against the imposed inhibitions. In connection with the latter situation the defiance consists merely in doing the act that has been prohibited. Every execution of a prohibited act whether done consciously or unconsciously is a defiance. The prohibition by the super-ego of the indulgence in: sex activity was never heeded by the patient in actual practice. The defiance of the prohibition may assume exaggerated proportions ; thus the imposed ideal of no sex was met by the indulgence in sex1 not. merely with one woman but with many. In fact the patient

entertained ideas of sex with every being male or female. This excessive reaction against a prohibition is a sign of the strength of the defiance. The threats of punishment coming from the super-ego were entirely powerless to counteract such thoughts and activities. They could only take away the conscious element namely the feeling of defiance against the oppressor. It is instructive to note that even the all-powerful super-ego had to put forward rationalizations to convince the ego of the justice of its demands. In our moral and political life also categorical imperative and might are always sought to be sugar-coated by professions of justice, welfare, civilizing mission, divine ordinance and similar pretensions. The super-ego of the patient tried to impress on the ego the undesirability of sexual enjoyment on various pleas, e.g., that it always leads to excess and that sex has been forbidden by all religion. The exaggerated defiance of the ego in demanding sex without restriction was put forward as an evidence in favour of the idea that sex once permitted would admit of no bounds ; the ego was further impressed with the transitory character of all pleasures ; this was advanced as an argument that no pleasure except that of eternal bliss was worth enjoying. The super-ego could not afford to face the defiance of the ego as it would mean an admission of weakness on its part and a consequent loss of hold on the ego. So when the ego did show any defiant behaviour the super-ego tried to impress on the ego that it was not a deliberate act but a lapse. The repetition of lapses was sought to be excused on the ground that it had become a habit. Sometimes again a sexual act was sought to be explained away on the ground that it was uncontrollable although no evidence would be forthcoming' of any effort at control. The impression gained from analysis was that it* was a life and death question for the super-ego lest the ego should come to know of its deliberate defiance. : The defiance against positive commands of the super-ego was manifested by actions and thoughts of the opposite type. The superego demanded reverence to gods and goddesses, the religious preceptor, mother, elder brother and holy men. But thoughts about those persons were always associated with obsessive irreverent ideas mostly of a sexual nature. Every good thought was accompanied as has already been mentioned before by a bad one of the opposite type. These manifestations of defiance were sought to be explained away

G. B03E

SAMIKSA

Vol. 5. No. 2 ]

THE MECHANISM OF DEFIANCE

73

on various grounds, and the contradiction that existed between these : thoughts on the one hand and the ego ideal on the other was never - fully appreciated. The refusal of. sexual satisfaction to the partner constituted a revenge which was originally meant for the unwilling . mother image. The abusive thoughts directed anainst persons in authority were also motivated partly by defiance and partly by revenge. The revenge idea was as much unconscious as the defiance. That the ego-ideal was never accepted by the patient's ego and that it was in reality a dystonic foreign imposition comin&frora the super-ego were to be clearly seen in the patient's attitude^wards his so-called ideals. One never thinks of one's own ideals as uivduly harsh nor questions its truth. There is no compulsion to follow^an v/ideal. One does so of one's own free will, and in case of lapses although, one may feel pain and sorrow one never fears punishment. Again one does not conceive of any external agency conferring a reward if the ideal is followed. Threats and rewards are indications y of foreign domination. The patient's ego-ideals were, however, all along dominated by threats of punishment in case of a lapse and promise of eternal bliss if duly followed, The patient was not in a position to say that he would be content with leading the life of any ordinary person, and that he might do without eternal bliss like so many about him. There was something that goaded him to the path of 'bliss' whether he wanted it or not and on the slightest sign of , deviation from the prescribed course of life threatened him with : eternal hell. There was no middle course possible with him ; it was either hell or eternal bliss. It is to be seen that the process of introjection which normally brings about a unification of the super-ego with the ego and makes the ego-ideal syntonic was imperfect in this , case. The ego and the super-ego continued to exist as two distinct entities at war with each other. Although the ego continuously defied the injunctions of the super-ego and never made any serious effort to abstain from the path of sin the orders of the analyst to give up all sex activities during certain analytical periods were strictly followed by the patient. The analyst's directions were considered as ego-syntonic. The ego is therefore not so very passive as it is usually supposed to be. It can exert itself either of its own accord or in conformity with the needs of the external environment and can put up a strenuous opposition both against the super-ego and against the id as the occasion demands.

The analysis of the patient revealed the different steps by which the external commands and prohibitions were internalized. I shall briefly mention here only the different stages of the processes. Let us suppose that the name of the patient is X. In the first phase the injuctions are of the type 'you should do this, you should not do this.' In the next stage they are modified into 'you, X, should do this and you, X, should not do this.' In the third stage the form is (X should do this and X should not do this.' In the fourth and the last stage the subject's thought is represented by the formula 'I should do this and I should not do this.' It is through these different steps that the original 'you' contained in the command of the external agency is converted into T. The most important phase is the second one where the concept of the name comes into operation. The name in the mind of the subject really stands for the body while the 'you' and T represent vague mental entities. Repressions of the auto-erotic" type are responsible for minimizing the importance of the body with the result that the mental processes receive an over-valuation and the bodily ones are depreciated. It is under these circumstances that there is partial failure of the introjection process and the ego and the ^super-ego remain as two separate entities. . The synthesis of the ego and the super-ego that is to be seen in normal person is achieved through the intermediary of bodily perceptions. The appreciation. of the body is the first step towards (Understanding the external reality. : I n my paper on 'A New Theory of Mental Life1 I have discussed my own conception of the ego and the difficulties of accepting the tripartite division of the personality as has been suggested by Freud,N In another paper 'Ambivalence' I have further shown that under the stress of a pair of wishes of the opposite type there takes place an unconscious identification of the subject with object in real life. This leads to a bond of union between the subject and the the object. Under normal conditions the person concerned can view the situation either from the standpoint of the subject or that of the object. In the later case the object serves as a point of attachment of what I have called the secondary ego. The secondary ego is motivated by wishes which are opposite in nature to those consciously felt by the primary ego. Under unfavourable circumstances the primary ego fails to understand the nature of the object and the development of the secondary ego is hindered. This results in various 3

| Hi

s
il

s if

if

is

74

G. BOSE

[ SAMIKSA

types of strain manifesting itself in unpleasant emotions such as fear, hatred, etc. If we accept the theory of opposite wish as suggested by me in the papers referred to above it will not be necessary to call into requisition entities such as the super-ego and th'e id to explain mental symptoms. For a fuller discussion my original papers may be consulted. To revert to our example the patient failed to realize the characteristics of the unwilling mother. His attempts at revenge were really efforts at action-identity. Action-identity leads to ego-identity which means a perfect identification with the unwilling mother-image in our example. The first stage in the adjustment of the conflict is by defiance and revenge on the part of what I have described as the : Freudian ego against the super-ego. Had the Freudian ego submitted to the demands of the super-ego, freedom from painful symptoms could have been obtained but at- a tremendous sacrifice. In the Oedipus story Oedipus'had to blind himself and retire from the world. It is conceivable that my patient also could have obtained peace of mind by following a similar line of action. That sort of cure is not worth attaining. The cure that results from overcoming the superego by defiance and revenge and subsequently realizing its nature is certainly likely to be more useful and permanent. My idea is that under normal conditions of development Oedipus wishes are not adjusted by yielding to the castration threat of the super-ego as has been supposed by Freud bufc by overcoming the obstruction imposed by the hostile father and mother images and the subject's final identification with them, The theory of opposite wish gives us a simple explanation in understanding these processes and the inter-relations of the Freudian ego, the id and the super-ego.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL S1UDY OF COLOUR PREFERENCE OF THE GAROS

T. C. SINHA

Nature abounds in colours. A glance through the open window shows so many different coloursin the sky, leaves of trees, garden flowers, buildings, animals, birds, etc. These innumerable hues and tints we do not seem to notice in our everyday life. We are not always conscious of the whiteness of the paper we write on, of the \ o o k s on the table and so on. We only become aware of it when the situation demands it. Then again there is the question of like and dislike in colours. One may prefer the dark red 'Black Prince' rose, while another prefer the lemon coloured one. Again the person who prefers red in rose mayas in all probabilityavoid or even discard red stuff when he selects materials for his suit, but the very same person may with pleasure select a red stuff for the dress of his young daughter. This happens with all the colours we usually come across in our daily life. Here then arise so many questions which, need clarification and experimental' verificationas to what the guiding factors in our preference of colours are. 1. Are these factors physical, physiological or psychological or some combination of them. 2. Is the colour preferred for the colours sake i.e, irrespective of the object, form of any associative memory, or is there any basic character types determining this preference of one colour to others. These and other similar questions are to be definitely answered before we come to any conclusion. In this short paper attempt has been made to throw some light on these problems. It is more like an introduction to the subject than a comprehensive and conclusive generalisation. Studies of the primitive peoples have yielded very valuable results in different branches of sciences especially in anthropology, sociology and psychology. Works in this particular line of psychology, viz., preference of colour have mainly been worked amongst the

T. C. SINHA

[SAMlKSA

Vol. 5, No. 2]

A PHYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

7?

civilized people. The data given in this paper have been collected from one of the primitive tribes of Assam known as the Garos. Before proceeding with the main subject matter of this paper it will be beneficial to mention some relevant points about the Garo people amongst whom this work was carried out. The Garos have their homeland known as the Garo Hills which is a district in Assam situated on the western end of the ranges extended from the Khasia and Jayantia Hills. Though Garo hills is their natural homeland a small number of them have migrated to the surrounding plains of Mymensingh, Rangpur and Goalpara. These half-naked darkskinned, medium statured hilly Garos were known as head hunters as late as 50 to 60 years ago. Their practice of head hunting was brought under control by the British Government when they claimed the hill tract and occupied it in 1876 A. D. under threat of capital punishment. I had occasions to come across old Garos who had experience and practice of head hunting during their early youth. Incidents of head hunting was found in dream also which I have collected in connection with the psycho-analytical investigations of the Garos. The menfolk usually wear 'gonda' a strip of cloth like 'koupin' usually worn by the Sanyasis. The womenfolk wear a piece of loin cloth 'rikhing' hanging from the waist down to about 4" inches above the knee, keeping the upper part of the body bare. The material is hand woven from yarns usually purchased now-a-days from the markets. Children upto 3 years or more wear no clothes. The Garos live in thatched bamboo huts constructed on raised platforms on the side of top oF hillocks. Basic food is boiled rice and dry fish and meat of games they kill. They cultivate the hillsides and grow rice and gourds and other local vegetables in small quantities. Other sources of earning are by selling fuels and timbers from the forest. The district is mainly covered with dfense forest, inhabited by all sorts of wild animals beginning from elephant to small goats and birds of various kinds. The Garos have no fire arms of their own but now-a-days some of them have taken licenses and keep guns. Spear and 'dao' are the weapons of their daily life. Usually 4 to 10 houses can be be seen in a village. Such villages are scattered all over the district excepting the region of the central ridge where only a few villages can be seen. Distance between one village and another varies from 2 miles to 8 miles or even more, connected by foot tracks through

the forest up and down hills. The Garos are timid at night and never go out, unless compelled, after duskv They always keep fire burning in the house and have no lantern either for lighting purpose or for carrying about. They worship spirits which are considered mostly malevolent. They offer worship to the relevant spirit for all sorts of trouble and diseases for the pacification of his wrath. They speak in Garo language which is not understood by the Bengalees or even other Assam tribes. There are several groups amongst them. It is found that one group has some dialects peculiar to it and these are not properly understood by another group. This language difficulty is one of the major factors to be overcome by a worker. Modern civilization is gradually creeping in amongst them and the Christian Missionaries are trying hard to convert them to Christian faith but their effort so far has not been so successful as was expected. Use of shorts and shirts amongst male members is gradually being adopted. Some of the women also are taking to blouse. The progress is slo^may be due to poverty. During the last War and also during toe World War I Garo recruits were taken in numbers. Those wi\> returned naturally brought some knowledge of lands beyond their own homeland. It seems vices are more easily imitated than the virtues. These few introductory informations regarding the people amongst whom the field work of collecting the data for this paper was carried out, may serve as the back-ground on which the procedure of work may be better understood. The question of colour preference was possibly taken up in connection with art productions in the very early period of human civilization. But that consideration most probably was in the field of popular choice of colour, i.e, to attract more attention towards the thing coloured than anything else. It is remarkable to note here that the artist of the Indian school of paintings several centuries ago used colours in their paintingsnot simply to copy it from nature but as medium of expression of certain particular ideas and feelings or rather as medium of expression of affective states. From the psychological standpoint this touches a very important field of investigation about which I shall have occasion to refer again in this paper.

lift

78

T. C. SINHA

[ SAMIKSA

Vol. 5, No. 2 ]

A PHYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

79

Experimental' studies in aesthetics in the present day sense of the term date back from Fechner. He tried to find out experimentally which of the given few forms were liked by majority of his subjects. Since then the study was taken up in its different aspects and some of them carried on experiments on colour preference amongst children, school boys and adults. Besides others in this field of work names of Goodenough, Binet, Holden, and Bosse, Valentine, Miss Shinn, Sterns, Winch, Meumann, Garbjni, Peters, Gelb, Katz, Woodwortb, etc. etc, may be mentioned in this connection. Some experiments have also been carried out to test the power of colour discrimination amongst animals, birds and insects by Thorndike, Kohler and others. Notable as the works of these eminent workers areit is to be noted that the type of work done so far are more or less statistical in nature and not truly psychological. Various methods have been adopted by different workers of which some are (A) Methods involving languages and others (B) Methods without direct linguistic aid. There are differences in details in the working out of the experiment by different workers under these broad groupings. For instance in (B) method colours may be presented by paired combination or the colours may be presented to the subject alt at a time. I had to select one method of presentation having an eye to, the group of people used as subjects, time at my disposal and the place and circumstances under which the experiment was carried out. I shall deal with the method I adopted in detail, presently. It is to be noted that the results obtained by the previous workers show no uniformity. According to Meumann and Winch the order of preference amongst children is as follows :red, blue, green, yellow, violet, orange. But Garbini found the following :red, green, yellow, orange, blue, violet. Valentine's series shows the following order of preference :yellow, white, pink, red, brown, black, blue, green, violet. The records of others also differ considerably. Although the same colour series was not taken up by all the workers, some more common colours were included by almost all of them. Yet the preference table shows all sorts of variations. It is difficult to account'for this difference at the present stage of our knowledge. Mostly attempts have been made to explain the preference on illumination is, brightness factor, 'cold' and 'Warm' value and also wave frequency and lastly on physiological developements. They lead us only to some depth of the problem

but eventually fail to explain it fully. No attempt has practically been made as yet to find out the deeper psychological factors. Particularly all these records were collected from the civilized society. The present work differs in this respect, too, that the data was collected from the primitive aboriginalsthe Garos. In my field work it was my primary intention to get at the depth of the subject i.e., to find out what prompted the subject to prefer a particular colour to others. The best way to get at it was considered to be the free association method. I tried to note down the free association of the subject in connection with the most preferred and the least preferred colour only. Of course I was not always successful as will be found from the data shown in Appendix B. The reasons of this failure so far as I could find out will be mentioned in due course. On the basis of the scrappy associations, not always free associations, the tentative conclusions regarding the deep seated causes for preferences af-particular colours seem to be justified. Other materials which I have been abl to collect regarding the dreams of these people their preferences for-: particular forms, their myths, songs, slang languages etc., add further confirmatory value to these conclusions.

Method
From what has been mentioned in the introduction regarding the habitat and culture of the Garos, it will be easily understood that it was not possible for me to collect the data from one Garo village, I had to move from village to village sometimes by boat, sometimes on foot and carry the test materials with me. The environment could not be the same for all subjects. Sometimes I had to pitch my tent on dry sands of a river or rivulet and at other times on some hill-top as the circumstances demanded. I tested the subjects sometimes when they were going out for or coming back from work. Also some were tested when they were idling away the time. The condition of the subjects, therefore, were not same. Yet I tried to make the best of the situation and tried to be equally cordial to them and talked to them for some time before I actually started with toy work. I shall describe my difficulties in collecting the materials after I have described the method I adopted. The Garos are easily bored, particularly this is marked when they are asked to do something the signi-

T.C. SINHA

[ SAMlKSA Vol- 5, No. 2 ] A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR 81

ficance of which they to not understand. This may be a very common phenomenen with other people too. I had to finish with every individual in short time. When I gathered a number of people, I explained fully what they would have to do, and asked the group to move away to some distance and to busy themselves in talking and smoking with my porters, also Garos. from where they could not see what was going on in the front of the tent. A tarpauline sheet grey in colour was spread on the sand bed or on the grass in the front of my tent. On this was placed a large sheet of grey papervery near to neutral grey as was available in Calcutta. It was first decided to take the spectral colours only for testing, but due to war situation such colours could not be procured from the market, dealers being out of stock. So selection had to be made from the available colour papers and different shades of same hue were intentionally included. This made the number greater but it was thought this might be helpful in coming to some definite conclusion. The total number of colour thus came to 13. The 13 differently coloured papers were previously sized l"x 1" and pasted on a slightly larger piece of grey paper and were numbered on the back, one number for each colour. As there were 13 colours the' pieces were numbered from 1 to 13 as will be found from the samples shown in appendix A. Some pieces of bamboo made to shape like a bone knitting needle about 8" in length were kept ready. These were used by the subjects to point out his preferred colour instead of touching it. This was done to prevent soiling the test material by careless handling. Paper and pen were kept ready to note down the results. As the experiments were carried out in day light only I took particular care to avoid cloudy days or presentation of colours directly under the sun. There was always sufficient day light during every trial. All these preperations done, I called one of the testees and made him sit comfortably and noted down his name, age, sex and repeated my instructions to him, explaining what he or she was to do. I scattered the 13 coloured paper pieces on the grey sheet of paper taking care so that no two near coloured papers were close to each other. I gave a bamboo needle to him and asked him to look at the coloured pieces of paper carefully and then to point out with the needle, the particular colour which he preferred best of the lot. When he bed done so, I took it away and turned it upside down and kept it at one corner of the grey sheet of paper

and noted the number of the colour. Then again I asked him to. select the best colour from amongst the remaining 12 pieces. This was repeated till all the 12 pieces were noted and the last of the least preferred colour only remained. I noted the number of this piece too. When this was done, I presented the best preferred colour again and asked him to look at the coloured piece then to close his eyes and to tell me whatever comes to his mind. I noted their association, then given. Some of them could not give any association. Some others gave it with eyes open as they said they could be more at ease with eyes open and that nothing comes to them when they close their eyes. It is well known how difficult it is to give actual freeassociation without training. It can easily be presumed how many times more difficult it must be for the Garos to give their freeassociation in the manner required of them. Still whatever associations given by them were noted. After a rest of about 5 minutes I repeated the whole experiment in the same manner as described above. I have collected data from more than 400 individuals. But only 115 agreed to sit for the repetition of the experiment. The rest did not agree at all. No amount of persuation could make them yield. In the first few attempts I tried my utmost to persuade them to sit again but later I thought the psychological value of the whole experiment may be spoiled if the testee does not take to it wholeheartedly or just do it indifferently. So I asked whether he was willing to sit for another presentation, if he agreed I repeated the experiment. I have given records of 100 individuals only with whom I could repeat the experiment and who co-operated with me in my work to sit as a subject. When the recording was over I sent him on to another side where he could not mix with the people who are to come after him and asked him not to talk to them. So that he might not prejudice others by his own preferences. The similarity of associations in many cases, inspite of all the precautions, aroused suspicion in me but I was fully satisfied, everytime, that there was nothing to doubt of consultations between the two or of over-hearing and that the precautions adopted worked satisfactorily. Here I may now mention about some characteristics noticed in the behaviour and attitude of the subjects during the experiment. I do not claim that these behaviour peculiarities are characteristic of the Garos only. As a matter of fact many of them are of general

r:

82

T. C. SINHA

[SAMIKSA

Vol. 5. No. % ]

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

nature and are found amongst subjects of other cultures in other ' experiments also. Most of the people who after hearing me agreed to submit to the test were very curious to see what actually the affair was. As a rule the women were very shy and almost always refused to co-operate, so also some of the young males''between 14 and 25 yearsand some young children between 5 years and 7 years of age. , In some villages people were very much suspicious about the purpose of this experiment and they mistook it as one of the methods of recruitment for war. I had difficulties in allaying their fear. Some people thought it to be some form of gambling or lottery. Yet others refused to co-operate apprehending that some unforeseen evil would befall on them- if they join in such activities. Possibly they were afraid of some magical power in the whole experiment. The Garos found no meaning in such scientific pursuit. \ The greatest of all was the difficulty of language. In a primitive language it is only natural that only general type of words, i.e., words signifying meanings connected with necessities of daily life will be found. Subtle differences are not easy to be expressed in their language. Particularly words like 'emotion', 'feeling', 'association', 'memory', etc., can not be rendered into Garo language. It was with great difficulty that I could express myself to make clear what I meant by free-association. It was noticed that some people could finish the whole series very quickly, while some others took longer time to finish. In a few case only the time taken exceeded 10 minutes. It was found they were vacillating to point to any one colour and moving the pointer several times over different pieces and finally indicated one as his best preference. It appeared he was never sure of his choice. On enquiry I found he was vacillating in his everyday work also. It was almost a general feature that those who indicated their selection quickly took rather longer time in giving the association than those who took longer time in showing their preferred colour. There seems to exist a sort of inverse temporal relationship between the selection of colour and in giving their association, i.e. shorter the time for selection of colour longer is the time required to give their association. Of course, as in every other field, there is exception to this general feature noticed,

Individual attitude types were noticeable. Some persons took the whole thing very seriously. Some rather indifferently. Yet others took it as something rather funny. Some were askance and were curious to see or know the result. From some practice cases it. was found that the whole series of selections could be indicated in about 2 minutes. I made some margin and allowed 3 minutes' time for the choice and total time of 7 minutes for the association in connection with the first preference and the last preferred one. In only a few cases I allowed as long time as they required only to mark their peculiarities. In discussing the results obtained as shown in the Appendix B, it may be advantageous to deal in part, i.e. to discuss first the position of each colour in the preference table shown in Appendix C, and then todiscuss the association given in connection with the preferred colour. The first point noticeable from the data is that almost all the 13 colours occur in all the 13 places of preference. So there was no colour in the series of absolute choice or rejection by all. For example colour No. 13 which is preferred as the best by the most of the subjects occupy the first place in 55% of cases and this colour also occurs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th up to the 13th place in different individual cases. The curve shown in Appendix D indicates the number of occurrence of the best and the least preferred colour in different places. Thus the colour chosen by one person as the best is considered by another person as the worst of the series and vice-versa, In the series of colours Blue was preferred by majority of people, next comes Red and the least preferred is light green. If we consider the result of the 1st time presentation of colour to the 100 subject the best preference order stands as follows: (indicate 1 by the number of colour) 13, 6,10, 4, (3, 8, 9,) (5, 7,) [1, 2,11,12] in which Nos. 3, 8, 9 scored equal and Nos. 5, 7 scored the same numbers of selectors, whereas Nos. 1, 2, 11 and 12 were not preferred as the best by any testee and No. 13 was chosen by the majority. Considering the least preferred colour we have the following Series : 9, (5, 7,) 1, 4, (6, 10,11, 12,) 8, (2, 13.) 3, of which numbers mentioned within brackets scored equal marks. So No. 9 was considered by the larger number of the testees as the worst colour. Similarly

'

34

T. CSINHA

[ SAMlKSA

Vol. 5. No. 2 ]

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STdDY OF COLOUR

85

from the results obtained by presenting the colours for the second time the following order of preference is shown ; 13, 6, 10, 4, 3, (8, 9,) (1, 2, 7, 11, 12,) [5]. No. 5 was not selected by any testee as the best colour. The least preferred order shows as follows: 9, 7, 5, 4, 2,13, (1, 6, 12,) 10, 8, 11, [3]. No. 3 is not considered in this series as the worst colour by any testee. The following are the comparative order of preferences both in the best and the least preferred colour series as indicated by (i) in the 1st and by (ii) in the 2nd presentation : Best preferred, (i) 13, 6, 10, 4, (3, 8, 9,) (5, 7,) [1, 2, 11, 12]. (ii). 13, 6, 10, 4, 3, 8, 9, ( 1, 2, 7, 11, 12, ) [5]. Least preferred. (i) 9, (5, 7.) 1, 4,. (6, 10, 11, 12) 8, (2, 13) 3. (ii) 9, 7, 5, 4, 2, 13, (1, 6, 12) 10, 8, 11, [3]. : In selecting the best of the series in order it appears the selection was more definite up to the 7th place in the above comparative chart. In the 1st presentation No. 13 was selected best by the largest number of testees, where as Nos. 1, 2, 11, 12 were not considered as the best colour of the series at all and Nos. 5 & 7 being, the selection of the minimum and equal number of testees as the best. In the second presentation the same No. 13 was considered the best by the largest number of testees, and No. 5 was not selected by any of them as the best, whereas Nos. 1, 2, 7, 11, 12 were considered best by the minimum and equal number of candidates. In selecting the least preferred colour of the series No. 9 was indicated by the largest number of candidates. But as regards other colours wide discrepancy is observed. Colour No. 3 is considered worst of the series by the least number of testees, in the 1st presentation but in the 2nd presentation colour No. 3 was not considered worst of the lot by any body. Taking 1st and 2nd presentation records together we have the following results:

Best preferred : 13, 6, 10, 4, 3, (8, 9\ 7, <1, 2, 5, 11,. 12). Least preferred : 9, 7, 5, 4, 1, (2, 6, 12), 13, 10, (8,. 11), 3. From the results of the two presentations taken together we have the following order of preference of colour series i.e, the colours preferred by the largest number of testees in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd 13th places :

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 13. 6. 8. 3. 3. 2. 11. 5. 11. 11. 7. 7. 9. Similarly the least preferred colours in different places are : is* 2nd 3rd 4th ^ 6th 6th (1,2,5,11,12), 5, 4, 7, (7,13), (6,13), 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th
13, 13. 13. 13, 13, 3. Now we may deal with the association given by the testees in connection with 1st and the last preferences in the given set of colours. It is apparent from the records that the association materials are very meagre and have been expressed by one or two words in most cases. Another very important feature of the association is that in almost all cases names of objects have been given. In no case the association directly touched, a- ,wish or affect of the subject.. It is; instructive to note that outside objects attract more attention than subjective mental states in the case of the Garos. This is possibly true in majority of cases amongst other people too. Does it suggest that the Garos, or it may be the primitive people, are more of Extrovert types? - The decision is; yet to bz arrived at by further comparative study between the primitive and more civilized peoples. One thing: was clear from ray experiment with them that introspective power is very poor and ill-developed amongst the Garos; This is nothing to be wondered at when we remember the difficulty experienced in. the laboratory work with untrained subjects taken from the civilized people. Good introspection is a result of training. In my experiment I had no opportunity to train them in this line and these people met with such experiments for the first time in their life. It is the common experience of the psycho-analyst that the analysand, when he begins the association*, mostly deals with objective 13,

IX

36

f. C. SINHA

[SAMIKSA. Vol 5, No. 2 ] A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR 87

phenomenon for the first few days. Only gradually the subjective wishes and affective reactions connected with the free-association make their appaarence. It was nothing unusual, then, that the testees mostly gave objective associations. The points I wish to stress here is that although the associative meterial is scrappy and no direct affective touch is to hi found, yet the association was given in connection with the colour he preferred best or he considered the worst of the given set of colours. Here the stimulus colour was pleasant in case of the best preferred one, and unpleasant or less pleasant in the case of the least preferred colour. In dream analysis and analysis of some obscure statement by the patient it is often found that the pleasant stimulus brings out pleasant associations and unpleasant stimulus brings out unpleasant associations. We may, with some certainty, presume that the associations .given by the Garos leave a pleasant feeling in connection with the' best preferred colours and unpleasant feeling or less pleasant feeling in connection with the least preferred colour. If we now examine the associations with reference to this context, it may be helpful to come to the understanding of some deeper factors involved in the preference of colour. In the majority of cases who preferred No. 13, i.e. the blue colour gave the association of 'cloth', 'sea', 'sky', 'hills', mother Kali', 'Krishna', and so on. A few facts may be helpful-to better understand these associations. The Gato women, wear a loin cloth deep blue in coloursometimes having two red borders. In Garo mythology reference is often found of "Chi-Bima" i.e., oceans from which the earth was created. Some hillocks are considered as the seat of some spirits and are usually avoided by the Garos. It should be noted also that most of the Garo deities are females and they are mostly malevolent excepting a few only who are considered benevolent. The Hindu deity Kali is worshiped also by some groups of the Garos, though they do not worship the idols. The usual practice is to construct a "Sambasia* i.e., place branches of bamboo and other local plants at the place of worship and consider it as the seat of the spirit. God Krishna is not known by the Garos of the interior, a few who come to the plains often, and see the Hindu ceremonies know something of this. They know more about Krishna from the Kirtan practised by their immediate neighbour, another aboriginal tribe,

the Hajongs who are greatly influenced by Hindu religion and who worship Kali and Krishna. I shall now mention the psycho-analytical meanings of some of these given associations as I could unearth in some of my subjects. Clothis the material with which the mother hides her body. Inquisitiveness to see the Oedipus body is demonstrated by the wish to lift the cloth. In the particular case of the Garos the blue cloth is connected with the 'Riking' which the Garo women wear. Here then it indicates the same Oedipus tendency. S e a - I n a few cases I found sea represents the big and deep mother's vagina, which is fraught with danger (inhabited by dangerous animals). In Tagore's poem also "Ocean" has been considered as mother. Shyis the symbol of protective and soothing caress of the mother. Hillsrepresent the big breasts and buttocks of the Oedipus mother. In the classical poems of Kalidas the same simile is found. In dream analysis hills with streamlet, in some cases represented the female genitalia. Mother Kaliis usually the hostile mother image but at times she is considered as the ambivalent mother. KrishnaThe love relation between Krishna and Radha has the same Oedipus element in it, Krishna making love with Radha who is his maternal aunt i.e., the Oedipus image. Thus it appears the largest number of the testees clearly indicate a strong repressed Oedipus tendency which prompted them to select the blue as the best colour. But this Oedipus is not altogether a pleasant object. The love relation with mother resulting in Oedipus fixation and the sense of danger, the bigness and vastness in size, associated with Oedipus as also the dangerous elements in her makes her appear attractive and desirable as an object of love on the one hand and on the other she is to be considered as dangerous and fearful; hence to be discarded. It is this conflict, then, which may be traced in the selection of the blue colour where the attachment predominates over the Oedipus fear. Predominance of this Oedipus desire is also clearly manifest in the Garo custom in which it is incumbent that the son-in-law must marry the widowed mother-in-law after the death of her husband.

Vol. 5. No. 2 ]
88

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

89

T.C.SINHA

[ SAMIKSA

I may now proceed to consider the associations in connection with the colour least preferred by the largest number of Garos. From the given data in the appendix it is to be found that the colour No. 9 i.e., the light green colour is disliked or rather least preferred in the given set of colours. The associations given mainly refer to one of the following ; (1) Not good, (2) White, (3) Dead grass, (4) Dead leaf, (5) Grass, eaten by cows, it is cut away when the grass becomes long, (6) Indistinct, (7) Washed out, (8) Earthen toy fruit, (9) Not bright, (10) Bad textile stuff and bad Saree, (11) Dullold, (12) Water hyacinth, (13) Clouddoes not shower, crop failure, (14) Pale diseased. It is not possible to understand the inner factors connected with the given associations in every case such as in items Nos. 12 and 1. In the general way the other associations may be broadly classed under sickness, death, weakness, oldness, (indistinct, dull, washed off, not bright) sense of being eaten up unfertility. Considered from the literal sense of the above classification it becomes obvious that these are situations which a normal human being takes pain to avoid in all possible ways. It is the common desire in every man to live long and to enjoy health and happiness. Anything which might evoke any antagonistic feeling to these senses of long living and well being, it is natural, would be looked upon- as undesirable. As we have seen the light green colour (sample No. 9) gave rise to some association connected with one of the above mentioned undesirable states'hence it is least preferred. I have already mentioned that in the absence of further detailed associations it is not possible to be very definite about the deeper factors involved in this selection from the psycho-analytical standpoint. Yet the results are so obvious and indicative that it may not be far wrong to attempt a tentative conclusion from the available materials. In the patients who come under psycho-analysis idea of disease, weakness, death, is found to be associated in most cases with the unconscious idea of punishment that would befall as a result of overriding the prohibition connected with the unconscious sexual desires towards the Oedipus, In this type of punishment the whole body of the person is involved. But there is another group of

punishment in Oedipus attempt in which the idea of impotency and castration is more prominent. This idea, also, was in some of the testees the unconscious deciding factor. It is particularly clear in associations like 'cutting the grass', 'of grass being eaten up by the cows', 'old age', 'unfertility', etc. In the association of 'cow eats up the grass' the idea of vagina dentata is to be noted. It is curious to note that in both the cases i.e. in selecting the most preferred and the least preferred colour the Oedipus Complex played; the deciding part. Mother, as I have already mentioned, is looked upon both as an object of love (desirable) and as an object to be. avoided due to the dangers associated with her (undesirable). This ambivalent mother, then, plays a very important role in the colour preference of the Garos. The colour which gives rise to more of the pleasureable aspects of the Oedipus is preferred and the colours which erouse the unpleasant aspect of the Oedipus Complex is least preferred. It is not possible at this stage of our knowledge to say how these associations group around a colour or as a matter of that around an object. Viewing from this point the possibility that suggests itself is that each colour is associated with some particular emotion type which in its turn signifies particular stages of adjustment in the psycho-analytical sense of the term 'adjustment'. I must confess that this is uptil now a more speculation which is supported by a few data dealt with in this paper. Future work only will be able to testify the correctness of these statements. The possibilities of future work are so immense and are so important that it is very much desirable that further work be taken up in the line. With further material in hand it may some day be possible to understand the basic character type of a person from the knowledge of his colour preference to a great extent. In this short paper I have only indicated the results obtained from the few cases. In future works attempts should be made to find out the different aspects and to note the different factors which predominate in the selections in different age and sex groups as also in different tribes and nationalities for comparative study. It is also necessary to study whether the preference changes in different moods or emotional states of the same individual. Very important findings may be available if the individuals are tested at different stages during the course of psycho-analysis

90

T. C. SINHA

[ SAMtfCSA

Vol. 5. No. 2]

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

91

and to note change in the preference, if any, as also the association connected with it. These and other factors will be found helpful to come to some definite conclusion regarding the factors which are involved in colour preference of a person. When these points are determined we may then be in a position to say whether there is any basic unchangeable factor associated with each colour. Our present knowledge is too poor to come to any definite conclusion. Any attempt to do so at the present moment must necessarily be jumpy. In the light of the conclusions arrived at and mentioned above we may attempt to explain the observation already made regarding the temporal relation between the selection of colour and giving the association. To human subjects colour may be considered as more abstract than words to rouse emotions and to stir up the unconscious conflicts. Subjects in whom the particular conflict has been to some extent successfully repressed may select the colour quickly but when the association is : asked for the repressed desire, in its efforts to come out, may make the subject uneasy, hesitant, indicisive," etc. and the subject is momentarily diverted from his given task. The whole attempt, then, being to repress the undesirable wishes again back to the deeper unconscious. This may be one of the reasons for taking more time to give the association. On the other hand those who take more time to select the colour may be struggling to settle the conflict already stimulated by colour. In their case the repression may not have been very successful. Once the conflict has been decided one way or the other they can give their associations more easily. It is to be noted in either case the difficulty lies in the factor of repression. We may presume in ease of very successful repression and also in case of proper adjustment such conflicts would not arise. In case of weaker repression the partially repressed wishes may be touched upon by either colour or word according to the types of individual. Does it, then, suggest that there are individual types in whom either the visual or the auditory or olfactory or tactual stimulus can more easily excite the repressed wishes and emotions ? In every-day life also we find individuals who can not stand a particular smell or one who can not stand a particular type of sound. Again there are

persons who are more easily carried by music than by food and so on. This problem offers an interesting study but for our present purpose this is beyond the scope of this paper. From the genetic standpoint the whole problem may be viewed from a different angle. To a child and may be to some animals as well, colour has a more direct appeal to the desires. With the gradual development in age and experience the child learns the significance and use of the symbol of words, which being more wide in range and subtle in conception, gradually gains more ground in every-day life. Colour, then, may be considered as more primitive than words. But words are nothing but specific sounds. It is difficult to say which of these two stimuli i.e. the visual and the auditory are more primitive. Further study is necessary to. come to any definite conclusion. Freud in his tri-partite topographical conception of mind viz. unconscious, pre-conscious and conscious, suggests that the "preconscious wears an auditory lobe." This theory suggests that in the unconscious there is no language i.e. there is no word in the unconscious it is the region of emotions and wishes either repressed from the other zones or of those which never could reach those other zones at all. It is in the transition from the pre-conscious to the conscious level that a particular emotion or wish takes help of words, Judging from this view point, we might assume that those testees who took more time in selecting the colour suffered from conflict and repression more in the pre-conscions level of the mind, where once the more predominant of the conflicting forces got the upper role, could very easily find the necessary associations near at hand ready for use. On the other hand persons who selected the colour more easily and took longer time to give the associations or altogether failed to do so, were those in whom the repression He deeper in the unconscious level wherefrom it becomes difficult to pull it up to the pre-conscious level'by the* colour stimulus where it might find associative words. In some cases the effort fails totally while in others it may come out with difficulties in a few words only. It should Be noted that the whole attempt at explaining the behaviour of the testees in their selection and giving- the association, is purely hypothetical and a post-experimental development. No attempt was iaade to ascertain any facts on these points from the

Hi

Vol. 5, No. 2] 92 T. C. SINHA

[

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

"

testees. Later works may throw further light, the possibili-. ut which are positively encouraging. In gathering the results of the works done as well as the rat >in Js employed by the previous workers in colour preference, I couJ ' ~v d only a few books for my help. The range of detail study was 1 I > but the view points of different psychologists on this part i.1 r problem have been fairly taken into consideration so far as cov'J. .' done from the reading of the following books :

meri

"o-S
+J
_j CO

8 2*3 1 is .I* *i>

y to
11

:in|

E ?
< a rt-'S?

| | |
tn 01

zr

-f

&

-sip

pi

Best Prefer<

a! Q

11th. 12th.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Myers Koffka Woodworth Murchisons Titchener

Text-hooh of Experimental Psychology^ The Growth of the Mind. Experimental Psychology. Psychology of Children. A Text-Book of Psychology.

IdoIofKal be used in

Green of tl tant paddy

Like a red eats gn gives m

Croton U

.s

H a

CO

tn
CO
!>.

in

in

in
00

en r. ,_,
t-H
T1

in

in

CM
TH

TH

s a
C O 00

CM

CM r-i

CM
i-H

rp

CO .

TP
rH

<o

ed data

6th. 7th.

ov
rH
*

s
in ,_,

s
co
i-H

rH rH

OJ rH

CM

5 5
CM

co co
TH

* tn

rH

-1
3rd, 1st.

CM

co co
CO

s
CO CM

rH

CO

i s
6 , 55
o
Ii

s
CM
CO

CO
TH TH

vo
co
TH

i-t

CO

rH
1l l-H

co

O
T'

1(

a
CO

55 St.
r-H

Good.
CO

eo
CM CO

iH

I> <M

SH

A S S O C I A riQN. St. No. P. No 1st. .2nd. 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th.. 9th, 10th, 11th. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference
X

5.

13 12 11

2
t

10

Pleasant, agreeable, soothes the eye.

II

12 13 11

8 10

r-t

6.

6 12 10

3 13

11

Reflections on cloud.

Pale, nausiating, Suffering from peculiar malady. Dyspepsia,

11

8 10 13
13

7 12

11

7.

6 10

4 11

11
r-I

13

9 2

6 3

4 10 5

11

3 12.
7

7 4

5
9

Blue colour of the sea, hills, animals live in, like it, Plays Vermilion used on the forehead of elderly ladies, blood can be seen when a goat is slaughtered. -

Not useful.

i-i

Lion's colour, fear, eats man.

8.

6 13

8 10

12 i i

White.

> g

11

13

(2

1 12 10

4 11

Sr. No. P, No. 1st.' 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th.

ASSOCI ATION Least Preference Best Preference^

9.

13

3 12 11

10

Blue used in linen after washing. Flower, good.

White jackets.

II

6 13 12

2 11

10

10.

I II

6 13

3 8

4 11

12

10

Like the linen of grand mother, very good. Beautiful.

Looks like sister, don't like. Resembles the linen of elder sister. My shirt, not good

6 13 3
13 6 '8

4 10

5 11

12

11.

3 10

2 12

11

Sky.

II

13

6 10

1 ii

4 12

Not good.

12.
9

I
II

13

6 11

3 10

5 12

Aparajita flower Like grass, cows eat up. worships Luxmi. remains in the house Don't like.

13

3 10 11 12

Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. loth. IXth. 12th. 13th.

A S S O C I AT1ON Best Preference Least Preference

13.

8 if

4 11

9 13

12

10

Pictures may be Colour of the roof, painted in the house and of paper.

II
14.

10 7

8 13 4 10

3 11 2

2 12 8

6 3

1 5

7 6

4 13 Shirting material, picture. Bad linen, human beings appear black from a distance, bad, poor.

1 11

9 12

II
15.

7 12

1 8

2 3

3 2

4 11 10 1 7

8 12

6 4

13 9 Hibiscus, wish to pluck. Good.

6 13 10

5 11 5

II

7 12

4 11

8 10

13 Grass, Has got to be cut off when grows longer. Cows eat. 4

Black, not good.

16.

13

3 10

2 12 11

Linen, Veil colour. Orange colour, bad I have one warm. sour. Good.

II

13

8 10

1 12

2 11

y
5 ',

A S S O C ;A.TION Sr No. P. No, 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th, 7th. 8th. 9th. lO.ih. llth. 12th. 13th, Best Preference Least Preference.

21.

6 13

3 10 11

12

Kite colour.

Like it but not good. Looks like bad (something).

*

II

2 13

8 10

1 12

4 9

11 4

Wish to see blood.

*, .

22.

13

8 10 12

Shirt. P >

II

13

3 12

8 10

9 11

Slate.

23.

13

8 10

5 11

2 12

Bird.

Vermilion like

II

13

2 11 3

4 10

12

Linens of brother's wife. Kali idol. Book coverings, no good, Not good.

24.

13

8 3 10 2
.8 3 2

1 11

12

>

II

13

5 11 10

12

1.

Blue sky.

ASSOC] ATION Sr. No. P,No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. pth. 9th, 10th. llth. Uth. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

25.

13 10 12

11

Saree, flower, officer's wife.

***
. . .

As it looks when egg is broken. Not good.

is

p
to

II

11

4 12

6 13 10

26.

1 13

10 12

11

Complexion of Ashura. Colour of book, english, Brinjal.

Vermilion. \
1

< n

x o tr*
O

II

13

10

5 11

4 12

Shirt, not good.

o
O

27.

8 13

10

2 12

9 11

Pink saree, not good (in the Shop).

c o

II

13

10 11

7 12

Saree (in the shop)

8
O C

r*

28,

9 13 10

7 12

1 11

Fast colour in saree

Colour washes away ; violet, Appears bad.

II

2 12 10

7 11

13,

Sister's saree.

=235*--.

ASSOCI A T I O N Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

29.

13 "6 ' 2

i
8

3 10

11

12

Shirting material.,

Paper.

II

6 13

1 10 5

12

11

Paper, book.

Colour washed off.

i

30.

13

2 11

1 12

3 10

Book covering.

Colour of brinjal faded colour. P

II 31. I

13 : 8
9 ' 7

1 10

11

12 :

8 '4

5 10" 11 1

3 12

'2

13

Vermilion, married, Linen of the girls of the neighbouring bad. house. *\ ... Aunt, not good.

II

9 10 12

5 13 3

11

32.

13 . 2

3 11 10

1 12 10

Saree, sky.

Cover ( book )

II,. .; ?:.

9 .... 1 13 . 11

4 , 5

I- '

Blurred.,,

., .-.

A S S O C ] ATION Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd . 4th. 5th, 6th. 7th. 8th. 9tli, 10th. llth . I2th. 13th. Best Preference. Least Preference

33.

6 13

10

12

11

Book cover, sky,

Blurred.

II

13

12

1 10

11

Mother.

Book cover, not indistinct.

S
34.

13

2 10 12

11

Sky.

II

13

6 10

8 11

4 12

5
Sky.
o

35.

I II I

10 13

1 11

4 12

Paddy field. Hills, field. Ocean.

Cloud, not good, does not rain, crop : failure.

n > 4 c

x>
o o c

13 10
n

3 3

2 11

1 12

7
i

36.

13

12 10 11
'\ "f

Sky, ocean.

Saree of brother's
... - ,.,,Wife

It

;1Q

12- ,8: 4r

5- 2-

1 1 .''

a'- 13;

!1

':: '6/

Hills.-'

.--

. . . ;

'

ASSOCI ATION Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th, 5th . 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. Jltl i. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

37.

13. 8

12

11

10

Ocean sky.

Mepacrine, bitter.

II

6 10

9 12

11

13

Fire.

38.

I.

13

2 12

10

11

Sky, deep water

Colour of shirt, washes off. P

II

13

10 11

12

Water hole. I think fish is there. Sky. Colour of tree, not good. Dead.

a.

39.

13

2 10

12

11

II

6 13 10

8 11

9 12

Book cover.

40.

6 13 10

8 12

11

Colour on tin. Atlas book cover. Darkness.

Turmeric not good.

II

13

6 12 11 10

.5

mHm
ASSOCI ATION Sr. No. P. No. 1st 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6 th. 7th. 8th. 9th. loth. llth. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preferene
o.

41.

13

8 12 10

2 11

Sky.

Ocean.

Papers

Z
o

II

13

6 10

11 4

3 12

Shirt material, pant. Not good, looks ugly if flowers are made. Sky, shirt. Not good.

42.

13 6

10

4 12

9 11

s o
o c
D !

II

13 6

8 10

11

12

Ocean.

Colour washes off.

43.

13 2

8 10 12

5 11

Sea water, sky.

II

13 6

3 10

5
3

4 12 11

Hills, pant

Colour of bird good, Dry leaf, not good. <>

s
c

o o

44.

13 12

10 11

Sea, sky.

II

13 8

2 11 - 4 10

12

Hillg

- . 9
4

ASSO CI A T I O N Best Preference Least Preference

Sr. No, P. No. 1st. 2nd, 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. Sth. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th.

45.

13

10 ,3

12

2 11

Peacock.

: Colour washes off,

P
46-

. 8 . 2 10

f.3

,i

5 ,9
i

n
9

12

4,

,,r Blue.

Not good.

13

.6 .10

8' .2

3, ,
2

>

12 11,

Paper box. ,

Soap,
H O

II
L

13 ,6

. 3 ,8

10

5 ; 4 11 12 1 11 12
5

...

....

Book cover not. good. Clay fruits; in the shop. .

47.

13

.,8 10

4.

Picture book

II

6 13

2 IP

4 11 12

7,

Shirt, dolls, elephant.

'

'

"

.48.

13 6
13 8

8 -3

1 10

11

12;

| Kali idol.

Book cover not good.

'' '''

II

2 12. 4.. .1

6 10

11

7i

- S k y .

Si >

F^HRP^^^^^^^^^^ 5 '*^^ 1 " ^^5!9^*sW^^^!W^t^pSWi^^?'^^6^^:"?^Tv*^^

ASSOCI A T I O N Sr. No.

<

p.n o. 1st.. 2nd. 3rd. 4th,. 5th . 6th. 7th. Sth . 9th. 10th. lrth. 12th. 13th. 1

Best Preference

Least Preference

49.

13

10

2 6

11 12

5 3

Sky, book cover.

Bird colour.

f
T3 Vi

II

13 12 10

11

Jacket of Saraswati. Kali idol. , Sky.

50.

13

6 10

11

9 12

S
o
Co H

II I

13

2 10

11

1 12

Globe cover. Kali idol. Shirt, pent.

Never seen this colour. Not good.

51.

13

2 10

3 12

4 11

s
o

II I

13

6 12 11

5 5

10

Sky, Hills, Sea.

o o t-1 o
G

52.

13

10

9 11

12

Sky, Ocean.

Book cover not good. ... ,,.

411

11

6 13

3 10

11 12

Book cover.

Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9tt 10th. lith. 12th. 13th,

ASSOCl ATION Least Preference Best* Preference

53.

I II

13 10 8

1 11
9 10

5 9 1 5

12

Sun, Sky.

: Turbid, not good. Cloudy.

13

3 8 12

11 4

2 12

Sky. Krishna.

54.

10 13 8

1 7 11 2 9 11

Tongue of Kali.

Pale colour.

II I

13

6 10 12

Saree.

! Colour of map.

55.

13

2 10 8 10 1 2 1 8

1 12 11 7

3 5

Kali, idol. Hills.

Male picture not good.

II
I II

13

1 11 12

Sky. Krishna.

56.

6
6

13 13

3 4

8 10 3

5 11

4 12

12

Sun, Sindur. (Bengali) mothers use it.

Shirt not good.

3>

.5

2 9 10

11 . 7

g.

Sr. No! P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th 10th.

nth. lith. 13th/

ASSOCl A T I O N Least preference Best Preference

57.

4 13 3

8 12

11 10 4

10

Flower, wish to smell, Sun Blood, wish to eat goat. Shirt.

Bad flower.

II

6 13

3 4

5 1

11

9 12

Duranta flowers, , thorns. Not bright.

58.

13

3 2 10

5 11

1 12

II I

13 6

3 2

5 10 8 12 5

4 11

12 9

Glass buttons

Nat colaur. \ Sky.

59.

2 1 13

5 10

7 11

Sun, goat blood

II I

6 10

1 3
j

2 11

8 13

12
9

There is blood in human body. New grass.

Not good.

60.

10

6 13

8 12 11
6 11

Like gold but not bright.

'<
it,

II

13 10'

< *

4 -1

-" . . : i

2i Saree.

ASSOCI A T I O N Sr. No P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th, 7th. 8th, 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

61.

I
II
I

4 10

5 13

2 12 11

Sadhu, flag.

Not bright.

1 13

2 10

9 12 11

Orange

t*t

***

62.

6 13

8 12

4 11

7 10

Blood, sun.

II

6 13

10

1 11 12

Blood when goat is slaughtered. Sadhus wear. Shirt colour

r*
P
CO
4

63.

4 13 10
4

1 11

2 12

II

1 13

5 10 12

2 11

Fire.

Black, can't be seen.

64.

13

6 10

3 11 12

Clear sky.

Washes off.

II

13

2 10 12

4 11

Shirting material.

Not bright.

ASSOCI A T I O N Sr. No. P. No. lat. 2nd, 3rd. 4th, 5th, 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th, 10th, llth. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

65.

4 10 13

1 11

9 12

Fire.

II

4 10

5 13
1

8 12

9 11

Bairagies wear.

I
6 10 12 5 2 9 7 11 4 . Sky.
t t * * * *

66. - I

13

33 O

II 11

6 13

4 10

2 12

Flower.

* t

67.

6 13

1 10

7 11 12

Calender

Jungle colour.

o o
II 13

6 10

7 12

9 11

Saree (at Mymensingh) Sky, Kali-idol.

Commonly seen, not good, White.

5
G

68.

13

1 10

2 12

II 13

8 10

5 12 11

Saree.

Pant.

** ***

Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th, 8th. 9th. 10th. 11th. 12th. 13th. f

ASSOCIATION Best Preference Best Preference Least Preference

~6&

13 6

10 2

11 5

12

7 9~

Saree.

Grass colour.

II

13 6

1 2

10 5 12 11

Sky.

Hazy.

70.

13 6

10 4 11 12

Sky pant.

II

13 6

3 10 2

1 11 4

9 12

Pencil.

***

***

71.

4 13

8 12 10 3

1 11 9

Flag of the "Sangha" Sadhu's wear. [

Leaf colour.

II

4 11 12 1 5 13

3 10

Blood.

72.

10 13

4 12 11 9

Tree, Forest.

\ Dry leaf, not good, > g

II

10 13

32

8 '7 5

4 12 11 9

Happy, good.

Sr, No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd; 4th. 5th; 6th. 7th.

9tb. 10th. 11th. 12th. 13th.

ASSOC I ATION Least Preference Best Preference

.
o to

73.

13 10

8 12

11

Kali.

...

II

10 13 11

2 12

...

Oi K|

74.

I
II

10

6 13

2 " 4 9 12

11

Jungle

. . .

O O

5
2
10 6 13 8 1 3 2 9 12 11 7 4

5 5

' ...

. . .

o >

75.

10 13

11

2 12

. . .

II

10 13

1 12

11

...

. . .

g c
to

76.

13

8 10

3 12 11

Kali, sky.

Not good.

13

8 10

12

Sky, ocean

...

St. No. P. No. Ist. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th.

ASSOC I ATION Best Preference Least Preference

77.

I II

13

2 11

3 12

1 5

10

Sky, hills.

Jungle.

13

2 11 3

9 10

12

7 2

Hill.

...

78.

13

8 10 6 10 8 12 8 10

9 11 9 11

5 12 3

...

II I

8 13

2 12

5 5

...

...

O
CO

79.

13

3 10

1 11

Sea, Hill.

Washes off.

5 >

II I

13

1 12 11

Kali idol.

80

13

3 10

9 12

il

Kali, sea,

Looks like white.

CO >

II

13 10

1 11 12

Sky.

Jungle.

Sr. No. P. No, 1st. 2nd. 3rd, 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8ch. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th 13th.

ASSOCI ATION Best Preference Least Preference

81.
DO

13 10

8 11

12

Saree.

...

II

13

3 10

1. 7

4 12

2 11

Peacock colour.

Linen.

82.

I
II

6 13

2 10

5 12

4 11

**AIta'\ Saree.

Bad staff.

I n

8 13

2 12

7 10

5 11

Shirting material

Wall colour.

a o S a n >
H

83.

3 10 3 10

4 12 7 6

7 11 1 9

5 13

Linen.

Room colour not good. Kali idol, Fear.

II

2 12 3

5 11 13
9
8

...

s
84.

o n o

10 12

4 11 13

2
4

6 8

Tree.

"Bangal"

10 12 11

3 13

Linen.

Not good.

ASSOCIATION. Sr. No. P. N o 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6tb. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. 11th. 12th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

85.

4 12 9

7 11 10

2 13

II

1 12

2 10 9

7 11

5 13

86.

3 1 13 1U 8

6 11

4 12

Plantain leaf.

Room colour.

I I

3 20 4 13 8

6 12 11

Magnolia flower, good scent. Mother's sarec.

Fire. Match box.

87.

8 13 6

3 12 10 5 11

Bad saree.

II

13 8

7 10 2

9 12 11

Writing ink, Saree

Catechu, Bitter.

I I I

8 13 6

3 2

2 10

11 12 9 7 4

4 9

1 1

Mother's linen. Shirt. Shall purchase

Bad linen.

13 8

3 11 5 12 10

Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. bth. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. 11th. 12th. 13 th.

A S S O.C I A T I O N Best Preference Least Preference

t
Z-

89.

13

8 10

3 12 11

Good shirting stuff. Aunt's saree. Don't love her.

II

13

3 12

2 10

11

90.

13

8 12

10 11

Saree.

Shirt not good.

II

6 13

2 10 11 12

1 9

s
Blood, sun.

o
en

O > t-

91.

6 10

2 12 1

7 11

13

Shirt, saree.

Dull colour, bad.

<

II.

2 10

1 12 11

13

Ribbon.

Used as door paint.

O G
jqs

92.

13

3 10

12 11

Sky.

Rotten mango, loaf.

II

13

3 12 10

11

Sea. Kali idol.

ASSOCI ATION Sr. No. P. No. 1st. 2nd. 3rd . 4th. 5th. 6th . 7tb. 8th . 9th, 10th. nth. I2th. 13th. Best Preference Least Preference

93.

13

2 11

3 12 10 7 '% 1 5
4

s
3

Shorts.

Dirty colour.

II

13 10

6 11

12

Not good.

94.

13

3 12 11

10

Hffl, sky.

Faded colour, old.

II

13

8 10

5 11

12

Saree.

Indistinct.

95.

I
II

3 13 3 13

6 10

2 11 12 1 8 2 1

Flag. War.

No such thing.

6 10

12

11

"Sanyasi"

...

96.

13

6 12

3 10 1 11

11

Sky, sea, hill.

Not used.

s
II 10 13
4 6 3

12

en. >

ASSOCI ATION
Sr. N o . P. No. 1st 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th, 8th. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th.

Best Preference

Least Preferene

97.

13

2 11 12 10

Cloth of the "Bairagis"

Water hyacinth.

II

13

2 10

12

11

o
98.

13

6 10

7 11

12

Hills, sky.

Looks like white.

s
5O > t* en
Q

II

13

5 11

9 12

7 10

Not good.

99.

13 10

6 11 12

Sky, sea, hills.

Sun set colour. Does not last, not good.

s
o o o

II
100. I

13 11

6 10

8 12

j>

>>

>

13 11

3 12

10

Sky, water. The Earth.

II

13

2 11

4 12

10

:^..^:'-vJ.:-V.*s-.ii.-^

118

t. d. Scores obtained by different colours in different places in presentation No 1.

C SAMIKSA

Vol. 5, No. 2 ]

A PSYCtiOLOGICAL STUDY OF COLOUR

119

Scores obtaiaed by different colours in different places in presentation No. II.

Colour No.

T k xst -

2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th.

8th. 9th. 10th. 11th 12 th, 13th. nd. 3rd- 4th. 5th, 6th 7th. Sth. 9th. 10th. 11th. 12th. 13th.

1 2 3 4 5

0 0 4 6 1

2 4 4
1

2 11 7

1 14 15 15 5 11 10
1 1 1 5

2 7

6 5

7 15 13 11 13 8 10

5 10

4 10 11 11 16 15 6 8 24 20 11 6 0 4
6 1 4

6 3

6 2

5 2 5 1

9 16 17

7 5

2 16 19 21 11 1 1 1 3 5 5 2 5 32 3 9 4 3 4 5 5 14

0 9 15 12 10 10 9 13 12 11 4 3 5 5

5
6 6

3
2

7
1

9 13 13 13 15 7
6 8 2 3 9 15 2 1 2 4 14 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 .0

8 12 17

6 17 33 21 7 8 9 10 11 12 1

9 12 11 i 2 8 4 4 5 5 1

2 1 3 3 .3 10 12 8 12 16 15 14 4 13 26 11 13 10 6 4 3 1 3 3 3
4 7 0 0 2 1 2 4 6 4 8 5 3 7 8 6 2 17 3 9 31 5 4 4 4 2 8 15 14 10 15 4 3 1 2 7 5 5 5 7

6 15 33 18 1 1 0

5 1 1 22 21 4 5 3 6 5 5 2 24 3

3 14 24 16 3 2 5 6

1 l l I

7 11 6

8 10 9 3

3 H 4 2

7 15 10 11 17

7 12

9 10 1 1 3 4

8 ^13 5 4 5 3

9 11 13 6 8 14 3 3

5 11 15 10 11 13 10 11 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 3

6 19 14

7 13 I 5 2 5 6

13 56 20

8 10 2 3

4 13 14 11 18 2 1 1 1 0

13 54 20

120

T.C. SINHA

[ SAMIKSA

Scores obtained by different colours in different places in presentation No. I. and II,

IDEAS OF SUICIDE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA *

Oelonr No.

1st. 2nd . 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. nth. 12th. 13th.

N, N. CHATTERJI

1 2

8 19 14 22 14 25 28 20 15 15 15 1 11 15 20 27 33 23 16 14 9 11 11 9 9 6 24 44 41 22 14 10 8 8 6 8 1

4 12 \ f
i

5
2

1 9

9 12 12 23 22 28 26 25 17 6 11 17 28 28 17 18 28 14 25 9 6

6 32 66 39

.9 5

4 '5

jf
\
i

7
8
9

6 18 17 13 26 31 37 35 7 27 50 27 22 14 10 9 6 7 8 8 5
7

}.

4
18

10 16 11 12

8 11 11 16 15 18 21 20 23 27 19 26 21 9 15 5 7 7 6 8 13 15 29 16 30 31 14 25

55 7

1 1

5
9

6 13 15 14 19 23 25 24 28 16 13 110 40 12 7 6 4 2 2 3 1 0 5

It is a well-known fact that a person suffering from depression would very often develop suicidal tendency and many such patients would do away with themselves unless they were restrained. But it is not usually realised that similar ideas of committing suicide might also appear in other mental disorders like schizophrenia. The suicidal desire in many schizophrenic patients is rarely translated into action because of their withdrawal from reality. The feeling of omnipotence is very strong in them and they believe that their wishes get satisfied directly they make their appearance in their mind. We are familiar with the suicide of depressive variety and know the mechanism behind such actions. But what does the idea of suicide convey to the schizophernic ? Is the mechanism same ? According to Freud depressive patients do not like to kill themselves really but want to do away with the incorporated parental images which have become hostile towards them. So it turns out that in depressive patients the term suicide is used to denote the destruction of only this part of the self. In some schizophrenic cases where cyclothymic tendencies are noticed such desires are as a rule associated with the aggressive attitude towards their parents whose images show internalisation at different stages. I remember a case of schizophrenia in this connection who tried to kill himself by burning but was prevented by the timely intervention of other family members ; when questioned regarding the purpose of committing suicide he replied that he did not really want to kill himself but was trying to kill a ghost who made his body as his dwelling place. Here there was an imperfect internalisar tion of the father image. Similar ideas were noticed in another schizophrenic patient who in an excited state complained that his parents were trying to kill him by administering some bitter medicine ; he tried to kill himself by hanging when his excitement subsided. He

* Read before the Indian Psycho-analyti;al Society on 4.851

122

N. N. CHATTERJI

[ SAM IKS A

Vol. 5, No. 2]

IDEAS OF SUICIDE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

123

explained that he constantly felt the existence of his parents inside and due to their presence his own self went into a subordinate position and he disliked this situation very much. Through suicide he wanted to make himself free from this situation. These cases do not express any sense of guilt like depressive ones and inspite of their making suicidal attempts they would never acknowledge that they really wanted to kill themselves, whereas in true depression, whatever might be the unconscious mechanism the desire to kill oneself and the sense of guilt would invariably be present in the consciousness. In Schizophrenics introjection is not so complete as in depressive cases with the result that imperfect internalisation leads to many bizarre delusions in such cases. But there is another group of schizophrenic patients in whom the desire for death is very strong though they usually, show no sense of guilt like the depressive one. They also express the idea of incorporating the parental images like the previous group but they never show any hostile attitude towards them. One such patient said that she had incorporated her father by eating him up with the food and felt his existence always inside her. She also knew that the time for her committing suicide is drawing near and a fresh ingestion of poison in the shape of her father would kill her out right. On being asked to explain what she understood by the word suicide she said that she was no longer her own self, her father had become a part of her and the father part of herself was gradually becoming bigger and bigger and in course of time her own self would disappear altogether and she would become all father. According to her this is committing suicide. I suggested that she should try to kill the father part of her self which was about to kill her own self but she refused to take up that attitude as she had desired this sort of self annihilation for a long time past. She said that there was pleasure in this sort of death as she would then be changed into her father though original self would be no more. At this state she developed two varieties of delusions. The delusion of being dead and the megalomanic delusion of becoming as big as her father. As her feeling of omnipotence became gradually intensified the second delusion changed into becoming Almighty God and the first one disappeared altogether. In this changed state the patient manifested suicidal tendency once more by drowning';herself in a river. She went on saying that there would be a heavy rainfall and the earth

would be submerged and she would take shelter in Noah's Ark but would not be able to save herself and would be drowned ultimately. She would of course die in this way but people would hail her as the Goddess Durga. In this connection it is interesting to note Freud's ideas that identification and introjection result from oral assimilation. The symbolism of being drowned is also to be observed in this case. The significance of this symbolism would become apparent later. Unlike depressive cases the patient never showed any hostility towards the parents. Another group of schizophreanic patients manifest a strong persecutory delusion associated with the suicidal tendency. A male patient of this group who repeatedly tried to kill himself by burning and hanging said that he wanted to end his miserable life as he could not stand the systematic persecution committed on him by the living around him. On being asked about the nature of persecution he replied that he was forced to eat living human beings with his food and he did not like it. He complained that he would often find the head of his father and mother in his food, specially in the fish and he did not understand why this practical joke was being perpetrated on him. Whenever he would think that he had eaten his own father or mother his desire for killing himself would be very much intensified. He did not like to commit suicide for punishing his persecution but for freeing himself from the bondage in which he had been placed as a result of his ingestion of magic food which contained his own parents. He knew that he was no longer independent and was being externally controlled by his ingested parents. He wanted to be free from this two-fold control, If he could escape from the hospital the first problem would be solved but the second one proved difficult. His parents would be continually entering his body with the food and he knew not how to check it- He had refused food also to stop their entrance into his body but hunger impelled him to eat again. He was now in a helpless state and leading a life of a prisoner. So he had decided to kill himself either by ingestion of poison or by hanging and allow his parents to have full possession of his body. In this case also the mechanism of suicide was similar to the previous group with the exception that he did not manifest any delusion of grandeur along with the suididal tendency and this was hostility towards the parents. Another schizophrenic patient who was showing stubborn refusal

124

M. N. CHATTERjI

Vol. 5. No. 2 j

IDEAS OF SUICIDE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

125

of food, complained that he heard some voices which continually asked him to commit suicide and being tormented by them in this manner he had at last consented to kill himself. As he was dead now and got no name any more those voices called him a chameleon due to his adopting new names continually. He complained that due to his death his body had become masterless and that he was obliged to take up the name of any person who would enter his body with the food he would ingest. As new persons were continually entering it with his food so his name was being continually changed. He did not like to become a chameleon and wanted to be master of own body. He had developed a strong persecutory delusion and his auditory hallucination had become intensefied and those voices would abuse him now for his obstinacy any refusal of food and advised him to commit suicide again. But he would not commit suicide at any cost. So he had adopted a new method of resisting his persecutors who had become a part of his self. As his persecutors wanted to case him away from his own body he would retaliate on them by casting them away by a novel method. He started believing that his clothes were his persecutors and they constituted his skin really. He would throw out one of his clothes and shout that he had got rid of one by one all his clothes he would be become stark naked and remark with the pride of a conqueror that he had become master in own house. Another patient also expressed the idea that perhaps he might have to commit suicide soon. He explained that all human beings formed part of and later on were detached from a great personality. Consequently they were found to rotate around him just like planets of the Solar System. Now it would be difficult for human beings to live without being charged from that big personality occasionally in the form of ingestion of food which was part of him no doubt But the charge that had been taken should be discharged again and if any body fails to do it he would be united with the big personality. According to him this is suicide. It was easy for him to discharge the vital force which came from the ingested food after he had become rejuvinated by it. But as suicide had become imperative on him this mechanism of discharge would not work any longer. The great God Bishnu had descended on him and he would have to cast his own self away. This patient did not like to commit suicide but accepted it as he thought it

to be inevitable. He never developed the delusion of becoming Bishnu though he felt his existence within him. This patient had acquiesced to the idea of committing suicide as it was inevitable but he did not accept the megalomanic idea though he felt the existence of the great God Bishnu inside him. This patient suddenly developed the delusion of poisoning; the development of this kind of delusion shows that he could not accept the idea of suicide whole-heartedly and offered resistance to the incorporated object which would possibly kill him. In all the cases so far narrated we have found two opposite attitudes towards suicide among the schizophrenic. One group is happy at the prospect of their death and would readily kill themselves and the other group would resist the idea with tooth and nail. But one thing is common with both the groups that their suicidal phantasy would appear only in connection with the idea of incorporation of another object. Perhaps in these cases regression to the oral phase of sexual development take place in which the idea of devouring the mother or the mother substitute is the prominent feature. But one cannot be sure about it. Though many patients expressed the idea of devouring human beings with their food that is not the only way by which external, persons could be incorporated. Many patients had complained that their persecutors enter body through ear, nose, anal opening or even pores of their skin. It is not the regression to the oral phase only which creates the idea of incorporation of another object and search should be made in some other quarter for finding out its cause. In my paper on'Delusion of Persecution'* I had occasion to raise this question and discussed it at lenght. In that paper I tried to show that the idea of incorporating another person arises as a defence of another wish of opposite nature in which the idea of going into the mother's womb is expressed. That this desire is the nucleus from which many schizophrenic symptoms take their origin, could be easily proved. A schizophrenic patient who was in the habit of clasping women would often say that he wanted to get merged with her. He used the term merging to denote his intention of going into the
* Samitea Vol. 3, N o . 3,1949,

155

N. N. CHATTERJI

. [SAMIKSA

Vol- 5, No. 2 ]

IDEAS OF SUICIDE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

127

mother's womb. At one stage he openly expressed the oedipus desire of performing sex act with the mother but with on other intention that the one of going into her womb. He also expressed the opposite wish of incorporating human beings by eating them up with his food but that mechanism failed whom he developed the delusion of poisoning. Then he had the idea of incorporating another people through his chest and forehead.' In this state he developed the delusion that his father had shot him at the chest with a gun and he found immediately innummerable people inside his body. The presence of foreigners inside him puzzled him very much and he complained that he was no longer fully alive. He wanted either to be fully alive or completely dead. He would again clasp other people, irrespective of sexes now, and say that he wanted to die by being merged with them. He went on saying that if he was not allowed to go into the mother's womb by performing the sex act with her he would prefer to get merged with his father. He would clasp him so hard that his body would be inseparably united with his and he would die as a result of it. But this merging with father is a means to an end ; he expected that as a result of parental intercourse he would he transferred to the mother's womb easily now. He expressed suicidal desires in this stage openly but expected that through death he would get inside his mother . For getting killed he would not have to take poison or to hang himself; he would get the same result by merging with a mother or father substitute by clasping them. In this particular case we have all the steps through which the original wish of going into the mother's womb passes in different defensive attitudes. I have already said that it is the regressive revival of the wish of going into the mother's womb which go to form the nucleus from which different schizophrenic symptoms take their origin due to different defensive attitude. I have reason to believe that this nuclear wish in the first instance takes the garb of suicidal desire for getting itself satisfied as it is the nearest reality approach that a wish of this kind can adopt. My patient tells me that it is death only which gives him the chance of going into the mother's womb and be reborn afterwards. In a large number of cases this desire of going into the mother's womb or the corresponding death wish seeks symbolic satisfaction only. The patients would often say that they were dead and living inside railway tannel or a closed room

or inside the body of some other person. A male patient would repeatedly ask me to lock him up into a room. A young female patient, who wanted to commit suicide fixed a date on which she would kill herself said on that day that she was dead as she got herself merged with the cloud. Another schizophrenic patient who expressed suicidal tendency told me that he heard the sound of her mother's anklets and her magnetic pull drew him nearer and nearer to her and he must die so that he could be with her. He would be in her womb as a little foetus and be reborn again. Some patients .would develop the phantasy of being covered with ice or being drowned in waters of the surging sea waves. Some patients again expressed the idea of swimming across a big ocean and landing in a stiange land. It will be noticed that the idea of killing one's own self is always associated with the idea either of rebirth or in some other form remaining alive. Perhaps it is this desire which impells these patients to adopt the defensive attitude of incorporating the mother or mother substitute either by eating or by some other method. But if this defence is not strong enough the patient would develop the delusion of poisoning and would refuse to eat. If the defence is very weak and the idea of death is allowed full play then he would develop the delusion of being dead and megalomania will make its appearance. A schizophrenic patient with this type of attitude believed that he was dead but had amassed crores of rupees in his iron chest so he was rich also. In some cases the desire for death and the desire for destruction of the incorporated object would be evenly balanced and patients would believe that both the parties would be destroyed in combat; then they would develop the delusion of nihilism. In the suicidal attempt of the depressive> we find the presence of both the desires mentioned above and it would be wrong to believe that they attempt to kill the incorporated object only. Their suicidal attempt serves a twofold purpose of opposite nature, viz. destruction of incorporated object and the destruction of the self. The first desire would be present in consciousness. In schizophrenia both these opposite wishes might be present alternatively in the consciousness of the patient.

Vol 5. No. 2 ] THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS

THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS A TECHNICAL MISTAKE ON THE PART OF THE ANALYST
EDMUND BERGLER

This point alone is sufficient to arouse skepticism when confronted with the fiction and the myth of an analytic torture chamber. In searching for the genesis of the myth, however, one should always consider the possibility that it is rooted in the patient's misunderstanding of a correctly recorded fact. Since only affective, and not intellectual, understanding is therapeutically effective some patiants misconstrue understanding as'suffering.' I. 'Suffering' in Transference Unrequited feelings, unconsciously shifted from enshrined images on to the chance figure of the physician, are disagreeable. That is granted. This is so however, only as long as they are not understood. Analysis of the positive transference (which, by the way takes up much less room in analysis than is generally assumed by the laity, who confuse the postive transference with clove' and disregard the negative transference altogether) serves to remove the sting after a short time. In some cases, however, this does not occur, and it is at exactly this point that the analyst's technical error is responsible. The truly oedipal case is a relative rarity, although vmany patients give the superficial impression that they belong in this category. As I have repeatedly stressed, especially in The Basic Neurosis, I believe that the majority of neurotics have a 'rendezvous with orality.' Since this is the case, the orally regressed neurotic will, in the analytic transference, unconsciously resort to the identical defensive rescue-station : Oedipality. It is the analyst's job to see through this mask, and explain the defensive cover. If this is done, the mirage evaporates, and the dynamically decisive oral-masochistic substructure can be analyzed. Very soon, instead of the Oedipal palimpsest, one is scrutinizing a typical 'injustice-collector.' This deduction cannot be understood unless one comprehends the typical substructure which underlies the establishment of the Oedipal phase. The child's life does not begin with the Oedipus. It starts in the duality : mother-child. From the fears which accrue in the preOedipal period, the child 'rescues' himself to the triangular fathermother-cbild relation. But this is merely the last of a series of attempts to rescue himself from his unsolved masochistic' attachment to the mother.
10

Common gossip, among prospective patients, has it that psychoanalysis is an "extremely painful procedure." This widespread impression is bolstered by people who have undergone analysis with different analysts, and who retrospectively claim that they suffered 'intensely'. What are the sober facts ? The subjective feeling of suffering is not an invention. To be sure, the ex-patient's claim is later magnified by the prospective patient, who thus acquires a new argument against entering analysis. But this is another story. What must be questioned is the presence of the suffering in the first place. Is this an intrinsic part of the analytic procedure ? In my private opinion, the patient's 'suffering1 is in the majority of cases concomitant with a technical mistake on the part of the analyst. Scrutinizing the instances of alleged torture, three situations stand out as most typically mentioned by patients : positive transference, whichsince it is not reciprocatedis painful; the discrepancy between illusions (rationalizations) built up by everyone arcund himself, and analytic explanation of the underlying reasons for these illusions ; and finally, 'waiting for free associations,' which 'refuse to come.' What is most surpising in the list enumerated by patients is the absence of another element : the narcissistic elation which comes from self-understanding. Even 'analytic sufferers' cannot deny that the understanding one gradually acquires of oneself in analysis has two results : narcissistic aggrandizement, and the acquisition of a new weapon for the strengthened ego to use against unconscious onslaughts. Why are these factors (not to mention the eventual cure) ignored, while the suffering is tenaciously retained in memory" and exaggerated to boot ?

132

EDMtJM) BERGLER

[ SAMIKSA

Vol 5. No, 2] THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS

13$

pal facade in order to disguise the true pre-Oedipal picture. If the analyst does not debunk the disguise, the analysis, having taken the wrong turning, becomes bogged down in the endless morass of an unresolvable transference and pseudo-dependence, which the patient interprets as "real love." There is one very pronounced warning sign, which is present even if the pre-Oedipal masochistic structure is not analyzed : if the analyst observes correctly, he cannot miss the patient's masochistic misuse of the situation. Nevertheless, the situation is blissfully misjudged. Thus, the patient's 'suffering' is but a disguise Behind which are smuggled in exactly the masochistic repetitions which the analyst overlooked. If the analyst is taken in, he has behaved like the proverbial innocent detective, who invariable falls for the clues which the criminal has planted to divert suspicion. Obviously not the ideal situation. If, however, the analyst does not fall for the unconscious ruse, the artificially inflated mirage of positive transference collapses and one is confronted with the real masochistic self of the neurotic. This does not imply, of course, that it is an easy task to resolve the knot. But at least one is fighting, not a wind mill, but the real thing, and there is a chance of success. If the analyst is taken in by the patient's unconscious disguise, he is licked, although a few years will pass before he gives upeven then without understanding what made the specific analysis of the specific patienta flop.* It cannot be stated too succinctly : under every possible disguise, the patient will unconsciously accept the "blame for the lesser crime" only for the sake of hiding his "real crime" : the unsolved masochistic pattern. The same point applies to pseudo-aggressions, which (in the negative transference) are too frequently misjudged as real aggression, denoting repetitions of the infantile fury towards the 'disappointing' educators, and upbringers. Here the confusion lies in a tragic over* One cannot escape the impression that the "dead seriousness' which characterizes some analyses is based less on the seriousness of the topic than on the inner necessity, on the part of some colleagues, to create this atmosphere for the purpose of bolstering, defensively, their own egos. Psychic masochism, leading to defensive actions, is a universal human problem.

sight: originally quite genuine, these feelings have been masochistically elaborated. Hence, if the analyst allows pseudo-aggression (covering more deeply repressed masochistic attachment) to pass for real aggression, heinvoluntarilystrengthens the patient's neurotic defense, It is difficult to convince our generation of analysts that the neurotic sector of the patient harbors would-be aggression exclusively. This does not exclude the possibility that some otherundiseasedparts of the neurotic's ego may have normal aggression at their disposal. The differentiation between normal aggression and pseudo-aggression, as described at length in The Basic Neurosis and Neurotic CounterfeitSex, is still tragically misunderstood. II. 'Suffering' While Rationalizations Are Being Debunked When naive people refer to the 'suffering' experienced in analysis, they generally mean the unrequited transference. The two other sources of alleged pain are less important in the pseudo-argument ; still, they should be taken up. It is true that being a "professional truth-teller1' is an unrewarding occupation. It is not by chance that perceptive observers of surface reverberations have issued innumerable warnings that - people abstain from unpleasant truth-tellingeven on the conscious level: "No normal being wants to hear the truth. It is the passion of a small and aberrant minority of men, most of them pathological. They are hated for telling it while they live, and when they die they are swiftly forgotten ...... The average man avoids the truth as diligently as he avoids arson, regicide, or piracy on the high seas, and for the same reason ; because he believes that it is dangerous, that no good can come of it that it doesn't pay." H. L. Mencken "If you make people think they're thinking, they will love you, But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." Don Marquis "When fiction rises pleasing to the eye, Men will believe, because they love the lie ; But truth herself, if clouded with a frown, Must have some solemn proof to pass her down." Charles Churchill, Epistle to William Hogarth, 1763

1|

134

EDMUND BERGLER

[ SAMIKSA

-Vol 5. No, 2 ] THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS

135

All three warnings pertain to consciously concealed facts, disclosed by people who have a "passion for truth," and in this way fight against the hypocritical concensus. The analyst's business is different. He is less a '"professional truth-teller" than a translator of what the patient projects upon the living movie-screen. Hence, his 'crime' is even more serious ; every patient claims that his inner self has been 'incorrectly' translated, and 'hates' the decoderofficially. In twenty-five years of practice, it has been my experience that analytic decoding of unconscious motivations is by no means as 'painful' for the patient as the popular saga has it. It is true that patients are frequently angry with the translator^ and wish him in hell or other remote localities. But accompanying this consoling anger are two other redeeming factors, which make it easier for the 'sufferer' to 'grieve down' (Coleridge) the debunking of a rationalization : the unconscious feeling that despite all his protests, the inner truth has been revealed, and narcissistic pleasure derived from the realization that, once the real facts are brought to the surface, one is less under the influence of the unconscious. One should not underestimate the fact that the allprevailing psychic masochism of the neurotic is inwardly accepted only by the diseased sector of the total personality. At the very same time, the more normal sector seeks relief and reinforcementthe correct interpretation, given in the transference repetition, ' accomplishes exactly that. Psychic masochism has a Janus face in these situation : on the one side, masochism inwardly greets the disagreeable interpretation, simply because it is disagreeable ; on the other side, the inner forces opposing the dangerous poison of psychic masochism welcome every argument against it. The upshot, in well-conducted analyses, is that the counterforces against psychic masochism predominate, strengthened by narcissistic } recompenses. Once more, the analyst's inability to cope with the situation is due to his own technical error. The mistake consists mainly in taking the patient's pseudo-aggression at face value, without revealing the masochistic substructure.

III, 'Suffering' While 'Free Associations' Are Lacking Every student of analysis is familiar with the fact that the part played by free associations underwent considerable change during the development of analysis. Originally, free association had the power of an absolute monarch who ruled supreme: no constitutional reservations or restrictions existed. After,Freud's discovery that free associations can be misused for resistance, the situation altered, and a few 'constitutional' safeguards were imposed. Since then, the primacy of interpretation of resistance and transference prevails in every Freudian analysis. This of course did not lessen the importance of free associations ; on the contrary, the change enhanced their importance by eliminating the 'ersatz' type of. pseudo-association created by the patient's unconscious motivations of resistance. In short, free associations are used in situations where their relative 'purity' is assured. To exemplify : At the beginning of our first interview, a patient, a Shakespearian scholar, informed me that besides suffering from a disease which his surgeons had wrongly diagnosed as 'hypochondria,' he was also "the victim of the second Shakespearian milk period," I answered: "Isn't that slightly unfairtaking advantage of your specialized knowledge ? By chance I suspect that I understand the allusion : Romeo and Juliet, 'Adversity's sweet milk-philosophy.' That happens to be one of my favorite quotations. The baby is fed on milk, the unhappy adult on milk-surrogate consolation. Still, you can learn the FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS by heart, and surprise even educated and well-read people with innuendos." Having thus been slightly deflated in his technique of pseudosuperiority, the patient continued : "Never mind that, better cure me of my adversity-my fear of cancer." I asked whether he had a specific 'love' in psychosomatics. He replied : "My rectum has rather an unhappy love affair with me.". After informing me of the external events of his life, and after a few more appointments, during which he was given a short introduction to analytic procedure and aims, the patient was asked to give free associations. He demurred, first by saying he didn't know what I was talking about, later by referring to experiments in free associations which he had conducted upon himself, with negative results, I insisted,

136

EDMUND BERGLER

[ SAMIKSA

Vol 5. No, 2 ] THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS

137

stating that free associations are still the best we have to sell. The patient shrugged his broad shoulders, and with the pose and facial expression of a martyr dealing with an idiot more powerful than himself, started : "On the left side of your bookshelves I see eleven red books. I assume they are Shakespeare." What followed was a five-minute lecture on Shakespeare. I then interrupted, telling him that this was a lecture, not free association. The patient indignantly objected : his associations, he declared, were "OK, only your method stinks." His irritation, and the gutterlanguage, which was unusual for him, were clear proof that something had hit him, and therefore I suggested analysing his resistance. I told him : "Unconsciously, you obviously misunderstand the situation. Instead of taking analysis as a co-operative endeavor on the part of two peopleone offering one hundred per cent, the other only the nominal part of his whole personality, namely his consciousness (and even that with strings attached)you take it to be a pupilteacher relationship. Didn't you tell me that the relatively happiest period of your life was while you were teaching at a Midwestern University ? You were socially isolated, had no girls or friends, but still you were happy. Obviously, the admiration of your students bolstered your weak ego. Since your hogey seems to be inner passivity, you immediately reversed the roles in analysis : you delivered a lecture on Shakespeare, pushing me into the pupil's position. There is no doubt that you know more about Shakespeare than I do. It is quite clear that you misconstrued my konwledge of the theory of analysis, and my clinical experience, as something which pushes you into the passive situation." If an analyst honestly evaluates the patient'sany patient's associations, he is reminded of the analytic axiom : the value of free association is comparable to the results obtained through primitive methods of digging gold. In analysis of free association, as in primitive placer mining, tons of worthless material pass through the sieve; with luck, a valuable nugget is turned up now and then. Nowadays, modern and less time-consuming methods are used for digging gold ; a comparison of these methods with analysis of resistance is to the point. Nevertheless, there are limitations even to this rule. A specific . grouptof neurotics, at the beginning of analysis, is quite incapable of

using free associations. These are orally regressed neurotics. For patients of this sort, the classic analytical technique has to be modified* : the analyst has to talk. Years ago I suggested this modification, as a preparatory period before 'normal' analysis can start, for this reason: orally regressed neurotics ward off their deep masochistic attichment with the defense of pseudo-aggression. When asked to g'voe words, in free associations, they refuse. Adherence to the classic technique on the part of the analyst, therefore, brings these patients into a premature and hopeless conflict, and at the same time gives them the opportunity to project, in the transference repetition, the image of the bad, cruel, demanding, draining Giantess of the nursery upon the innocent analyst. This cannot and should not be avoided ; it cannot, because the image of the cruel Giantess is automatically projected inside and outside of analysis by these severe neurotics ; it should not be avoided because these affective repetitions are constantly contrasted with the harmless reality of analysis, whose chance representative, the physician, obviously wants to help. That is all true, but for the discerning grasp of the unconscious repetitiveness two people are requiredpatient and physician. As Thoreau put i t : "For telling the truth, two people are required, one who speaks the truth, the other who listens." These patients, however, are present only in infinitesimal proportions ; the part of the ego able or willing to 'co-operate' is highly restricted. Consequently, my technical innovation with these cases consists of first circumventing the full impact of the patient's projection of the 'cruel Giantess' by making that unavoidable projection a difficult procedure. By giving words (the analyst has to talk for long periods) one does not of course avoid the transference-projection of the "bad mother.' But, and this is decisive, one offers oneself as model for a specific inner defense of the patient's : inwardly these neurotics are stabilized on the rejection level, and unconsciously they want refusal.

* cases. que of stated

That preparatory phase, in my opinion, is essential in all orally regressed See The Basic Neurosis, Chapter VII, "Differential Diagnosis; TechniTreatment, Specific Resistances in Orally Regressed Neurotics." First in 1932 in -'Problems of Pseudo-Imbecility," Int, Zeitschrift fur

Psychoanalyse.

11

138

EDMUND BERGLER

[SAMIKSA Vol. 5, No. 2 ] THE PATIENT'S SUFFERING DURING ANALYSIS 139

Two defenses are encountered : pseudo-aggression, and the alleged wish to be kindly treated. By giving words, the analyst temporarily becomes the standard-bearer of the patient's defense : "If someone is kind and giving to me, I can be too." (Of course, this unconscious defense is very superficial, and is used only to refute the inner reproach of enjoyment of psychic masochim.) It amounts, paradoxically, to a temporary strengthening of the patient's 'basic fallacy'* : "It's not that I'm masochistic, I'm an innocent victim of mother's cruelty. If my mother had been different, I would have reacted differently, too." Later, of course, the analyst has to resolve the 'basic fallacy.' This rationalization of "kindness if treated kindly," which the patient unconsciously produces, is still strong enough to mitigate the enormous amount of pseudo-hostility, suspicion, anger, accusations of being "unjustly treated," which these patients otherwise produce. In any case, waiting for free associations which "just don't show up" is frequently misused as a masochistic tool by patients. This tool canpartlybe eliminated from the picture by analyzing the resistance plus the masochistic misuse. A good deal of the 'suffering' of this type, therefore, reduces itself once more to a technical mistake on the part of the analyst: that of failing to recognize the basic structure of the orally regressed neurotic. At bottom, 'suffering' in analysis is the patient's untouched psychic masochism , to leave psychic masochism in the patient untouched is a technical mistake on the part of the analyst, Analysis does not have the purpose of giving our psychic masochistic patients a new and 'legitimate' excuse for masochistic fiestaswithout the analyst's counter-action. The analyst is not a wailing companion, nor should he be naively taken in by his patients' masochistic misuse of the analytic situation. A well-known writer, entering analysis because of "writer's block," asked, at the end of his first appointment : "Do I have to discontinue sex during analysis ?" "Who gave you that idea ? Didn't you tell me that your sex life is normal ?"
* See "The Danger Neurotics Dread Most: I,oss of the Basic Fallacy,"
h j i Review ; 33 : 2,

"Yes. But I thought one has to suffer during analysis." "You remind me of the old joke of the patient who consults a physician because he feels under par. The practitioner starts the examination by inspecting the man's throat. 'Well, here's the reason why you are feeling so poorlyyou have a typical smoker's throat. Discontinue smoking immediately.''But Doc, I don't smoke at all.' 'Never mind,' the unperturbed doctor answers, 'we'll forbid you something else.'"

Vol. 5, No. 2 ]

ABSTRACTS.

141*

ABSTRACTS
The Autonomy of the EgoDavid Rapaport (Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, Vol. 15 No. 4, July, 1951) The author discusses the concept of the Ego psychology which is of fundamental importance both for the theory of thought processes as well as for therapeutic researches particularly in borderline and psychotic cases, He quotes Freud and Hartmann to show the inborn nature of the ego apparatuses which at a certain developmental period of the individual, co-exit with the id in an undifferentiated phase, and it is by differentiation from this undifferentiated phase the ego and the id arise. He distinguishes between the primary autonomy and the secondary autonomy, the latter being the defensive controlling apparatuses developed as a result of the clash between drive energy and reality. The defensive apparatus soon becomes autonomous and function in the conflict-free ego sphere as the primary ego does ; but this autonomy is relative as the drive energy may reverse tbe autonomy and bring about a regressed state in which individual is at the mercy of the drive impulses. A. Datta Psychiatric Aspects of AsthmaC. T. Prout (The Psychiatric Quarterly, Vol. 25, No, 2, 1951) The author gives a review of the literature which reveals the significance of the emotional factors in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. He cites case reports of bronchial asthma patients hospitalised for treatment of nervous and mental diseases. The cases demonstrate that the allergic factors are prominent- in some ; emotional factors in others and both allergic and emotional factors in still others. He submits that "while psychiatry has gone far in the understanding of these patients with bronchial asthma, it. has done far too little in the way of relief." A. Datta The Analysis of Character Traits in Group TherapyHelen K. Durkin (International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Vol 1 No. 2 June, 1951.) ' '

In this article an attempt is made to show the influence of the group therapy on the solution of the problems of character traits. Durkin agrees with Reich's hypothesis that these traits are like symptoms, the ego defenses, formed as a result of the conflicts between the ego and the id or reality. The group discussion tends to develop a somewhat objective attitude amongst the members who use it as a sort of 'group technique' for analysing traits rather than a mode of expression of feeling. Whenever anxiety occurs the therapist handles it, so that no harm can come of it. The character traits can be readily observed in a groupthe group acting as a magnifying glass. Two case reports are given to illustrate the value and speed of the group therapy in analysing character traits. A. Datta Comparative Action of E. C. T. and of Pituitary Anterior Lobe Hormones on Thyroid Function M, Reiss, R. E. Hemphill, R, Maggs, C. P. Haigh and J. M. Reiss {Brit, Med, Jour,, Sept. 15, 1951.) The authors studied the thyroid functioning by using radioactive tracer method. Patients investigated belonged to the usual psychiatric material of out-patients clinic and hospital. Majority were however depression cases. The authors noticed that in successful cases the effect of E. C, T. was to alter the level of thyroid functioning from the initially abnormal one to that within the normal range. This tendency was less marked in those cases which did not respond. In some cases where the condition of the patient was unaltered or became worse, occassionally a thyroid function originally normal in .range became reduced to subnormal. The authors also confirm the view that there is an inverse relationship between the action of thyrotrophic hormone on the one hand and A. C. T. H. & Sex hormones on the other as assesssd by the ] 7 keto-steroid & cortin excretion in the urine compared to the thyroid activity measured by Tracer technique. The authors find however less correlation between E. C. T. and A. C, T, H. production than that found by certain previous workers. They stress upon the fact that E. C. T. action is complex and depends upon the mobilization of more than one hormone.- It increases thyroid activity by mobilizing thyrotrophic hormone, Its influence on the production of other hormones of Anterior Pituitary also requires careful investigation.

B. Bose

145

ABSTRACTS

[ SAMIKSA

Psycho-analytic Concept in the Group Psychotherapy - F . B. Powdermaker (International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Vol. I, No. 1, April, 1951) The writer stated that group therapy aims at improving the mental health of the members of the group. Such a group is different from a crowd, but it may turn to be a crowd. The group action gives the strength of defying authority in the delinquent as well as in the therapy group. Identification, repressed infantile sexual wishes, etc, give the dynamic force that hold the group together. Individuals organised for therapy have in them by virtue of their being in a group, certain dynamic forces that help in treatment which does not appear in individual therapy. Leadership plays an important part in group therapy. In it the opportunity of transference is greater. Different members not only play various roles but have other roles forced in them by different patients. In fact the group is a social organisation and also has therapeutic value. Impact of each member's actions, feelings, etc are obvious as well as the difference in impact in different members. The group assessment of these impacts and their cause provide insight into the initiating action as well as into the ways to which it has been reacted. The dynamics of role playing in group therapy are of course closely related to unconscious preoccupation. Awareness of one's behaviour in a specific psychological situation as a defence against anxiety is one of the most important clues to the dynamics of the patient. The effect of interpretation is the same as in individual therapy. The author is of opinion that each patient should be studied . before he enters the group from the standpoint of his nature and the strength of his defenses in relation to the defenses of the other members and estimates how threatening each member would be to others and also how helpful. Awareness of such interaction gives the therapist clues as to when and how to help diminish tension. If they seem to be becoming unbearable to the group or to some of the members. If the members of a group cannot tolerate the hidden or overt attacks on their defenses the group may disband, all member may drop out or therapeutic advance stops till the attacks and defenses are analysed. L. Kundu

NEWS AND NOTES

A Symposium on the 'Education of the South' forms a part of the programme of the Psychology & Educational Sciences Section of the Indian Science Congress Association to be held in Calcutta in January 1952. The following topics have been suggested to be discussed : (a) Dynamics of gang formation amongst the urban and rural youth. (b) Typical personal problems of the youth. (c) Psycho-somatic approach to the health problems. (d) Social forces making for a stunted growth of the youth. (e) Therapeutic and educational approaches.

At the 17th Congress of the International Psycho-analytical Association held in Amsterdam, in August 1951 the following were elected as officers : President Dr. Heinz Hartmann Marie Bonaparte Anna Freud Vice-Presidents Dr. Jeanne Lampl-de Groot Dr. Philipp Sarasin Sony. Treasurer Dr. Maxwell Gitelson Hony. Secretary Dr. Ruth S. Eissler

The following persons have been elected officers of the Argentine Psycho-analytic Association : Dr. Enrique Pichon Riviere Copernico 2350, Buenos Aires Secretary : Dr. Luis Rascovsky Larrea 934, Buenos Aires Treasurer : Dr. Maria Langer Arenales 3585, Buenos Aires. President:

144

NEWS AND NOTES

[SAMIKSA

Vol. 5, No. 2 ]

NEWS AND NOTES

145

Director of Publications

Dr. Arnaldo Rascovsky Suipacha 1368, Buenos Aires Director of Institute : Dr. Angel Garma Arenales 3569, Buenos Aires

drug addicts by psycho-therapy. The APTO clinical referral service brings psycho-therapy to those who cannot afford to pay. The APTO consultation service, psychological testing service, technical meetings and open forum meetings are being regularly continued.

Under the auspices of Psycho-analytical Society of Paris the 14 th Conference of French Psycho-analysts was held on 1st November last at the Clinic of Mental Disease and Diseases of the Brain, Dr. Lagache discussed the theoretical aspect of the problem of transference and Dr. Schlumherger dealt with its clinical aspect.

Sri Pars Ram, a Member of our Society has been selected President of the Psychology & Educational Sciences Section for the 1952 Indian Science Congress Session.

The Sigmund Freud Archives was incorporated in the State of New York on February 14, 1951. It was organized by a group of internationally eminent psycho-analysts. The aim, as stated in the Charter, is "to discover, assemble, collect and preserve manuscripts, publications and other documents and information relating to the biography of the late Sigmund Freud, and to his medical, psychoanalytic and other scientific activities." This is the first attempt to obtain and preserve for posterity a complete compilation of Freud's published and unpublished writings. Under the agreement with the Library of Congress, which will serve as curator of the collection, confidential material will be restricted as per the request of the donor. The initial projects of the Archives include collecting all letters to and from Freud ; establishing a complete and reliable bibliography of his writings ; interviewing all persons who knew Freud personally regardless of how well they knew him or in what function, whether as friend, brief acquaintance or as his patient. Anybody who is in possession of letters or who knows of persons who have such letters, as well as all those who knew Freud personally are urged to contact the Secretary, The Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc., 575 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N. Y.

Sri Ramanlal M. Patel, another Member of our Society, has been appointed a Honorary Psycho-analyst and Clinical Psychologist to the J. J. Group of Hospitals, Bombay.

The Association for Psychiatric Treatment of Offenders, or APTO in brief, is carrying on its commendable pioneer work in its specialized field. The APTO is new dealing a number of adolecsent

SAMIKSA]

INDIAN PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL SOCIETY

147

INDIAN PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL SOCIETY

LIST OF MEMBERS. 19= 1

Honorary Members Rajsekhar Bose, 72 Bakul Bagan Road, Calcutta 25 Members *M. V. Amrith, 81-83 Rakkulbai Palace, St. Mary's Rd., Bombay 10 *MrinaI Kumar Barua, 14 Ballygtmge Circular Road, Calcutta 19 Gobind Chand Bora, Reginagar, Murshidabad f*Girindrasekhar Bose, 14 Parsibagan Lane, Calcutta 9 *R. J. Chinwalla, Ismail House, Nishanpad Rd, Dongry, Bombay 9 t*Nagendranath De, 128/B Dharamtola St,, Calcutta 13 t*Bhupendra Desai, 13 Gunbow St, Bombay 1 *Uttam Singh Gheba, 12 Lady Hardinge Road, New Delhi Rangin Chandra Haider, Kadamkuon P. O., Patna *Edith Ludowyk-Gyomroi (Mrs.), Colombo University, Ceylon f Hari Pada Maiti, Inst. of Psychological Research & Service, Patna 5 t*Suhrit Chandra Mitra, 18/37 Dover Lane, Calcutta 29 *Inder Narain, 4908 Paramananda St., Faizbazar, Delhi *Ramanlal Patel, Sonawala Bldg-, 8/D/46, Tardeo, Bombay *Pars Ram, Y. W. C. A. School of Social Work, The Mall, Delhi *C. V. Ramana, 580f S. San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles 48, Calif. *Rasiklal B. Shah, 13 Gunbow St., Fort, Bombay 1 *Kalu Lai Shrimali, Vidya Bhawan, Udaipur f*Tarun Chandra Sinha, 67 Jatin Das Road, Calcutta 29 *Basil K. Tsatos, 39 Signal Pagoda Road, Rangoon, Burma Associate Members Syed Kazim Ali, (Address not known) Dhanapati Bagh, Inst. of Psychological Research & Service, Patna 5 Samiran Banerji, 7 Sardar Sankar Road Calcutta 26 Samaresh Bhattacharyya, 104 Upper Chitpore Road, Calcutta fBejoyketu Bose, 14/1 Parsibagan Lane, Calcutta 9 Satyes Chakravarty, 9/A Sukia Row, Calcutta. 6.

Jyotirmoy Chatterji, Washington Univ. School of Medicine, St. Louis, U.S.A. Kali Ranjan Chatterji, 15 Jatin Das Road, Calcutta 29 Nagendra Nath Chatterji, 124 Bediadanga Road, Calcutta 39 Ava Chattopadhyaya, 3 Sambhunath Pundit St., Calcutta 20 TDebiprosad Chattopadhyaya, 3 Sambhunath Pundit St., Calcutta 20 Kanai Lai Das, 269 Vivekananda Road, Calcutta Surama Das Gupta (Mrs), P, O. Banipur, 24-Parganas tAnathnath Datta, 64/2 Ahireetolla St., Calcutta 5 Sujan Krishna De, 38C Nilmoni Mitra St., Calcutta 6 fAjit Kumar Dev, 52 Broja Nath Dutt Lane, Calcutta 12 Myra Devi (Sm.), Inter-Provincial Mental Hospital, Kanke, Ranchi E. J. S. Gonsalves, The Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Ltd., S. Iran Hashi Gupta (Mrs), 9/6/1E Peary Mohan Sur Lane, Calcutta 6 R, D. A, Hudson, Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Ltd., Frazer Town, Bangalore Dolly K. Irani (Mrs), 609 Sachapir St., Poona 1 N. J. Kothari, 32 Vasant Villas, Benham Hall Lane, Bombay 4 Bernard Mathews, 7 Wellesley Place, Calcutta 1 Perim. Mehenti (Miss), Inst. of Psy. Research & Service, Patna 5 . H, P. Mehta, Parsi Punchayet Office, 239 Hornby Rd., Fort, Bombay Shib Kumar Mitra, Inst. of Psy. Research & Service, Patna 5 Kshirode Chandra Mukherji, 92 Upper Circular Road, Calcutta 9 Dhirendra Nath Nandy, 16 Narendra Sen Square, Calcutta 9 Brahmacari Ramesvara, S. R. S. Vidyalaya, Chandrapuram, P. O. Chandpur-Nanhkar, Muzaffarpur R. K. Roychoudhury, "Raibatak", Williams Town, P. O. B-Deoghar,:S. P. (Behar) fKamala Sen (Miss), 22/1 Jugal Kishore Das Lane, Calcutta 6 Krishna Sen (Miss), Berhampore Girls' College, Berhampore Sudhindra Nath Sinha, 37B Ballygunge Place, Calcutta 19
^Practising Psycho-analysts |Off ice-bearers