the ball through the open window and break the\nmirror. You will have to pay for a new mirror from your savings.\u201d Telling the\nboy to drop his pants and hitting him with a strap, a barbaric punishment still\nused these days, is out. It leaves emotional scars and sometimes also sexual\ndifficulties (masochism) which are difficult to treat successfully later on in\nlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parents should never shame their children for\nfeeling certain emotions. Even if this shaming concerns only a single emotion,\ntheir entire emotional lives will suffer the consequences. It stifles their\nspontaneity and endangers their sensitiveness, a most important quality in\ninterpersonal relationships. Our utilitarian, driven society is badly in need\nof greater numbers of women and men who are consistently sensitive, feel\ncompassion for the poor and the sick, are gentle and tender with children, and\nhave retained their sense of wonder, all without feeling embarrassed. In the\npresent struggle for equality between the sexes this sensitiveness that\nunderlies our mutual respect and consideration is in danger of being destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Q A little while ago you spoke of the need to \u201ccultivate our emotions.\u201d\nDo you mean we should stimulate our emotions and those of others in order to\nmake them grow? I couldn\u2019t see anything good in doing that deliberately to our\nsexual feelings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A \u201cTo cultivate\u201d means \u201cto improve or\npromote growth; to develop by education; to refine.\u201d It is the opposite of \u201cto\nneglect\u201d and \u201cignore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cultivation of our emotions does not mean\nwe must purposely stimulate them, and certainly does not mean that we should\ndeliberately stimulate our sexual feelings. These make themselves felt\nspontaneously like our other bodily feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we cultivate our garden, we provide the\nproper amounts of fertilizer, water and air, while we remove the harmful\nelements, like weeds, that would impede or prevent healthy growth of plants. We\nthen leave it up to the plants to grow naturally. The same applies to our\nemotions. We do everything reasonable to enable them to grow at their own speed\nand become refined, so they will serve us best in their fully developed,\nrefined state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me illustrate this process of cultivating\nin regards to the emotion of desire. Various misconceptions on this topic are\ndetrimental to mature development. The core of man\u2019s emotional life consists of\nthe emotions of love, desire and joy. If this core remains undeveloped it is\nimpossible to attain the happiness for which we are created by God. The reader\nwho has difficulty with this statement is advised to ponder Aquinas\u2019s\nformulations on this topic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo desire to be happy is not a matter of free\nchoice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMan craves by nature happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe will strives in freedom for happiness,\nalthough it strives for it by necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHappiness is that which the will is incapable\nof not willing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time Aquinas takes it for granted\nthat complete happiness cannot be conceived without pleasure and joy, without\nrapture on the part of the physical, spiritual-sensual being which is man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the fundamental reasons why so many\npersons lack the capacity to fully enjoy the good which is theirs stems from\nthe fact that the emotions of love and desire did not have the opportunity to\ngrow and mature within them. In other words, to possess a good is no guarantee\nthat it can be enjoyed and make a person happy. He must first have a desire for\nit, and what is more, that desire first must have had the time to grow to its\nfullest intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is, of course, only right to ask why this\nshould be so. The answer is that every human power or faculty, if it is to\nperform a perfect act, must be adapted to its object. All human faculties have\na material substratum either by reason of their nature<\/em> (e.g., our faculty for vision has its material substrate in\nthe eye and the occipital cortex\u2014a group of gray cells in the back part of the\nbrain), or as a necessary prerequisite for their action<\/em> (e.g., our reasoning power needs the gray cells of the brain\neven though it is not a function of those cells themselves). It is this\nmaterial substratum that must be gradually disposed for optimum adaptation of\nits object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few examples will show that this is true for\nevery sphere of human life, whether in the vegetative, sensory or intellectual\norder. Physiological observations, for instance, have shown us that the maximum\nutilization of food requires a preparation of the digestive tract through the\nsecretion of enzymes and other substances which metabolize the ingested\nproteins, carbohydrates and fats into their corresponding human elements. This\nsecretion can be enhanced through external sense stimulation, for instance, by\nsmelling and seeing the food, by talking about it, or by such appetizers as\nbullion or a small amount of alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same is true for the sense organs which\nmust be properly disposed for optimal perception of their object. This process\nof gradual adaptation, of course, takes place not only in the growing child,\nbut also in the adult whose senses, developed as they are for the normal\nperception of their object, require further special adaptation for more\ncritical perception. Medical students, for instance, gradually develop more\ncritical tactile perception so that when they have become experienced\nphysicians they can feel physical irregularities which are imperceptible to the\nlayman. They also learn to develop their other senses, for example their power\nof vision, by which they get the capacity to discern even the slightest\nvariations in the physical appearance of the patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That this also applies to the power of hearing\nis evident when we realize we have to learn to hear music, and that we\nunderstand and recognize the fine points of a symphony only after repeated\ncritical auditions. Again the same is true for the sense of taste, for we all\nknow that there are many foods which we appreciate fully only after we have\nbecome better acquainted with them and have developed a taste for them. The\nprinciple in all these examples is the same: each sense must be adapted fully\nto its object, if its owner is to be capable of maximal perception and thus\ngreater enjoyment of this more perfectly perceived object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man\u2019s higher cognitive powers are equally\nsubject to this principle. His mind must be opened, so to speak, in order to be\nable to grasp truths. Our higher education, especially through the masterworks\nof Greek and Latin literature, prepares man\u2019s mind to enjoy beauty, order and\nharmony, and elevates him to a higher cultural level than all factual knowledge\never could. The study of philosophy does this to an even greater and more\nspiritual extent. By philosophy here I do not mean the study of the various\nsystems of philosophy, but the study of how to penetrate to the nature of\nthings, of trying to understand the essence of things. It is this study of\nphilosophy that forms our intellect and enables it to leave accidentals aside\nand to discover fundamentals and principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we have shown to be true for man\u2019s\nbiological functions, as well as for his sensory and intellectual cognitive\npowers, also holds true for appetites. When man desires something, he does so\nbecause he has recognized it as a good. This desire acquires its greatest\nfullness and depth when he knows the object in as perfect a manner as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the emotional desire that must be adapted\nin regard to the desired object. This desire must develop, grow, unfold and\nmature if one is to enjoy fully the possession of the good. This, of course,\nhappens only gradually, for it takes time to come to appreciate and desire the\nfull meaning of an object. An object does not appeal immediately to man\u2019s\nemotions to its fullest extent; he sees something beautiful, he wants to\npossess it; he keeps on looking at it from different angles and discovers new qualities\nin it; the object becomes more and more attractive in his imagination and\ndreams, and his desire becomes stronger and stronger, with the result that when\nhe finally possesses it the joy will be so much greater and more intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once this desire has grown fully, and\npossession of the desired object has led to the fullest satisfaction\nobtainable, the emotional life is ready to enjoy another object, for its\ncapacity has been enlarged, its owner has grown and developed more emotionally,\nand is therefore capable of greater enjoyment of the things that constitute a\ngood for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This does not mean that every emotional desire\nmust be gratified. Man always remains a rational being, and as such can never\nfind adequate satisfaction from an object that is not at the same time a\nrational good. On the other hand, what I have explained so far does<\/em> mean that the growth and\ndevelopment of a desire must not be obstructed in an irrational manner, and\nthat one must foster its natural growth in order to learn to appreciate\nemotionally, with one\u2019s feelings, the countless goods God has made available to\nus. Only in this manner does one show a fully adequate gratefulness for and\nacceptance of God\u2019s gifts to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The necessary, natural growth of the emotion of\ndesire is obstructed in neurotic disorders as the result of repression or\nemotional deprivation (see next chapter). It also will be obstructed when the\ndesire is gratified too soon. This happens in the well-known process of\n\u201cspoiling.\u201d When parents give their children all the things they desire as soon\nas they desire them, or even before they had a chance to desire them, the\nchildren become spoiled. They lose, or do not develop, the capacity to enjoy\nenjoyable things because they did not have the time to discover and desire\ntheir full value as enjoyable objects. The natural harmony between\nhead-knowledge and feeling-knowledge has become disordered, or spoiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a spoiled child is given a toy that would\ngive joy to other children for weeks and months, he will not give it a second\nlook before long, because he did not have a chance to first develop a desire\nfor that toy. When a child learns that he cannot have a thing as soon as he\ndesires it, that it takes effort and money on the part of the giver, and that\nit is a special occasion when he finally receives it, he appreciates and enjoys\nit because it has gained special value for him. Because his capacity to enjoy\nthat thing has grown, he is now disposed to enjoy things of somewhat greater\nvalue more fully and adequately. Under these favorable conditions the child\u2019s\ndesires remain automatically directed at the goods that are proper to his age\nand nature. But the child who gets too many, too valuable toys, too soon is\nnever satisfied with anything that is a source of joy and pleasure for other\nchildren of his age. He is spoiled for the rest of his life. His emotions have\nbeen blunted<\/em> instead of refined<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This process of spoiling is not confined to\nmaterial objects. A child can also become spoiled on the spiritual level. This\nused to be a common occurrence. Catholic children were expected to attend Mass\non every school day throughout the elementary and high school grades. From the\nfirst day of school they were trained to sit still in church without talking,\nwith hands folded, etc. Because of the praise, and often better grades they\nreceived from the sisters because of their good behavior in church, they were\nled to believe this was all there was to religion. They usually became bored\nearly in life with religious things, and the expectation and desire for greater\nspiritual things never developed. By the time they went to college and were\nfree to do as they pleased, many stopped going to Mass altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this connection it is good to realize we\nalso give too soon, and therefore spoil a child\u2019s chance to grow to emotional\nand spiritual maturity, by our unbending, inflexible insistence on adherence to\nthe letter of the moral laws. Telling a child that a sin is always a sin<\/em>, and that he must do exactly what the Commandments\ntell him to do, is tantamount to expecting him to behave as an adult. This\npremature, rigid application of moral principles and the resulting feelings of\nguilt deprive him of growing up emotionally and spiritually, of learning from\nmistakes, and of discussing these matters with trusted adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, one also gives too early by\ninsisting that sin is not a sin<\/em>. By\ntelling a child or adolescent that masturbation is never sinful, but always\nnormal\u2014because everybody does it\u2014one suggests that the sexual feeling must be\ngratified without delay, that having an orgasm is all there is to sex. One\nthereby takes away all perspective, and deprives the young person of the\nexpectation of a healthier, happier, shared sexuality in marriage. Matters are\nmade worse, as is only too common nowadays, by advocating sexual intercourse at\nany age. This kills the expectation that sexual relations in an atmosphere of\nunselfish love could bring greater happiness. One becomes blas\u00e9 in the mistaken\nopinion that there is nothing more to marriage and life than one\u2019s own intense\nsexual pleasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proper attitude lies, of course, in between\nthese two extremes. One maintains and respects the moral norm, but allows for\ngrowth. One assists the young when they make mistakes and do what is objectively<\/em> sinful.19<\/a><\/sup>\nThis is done because one knows that man sins only when he chooses evil freely,\nand that in the young the emotions which have not had the time to become\nintegrated with reason and will, are not yet free. They are still blind, and\nneed the guidance of the morally responsible adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Is it correct to quote you as saying that you advocate that all\nemotions must be expressed for normal growth of the emotional life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A No, I definitely do not advocate\nthe necessity of the expression of all emotions at all times. The popular idea\nthat all emotions must be expressed is incorrect. What I do stress is that all\nemotions must be felt<\/em> when aroused.\nThis is first of all an interior, psychic process. However, part of this\nprocess also takes place in the body, where certain physical changes accompany\nwhat one experiences on the psychic level. As long as you do not make any\neffort to suppress these physical changes, some of which are noticeable by the\noutside world, the emotion will express itself naturally and spontaneously.\nThis particular form of \u201cexpression\u201d should never be suppressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is possible, however, to go beyond this\npoint of nature\u2019s \u201cexpression\u201d of the emotion, and this is what is usually\nmeant by \u201cexpressing one\u2019s emotions.\u201d One can shout and rage beyond nature\u2019s\nexpression of a red face, a shaky voice, an angry look in the eyes. One can\nwail, cry, and tear out one\u2019s hair when in grief, but this behavior goes beyond\nnature\u2019s emotional reaction of tears welling up in the eyes, sad facial\nfeatures, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is up to each person to decide if and when\nhe will go beyond the \u201cnatural\u201d expressions of his feelings. This decision must\nbe made in each situation according to a variety of factors\u2014who is involved,\nwhat is at stake, the source of the emotion, social and moral factors. If your\nreason decides, not your fear, that any expression of your anger might well\ncause you to lose your job, then you will decide not to do or show anything\u2014but\nthis is not repression of anger by fear. It is guiding your emotion and refraining\nfrom all external manifestations by means of your reason and will. As long as\nyou act this way, you will never suffer any psychological difficulties, for you\nprovide your emotions with what they need and want, namely, guidance by reason.\nThus there is a world of difference between rational\nrestraint<\/em> of the outward expressions of your emotion, and neurotic repression<\/em> of the emotion\nitself. This is the difference between emotional health and emotional illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter 6<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spotting Emotional Malfunctions<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we have a better\nunderstanding of what emotions are and what they are for, it is time to try to\nmake some sense out of what must appear to many to be a bewildering array of\nneurotic symptoms and incomprehensible emotional disorders. Perhaps many professionals\nshare this bewilderment, as there is now a movement underway to do away with\nthe word \u201cneurosis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Editors\u2019 note: Since the publication of the\noriginal edition of this book, the American Psychiatric Association has indeed\nremoved the word \u201cneurosis\u201d from its diagnostic terminology in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental\nDisorders (DSM)<\/em>. Other changes have also affected the original terminology\nin this chapter. Wherever possible, the current diagnostic terminology\naccording to DSM-IV-TR<\/em> (2000)\nstandards has replaced the original terminology in this book, which was based\non DSM-II<\/em> (1968) standards. Notations\nhave been made as appropriate. In cases where there is no current equivalent\nterminology, the original text has been preserved.20<\/a><\/sup>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, it is not too difficult to present a clear\noutline of those common emotional afflictions that concern all of us in some\nway. Whether we ourselves suffer from these afflictions or not, our entire\nsociety has an important stake in their successful treatment and their\nprevention in the future. In my opinion, the nonprofessional, the man in the\nstreet, will have to play an active part, whether as parent, teacher, educator,\nor in the increasingly popular area of \u201cinner healing\u201d by charismatics and\nPentecostals. Without the help of the nonprofessional, psychiatrists and other\nmental health professionals can never hope to succeed in significantly reducing\nthe incidence of emotional illness in present and future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to gain a practical and adequate\nunderstanding of the most common, widespread emotional afflictions, it suffices\nto distinguish between the neurotic disorders caused by repression, those\ncaused by emotional deprivation, and other non-neurotic conditions such as\npersonality disorders and psychoses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Dr. Baars, before you start discussing the various types of emotional\ndisorders, will you please explain the difference between such terms as mental\nand emotional illness or health, neurosis and psychosis, and other commonly\nused psychiatric terms that lay persons often find very confusing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A An excellent suggestion! Let me\nstart with the terms \u201cmental\u201d and \u201cemotional.\u201d \u201cMental,\u201d from the Latin word mens<\/em>, means \u201cpertaining to the mind,\nintellect, or reason.\u201d Strictly speaking therefore, mental illness is a\ndisorder of the reasoning processes\u2014thinking, judging, etc. This occurs\ntypically in a psychosis or psychotic state (like schizophrenia, paranoia,\netc., and those conditions in which brain cells have been destroyed). However,\nthe word \u201cmind\u201d has come to describe virtually anything that pertains to the\npsyche, as opposed to the body, like thinking, feeling, willing, memory,\ntemper, character, etc. Therefore, \u201cmental health\u201d means \u201csoundness of all\npsychological functions.\u201d However, because nobody has ever clearly defined the\nconcept of \u201cmental health,\u201d I personally prefer the term \u201cpsychic wholeness\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n [the psyche being comprised of the spiritual ,\nwhich allows for the inclusion of the spiritual element of man.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEmotional\u201d means \u201cpertaining to the emotions\nor feelings, as distinguished from the thinking processes of the mind.\u201d I think\nthis is an excellent distinction that helps clarify psychological functions and\nissues. As there is already too much fuzzy thinking and talking in the fields\nof psychology and psychiatry, I shall make consistent use of this distinction\nbetween \u201cmental\u201d and \u201cemotional,\u201d between \u201cthinking\u201d and \u201cfeeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus a psychosis22<\/a><\/sup> is an illness that\naffects primarily the person\u2019s thinking processes (though secondarily it may\nalso affect the emotions); it is a mental illness. (\u201cInsanity\u201d is a legal\nterm.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n A neurosis23<\/a><\/sup> is an illness that is\nprimarily a disturbance of the emotions (though the thinking processes may also\nbe affected secondarily); it is an emotional illness (disturbance, disorder,\ndisease). The word \u201cpsychoneurosis\u201d is an old term for neurosis; it is no\nlonger in use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The terms \u201cpsychiatrist\u201d and \u201cpsychologist\u201d\ncontinue to be a source of great confusion. According to a study by the\nAmerican Psychiatric Association, \u201cThe public defines mental illness as crime,\nviolence, alcoholism, depression and schizophrenia, and considers that the\nprovince of the psychiatrist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This, of course is a distorted view of what a\npsychiatrist concerns himself with. Moreover, it is misleading insofar as these\nareas mentioned represent different entities. Crime and violence are forms of\nbehavior; alcoholism is an addictive disease; depression is a symptom; and\nschizophrenia is a psychotic disorder. According to the above study the\npsychiatrist would not concern himself with neurotic disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psychiatrists treat persons who suffer from\ndifferent types of illnesses, involving mind, emotions and body\u2014which are\ncharacterized by a large variety of symptoms and forms of behavior. Many\npsychiatrists specialize<\/em> in certain\nareas. I confine myself to the diagnosis and treatment of persons with neurotic\ndisorders (with or without associated spiritual afflictions). I do this because\nin this area I have something special to offer that I would like to make\navailable to as large a number of people as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A psychiatrist is a physician with at least\nfour years of specialized education in understanding normal and abnormal\npsychological conditions. A psychologist is not a physician; he has also\nstudied normal and abnormal psychology and is usually an expert in giving and\ninterpreting psychological tests. He cannot prescribe medications to the\npersons he sees in psychotherapy, nor is he trained to do physical or\nneurological examinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPsychopath\u201d and \u201cpsychopathic personality\u201d are\nalso sources of confusion. Both are older terms, no longer in official use, to\nindicate a disorder that is neither psychotic, nor neurotic. The current\nofficial term for this condition, which often resembles a neurotic disorder, is\n\u201cpersonality disorder.\u201d24<\/a><\/sup> This change may be an improvement to\nlessen confusion, but continued recognition and labeling of a variety of\npersonality disorder subtypes perpetuates this confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are several examples of how confusing\nthese subtypes can be. A person diagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder\nindicates a person with a personality disorder with features resembling those\nof a schizophrenic; yet he is not psychotic. A person diagnosed with\nObsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is a person with symptoms resembling\nthose in obsessive-compulsive repression, yet he is not neurotic. The same\napplies to other personality disorders: paranoid, antisocial, histrionic, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will discuss later the fundamental\ncharacteristics of a psychopath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Is it possible for ordinary people to understand what neurotic\ndisorders are all about? Should you not have at least a college degree for\nthat?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Not at all. Anyone with a high\nschool diploma can understand the different kinds of emotional disorders, how\nthey originate and what their symptoms are. Members of my profession, particularly\nthe psychoanalysts, have made things unnecessarily complicated with the\nintroduction of such words as \u201cego,\u201d \u201csuperego\u201d and the \u201cid.\u201d I stopped using\nthose and similar analytic terms long ago and substituted common sense terms\nfrom the field of rational psychology.25<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q On what school of psychology are psychoanalysis and modern clinical\npsychiatry based?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A This is a somewhat embarrassing\nquestion, unless you are already familiar with the many diverse concepts and\nformulations in the field of mental health and illness. This is never clearer\nperhaps than in a court of law, where both the prosecution and the defense can\nretain psychiatrists to examine one and the same defendant, and have them end\nup with conflicting, even diametrically opposed, opinions concerning the nature\nand causes of the defendant\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To answer your question, Freud, the father of\nmodern psychiatry, did not start with a particular view of healthy or normal\nman. In other words, as a physician who had specialized in neurology (the study\nof the nervous system), he did not subscribe to any particular school of\npsychology. He started with emotionally and mentally ill people and interpreted\ntheir symptoms in his own, often most ingenious, ways. But they often had\nlittle or no bearing on the actual functions of the psyche of normal people as\nthey were known in Europe in Freud\u2019s time. Since then, clinical psychiatry has\nbeen increasingly influenced by animal, experimental, social and behavior\npsychology\u2014and more recently even by pop psychology\u2014while the philosophic\nfoundations of European faculty psychology have been absent from the American\nscene for the past half-century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without ignoring\u2014in fact, with positive\nincorporation of well-established clinical findings in modern psychiatry, this\nbook is based largely on rational psychology and faculty psychology (i.e., the\nstudy of man as man, the study of man\u2019s psychic faculties in the light of what\nman has discovered over the ages about all of reality, including man\u2019s\nbeginning, his Creator and his ultimate goal of existence). Of course, here I\naddress myself mainly to one particular aspect of this study, namely, man\u2019s\nemotional life, for the simple reason that it has been and is the least known\nand most neglected part of man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Can you give us a simple outline of the various kinds of emotional\nafflictions that make people go to psychiatrists and psychologists for\ntreatment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A People go to psychiatrists in the\nhope of finding relief from the symptoms of a repressive disorder, emotional\ndeprivation disorder, a psychosomatic disorder, or a pseudo-neurotic reaction\n(also called situational neurosis or reaction). I intend to outline these\nsymptoms shortly in such a way that almost anyone can recognize them and\ndetermine their cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who are psychopathic generally do not\nvisit psychiatrists, at least not voluntarily. Only when they are in trouble\nwith the law, and that happens quite often, are they seen by a psychiatrist at\nthe request of the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-affirming persons by and large do not feel\nthe need to see a psychiatrist as long as they expect to be successful in their\nstriving to prove their importance and self-worth. When they have climbed to\nthe top of the ladder of success and realize that is not the answer to their\nreal expectations, it is usually too late to seek professional help. Death by\nsuicide often intervenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it is important to recognize self-affirming\npersons and those with personality disorders, I shall include a brief\ndescription of both. But first, I shall describe the type of neurotic disorder26<\/a><\/sup>\nthat may have its beginning on the very first day of a child\u2019s earthly\nexistence, if not before. Following that I will explain the neurotic conditions\nthat start around the beginning of elementary school and the neurotic-like\nconditions that originate later on in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a child is deprived in infancy, childhood,\nor puberty of the most fundamental element of emotional nourishment, namely,\nthe unselfish, mature love of an adult person, he remains incapable of\nexperiencing joy and happiness. As long as this fundamental need for being\nloved for who he is<\/em> (as distinguished\nfrom for what he does<\/em> or achieves<\/em>) is frustrated, he hungers for\nfeeling loved and wanted, for having a sense of belonging, for being lovable,\nfor feeling worthwhile and significant for being who he is, for being unique,\nyes, simply for existing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The child\u2019s need for feeling loved is as fundamental\nas his need for food, air, and shelter. He cannot live if this need is not\nsatisfied. Exist, yes, but not really live as a human being should live.\nWithout this fundamental feeling of being loved by another being, he will\ncontinue to crave it. As long as this craving is frustrated, his emotional life\ncannot develop. By this I mean that he cannot develop that part of his\nemotional life that is primary\u2014his humane emotions which, together with his\nintuitive mind, determine his happiness and his capacity for making other\npeople truly happy. The other part, however, his assertive emotions, usually\ndevelop to excess\u2014too much fear and despair in some, too much energetic\nstriving in others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His psychic<\/em>\nbirth<\/em>, as distinct from his physical\nbirth, cannot take place without the gratification of this fundamental need.\nWithout this second birth he remains emotionally a child, even though his body,\nintellect and spiritual life grow, provided, of course, that these parts of his\nbeing are given the proper food. Usually his intellectual and spiritual lives\nwill suffer, even though the damage may not become noticeable until much later,\nparticularly in times of great crises. It is then that one realizes that such\nan emotionally deprived person is like a house built without a firm foundation.\nIt collapses in a storm, and what looked like a beautiful and strong\nsuperstructure of academic degrees, great business acumen, political talent, or\nreligious fervor proves to possess no real strength. Genuine strength is found\nin the \u201cheart\u201d\u2014the humane emotions interacting with the intuitive mind\u2014which\ncements the body to the structures of intellect and spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q I am sorry for interrupting you, but you started out by calling this\ndeprived condition a neurotic disorder. Yet you have not talked at all of a\nrepression of unacceptable emotions and feelings. I have always heard that all\nneurotic disorders are caused by the repression of unacceptable feelings. Isn\u2019t\nthat what Freud has always taught?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Yes, you are entirely correct in\nsaying that Freud taught this. And what is more, the psychiatric profession as\na whole still clings to this idea that all neurotic disorders are repressive\ndisorders. Yet the damage to a person\u2019s emotional life which I just described\nis not at all due to repression. It is solely the result of adults withholding\nfrom him what is an essential building stone of his emotional life, of the infrastructure\nof the rest of his personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the reasons why this type of disorder\nhas been recognized so far by only a few psychiatrists is that some of its\nsymptoms may also be seen in repressive disorders, and even in people who seem\nto be \u201cnormal.\u201d However, when you see all or most of these symptoms in their\n\u201cpure\u201d state, especially when fully developed, as they are in what we have\ndesignated as deprivation neurosis [now called emotional deprivation disorder<\/em>], you will have no difficulty in\nrecognizing it as a condition distinctly different from a repressive disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Will every person who has been deprived of a parent\u2019s unconditional and\nunselfish love develop emotional deprivation disorder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Not necessarily. Every person who\nhas been deprived of the gift of feeling his own unique goodness and\nlovableness is called an unaffirmed person. He has not been affirmed (i.e.,\nstrengthened by another human being). There are three possible developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, if he was totally unaffirmed at a very\nearly age of his life, the chances are that he will develop the symptoms of\nthis condition to a pronounced degree. He develops a full-blown emotional\ndeprivation disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, if the lack of affirmation was not\ntotal, but only partial, and began somewhat later in life (or one parent made\nup to some extent what the other parent did not give at all), he is an\nunaffirmed person whose symptoms are milder and less pronounced. Many of these\npartially affirmed persons go through life as \u201cnormal\u201d persons who are never really\nhappy and content. Their symptoms are miniatures of the well-defined, easily\nrecognized and disabling manifestations of emotional deprivation disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, if the partially affirmed person is by\nnature energetic, and has a lot of things going for him (e.g., a good or\nsuperior intelligence, the right connections, lucky breaks, a lot of money, a\nbeautiful body in the case of women, and the like), he will often attempt to\naffirm himself. This means he will try to attain by his own efforts and means what\nhe did not receive (or only partially received) as a gift from others.\nClinically, the self-affirming person will appear and behave in a way that is\ntotally different from the person with emotional deprivation disorder.\nNevertheless, in close contact, a knowledgeable person will have no difficulty\nin detecting in him the same symptoms that, in more severe or milder degrees,\nare present in the other two types of unaffirmed persons, the person with\nemotional deprivation disorder and the \u201cnormal\u201d appearing, unaffirmed person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shall outline the typical symptoms of the\nunaffirmed person, though only summarily, because they are dealt with\nextensively in my books, Healing the\nUnaffirmed<\/em> and Born Only Once<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. As the \u201cheart\u201d of the unaffirmed person does\nnot develop, he grows to adulthood feeling\nlike a child<\/em>. He is fearful of the adult world, or the seemingly adult\nworld, because many of his peers are also unaffirmed persons; he is lonely and\nafraid to disagree, to bother or displease others. As he bends over backward to\nbe \u201cnice,\u201d he ends up being just that, a \u201cnice\u201d guy, a \u201cnobody\u201d without\npersonality or character, never standing up for anything he believes in, a\nperson without enemies, but also without close friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When other persons lead their own lives and\nexpress their feelings without considering his, he feels excluded, left out, an\noutsider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His only chance to establish rapport with\nothers is to do it with his will. Superficial though it will be, it enables him\nto maintain his position in society. But as his willed rapport lacks feelings\nand spontaneity, it does not give him the joy of friendship and camaraderie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. As his childish way of feeling makes the\nunaffirmed person unsuited for the adult life he must lead, he experiences\ndeep-seated feelings of uncertainty<\/em>\nand insecurity<\/em>. Even when reason\ntells him his willed actions and behavior in relation to others are correct, he\nlacks the corresponding feeling that this is so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This explains why the unaffirmed person finds\nit most difficult to make decisions, hesitates to act and often changes his\nmind. This is true for interpersonal relationships, but much less in business\nor professional matters, which normally call for noninvolvement of emotional\nfactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Because the unaffirmed person repeatedly\nfails in his relationship with others, he develops strong feelings of inferiority<\/em> and inadequacy<\/em>. This may be manifested in the person feeling unloved,\nor ugly, or physically underdeveloped and weak, or even intellectually\nincompetent. These feelings are present in spite of the fact that the person is<\/em> loved, beautiful, of superior\nphysical strength and intellectual endowment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to these fundamental\ncharacteristics of every unaffirmed person, there are other symptoms that occur\nless consistently and universally. Their presence probably depends on a variety\nof factors: severity of the deprivation by the most significant persons in the\nlife of the unaffirmed person, compensating factors in his environment,\neconomic factors, relative intelligence, etc. To mention a few: feelings of\ndepression; suicidal inclinations; feelings of guilt for being unable to love\nothers and being self-centered;27<\/a><\/sup> impaired senses of touch,\ntaste or smell; impaired power of observation; learning disabilities and\nimpaired memory for concrete facts; lack of order and inability to discipline\nchildren or students, and physical and mental fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These and other symptoms are more fully\ndiscussed and illustrated in the books, Healing\nthe Unaffirmed<\/em> and Born Only Once<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Dr. Baars, I cannot understand why the syndrome of lack of affirmation,\nor emotional deprivation disorder, is not yet generally recognized by your\ncolleagues. It makes a lot of sense; there is nothing vague or mysterious about\nit. I do not think you have to be a psychiatrist or a psychologist to recognize\na person with emotional deprivation disorder. Are other psychiatrists and\npsychologists denying the existence of this diagnosis?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A No, they are not denying it. They\nsimply have not yet heard about it. They recognize, of course, its various\nsymptoms, but not the sum total of symptoms as a well-defined type of emotional\ndisorder with a precisely-defined cause and therapy. If they had, I am sure\nthey would have taken some steps to list it in the official diagnostic manual [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental\nDisorders<\/em>].28<\/a><\/sup> This would be a boon for countless\npersons with emotional troubles, judging from the hundreds of letters I have\nreceived since we first published an extensive account of emotional deprivation\ndisorder in the English language.29<\/a><\/sup> Practically all write that\nthey are amazed to read such an accurate account of themselves and their\nemotional afflictions. Many have added that they have been in psychiatric\ntreatment for years and have never heard their doctors explain the nature of\ntheir illness in terms of deprivation. All ask for the name and address of a\npsychiatrist in their part of the country who understands their illness and can\ntreat them accordingly. Having had to disappoint them in this request has been\na source of much sorrow to me and them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Then why is it that your colleagues have not read your books? I read somewhere\nthat Born Only Once<\/em> is already in its\nsixth edition [now in its 12th edition], and Healing the Unaffirmed<\/em> is in its third [now in its 11th\nedition\u2014edited and revised]. Surely the psychiatrists must have these books in\ntheir libraries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Psychiatrists are bombarded daily\nwith newly published books and articles. They have much to read and often\ninsufficient time to keep up with their professional journals. Most stick to\nbooks by psychiatric publishers. When in the early seventies I submitted our 500-page\nmanuscript for Loving and Curing the\nNeurotic<\/em>30<\/a><\/sup> to psychiatric publishing houses, I\nreceived nothing but friendly rejection slips and best wishes for publication\nelsewhere. I suspect that they did not feel comfortable with our occasional\nmentioning of God and the human soul, and topics like that. Speaking of such\nthings is virtually taboo in my profession, even though psychiatrists claim to\ntreat the whole man. But this whole man does not commonly include his spiritual\nlife or his relationship to God, and life hereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, when a nonpsychiatric publishing\nhouse happened to hear about the manuscript and offered to print it, we\naccepted that offer, even though we realized it would retard the acceptance of\nour ideas and discoveries in the psychiatric profession. In my opinion, it is\nonly a matter of time before that happens. You cannot keep a good thing hidden\nforever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Are there many people suffering from emotional deprivation disorder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Yes, there are. As far as I can\ndetermine, the number is steadily growing, perhaps even at an alarming rate. In\nour society the number of people able and willing to love their children and\nother persons in a truly unselfish and mature manner seems to be on the\ndecline. This is not so strange when you realize that individuals with\nemotional deprivation disorder and unaffirmed parents raise unaffirmed\nchildren, who then in turn deprive their children in the next generation, and\nso on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, the number of people with\nrepressive disorders seems to be on the decline since people repress their\nemotions less and less. This is not as good a development as it sounds, as I\nshall explain in the eighth chapter of this book. Counting all unaffirmed\npersons\u2014those with emotional deprivation disorder, unaffirmed \u201cnormal\u201d persons,\nand self-affirmers\u2014their number must be enormous. Have you ever noticed how\nmany \u201cnormal\u201d people are doing things because it is so \u201ctherapeutic\u201d? They seem\nto sense that all is not well with them. \u201cMental health\u201d in our society is at a\npremium; psychological weakness<\/em> or debility<\/em> is all too common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Can you tell us more about self-affirmation? You make it sound like an\nabnormal and unhealthy process, yet I believe that some experts in your field\nspeak about self-affirmation as a necessary step in one\u2019s psychic development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A It is true that some mental health\nexperts, like Rollo May,31<\/a><\/sup> advocate self-affirmation. However, it is\nclear that they all do this without prior precise defining of \u201caffirmation\u201d in\nthe specific psychological sense I have done. Therefore, their use of the term\n\u201cself-affirmation\u201d falls in the same category as \u201cself-fulfillment,\u201d\n\u201cself-realization,\u201d \u201cself-assertion,\u201d \u201cself-motivation\u201d and similar, not always\nprecisely defined, terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-affirmation, as distinguished from\n\u201cother-affirmation,\u201d is indeed detrimental to a person\u2019s psychic health as well\nas to that of the people around him. Unfortunately, there are huge numbers of\npeople in our society who attempt to affirm themselves, and have been doing so\nlong before \u201cmental health\u201d experts began to promote this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-affirming persons are unaffirmed persons\nwho try to attain by their own efforts the feeling that they are good and\nlovable and significant, even though the important people in their early lives\nfailed to give them that feeling. But the tragedy of it is that they never\nattain their goal. Even when they succeed in becoming very rich, or famous, or\nimportant in politics or business or the religious life, or whatever, and are\nenvied or admired because of their power and fame, they are doomed to discover\nsooner or later that they are still where they started from, namely, feeling<\/em> unloved and worthless and\ninsignificant. When people love and admire you because of what you have done or\ndo<\/em>, it does not mean that you will\nfeel loved and worthwhile because of who you are<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though self-affirming persons present a\ntotally different clinical picture than those with emotional deprivation\ndisorder, they are equally weak psychologically. They are both emotionally\nimmature and weak as the result of not having been affirmed. The irony is that\nthe self-affirming person in our society is even less recognized for what he\nis\u2014a person with an emotional illness\u2014than the person with emotional\ndeprivation disorder. He is usually thought of as mature, normal, yes, even\nabove average. His effect on society is negative, if not destructive. He is\nincapable of affirming others, and frequently will not hesitate to use and\nmanipulate for his own purposes the very persons who love him. But most of this\nis seen and interpreted as the \u201cnormal\u201d behavior of the average American who is\ndetermined to get ahead in the world and give his children the material\npossessions he never received from his parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not saying that all men and women with\ntheir striving for achievement are necessarily self-affirming persons. As long\nas this striving remains reasonable and is not done at the expense of their\nchildren\u2019s emotional growth there is nothing to be concerned about. But the\nstriving for power, success, fame, and the like, of self-affirming persons is\nnot reasonable. Unless restrained by deep religious and moral convictions, as\nsome are, they will not hesitate to work their way up at any price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my opinion, the growing number of reports of\nwrongdoing on the part of so many public figures in our society is a reliable\nindicator of the increase in the number of self-affirming persons. There is\nlittle doubt in my mind that there exists a cause-and-effect relationship\nbetween the growing incidence of self-affirmation and such new social phenomena\nand global problems as abortion on demand, the so-called sexual revolution,\nagitation for more equal rights and fewer obligations, pollution of the\nenvironment, monetary chaos and inflation, waste of food and energy, violence,\nand so on. I intend to write about this at another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Is it true that if a child is brought into the world by truly affirming\nparents his emotional life is assured of developing to full maturity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Unfortunately, this is not so. Even\nthough that child has a definite advantage over those children who from day one\nare deprived totally or partially of authentic love, he can still be harmed\nemotionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Basically, this can happen in two ways. He can\nbe made to repress certain emotions and thus begin to develop what later on in\nhis life will be recognized as a repressive disorder or he can be spoiled, as a\nresult of which his humane emotions are blunted. Although this is not a\nneurotic disorder, it will have harmful consequences for his happiness in later\nlife. As I have discussed the topic already, I shall now explain what a\nrepressive disorder is and how it develops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emotional deprivation disorder, as we have\nseen, is the result of the child not receiving the proper emotional food of\nauthentic love. A repressive disorder, on the other hand, develops when adults\ngive the child incorrect ideas concerning his emotions and bodily feelings\nwhich stimulate his assertive emotions of fear and\/or energy. These emotions\nthen begin to operate for the purpose of getting rid of those emotions and\nfeelings which he thinks are bad, sinful, unacceptable to others, or cause hurt\nin himself or other people. The child may be informed correctly about\neverything else in the world, go to the best schools and so on, yet if he is\ngiven incorrect information, directly or indirectly, about the nature and\nfunction of his emotions, he has no choice but to react to this misinformation\nby repression, i.e., by pushing those emotions into his subconscious when he\nfeels them. The same happens when he is given the right information, but\nprematurely, when he is too young to understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How deeply and to what extent he will repress\ndepends on several factors, both outside and within him. If the false\ninformation concerns the emotions which serve man\u2019s two innate drives (of\nself-realization and reproduction); if it is given earlier in life when the\nchild\u2019s emotional life is not yet clearly differentiated; if the verbal\nmisinformation is reinforced by nonverbal behavior, or if the correct verbal\ninformation is contradicted by the actual behavior and emotional reactions of\nthe persons in authority (emotional junk food); then the repressive process\nwill be stronger and its adverse effects more widespread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the child has an innate superior\nintelligence, if he is of a sensitive, serious and introspective nature, and\nsincerely motivated in willing to do what his parents and educators expect from\nhim, his repression will be deep, consistent and, over the years, extend\u2014by\nassociation or logic\u2014to an ever greater number of sense objects and other parts\nof his emotional life. He develops what later will be diagnosed as\nObsessive-Compulsive Disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the child, however, is of inferior, low, or\nborderline intelligence, not too sensitive or concerned about what he is\ntaught, he will repress in a much more superficial way without the growing\ninvolvement of other feelings and sense objects. He will develop in time an\nhysterical neurosis,32<\/a><\/sup> with or without conversion symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Are you saying then that in times like these, when every adult seems to\nbe more or less misinformed about emotions and feelings, all children develop\nrepression and manifest a neurotic disorder, either the obsessive-compulsive\ntype, or the hysterical type? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A It indeed sounds like there is no\nother alternative, and that one must expect all people who were born, let us\nsay, in the past one hundred years or so, to be neurotic (even when not\ncounting those who were inadequately affirmed). However, even though I think\nthat a large part of the Western world has been affected adversely by distorted\nbeliefs about human emotions, I do not subscribe to the idea that everyone is\nneurotic or emotionally ill. There are always a certain number of children who\nlet this misinformation go in one ear and out the other, if they heard it at\nall; or whose parents or educators for some reason just did not bother talking\nabout such things, and allowed their children to grow up pretty naturally and\nspontaneously\u2014perhaps in rural, less sophisticated areas and times. The absence\nof emotional disorders in primitive societies suggests strongly that neurotic\ndisorders are the product of technologically more advanced societies (though\nnot necessarily philosophically and spiritually more advanced).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Can you tell us more about the manner in which incorrect knowledge\nabout the nature and goodness of human emotions can cause a repressive\ndisorder? I find that difficult to believe in view of the fact that Freud has\ntold us that it is the superego that causes a person to repress. Your opinion seems\nto be quite different from his and what the psychiatric profession in general\nholds on this subject.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Yes, it is true that on this topic\nI am at odds with Freud and those of my colleagues who still subscribe to the\nidea that the superego is the culprit in the repressive process. The chief\nreason for my disagreement was my growing realization in clinical practice that\nif the therapist was to correct, or change, or eliminate the patient\u2019s superego\nwhich, the experts claimed, caused him to be neurotic, he could run into\nproblems of an ethical and moral character (because the superego encompasses\nconscience, moral standards and social mores). This made me search for an\nintellectually more acceptable and satisfying solution to the cause of these\nneurotic disorders. I found it back in the mid-fifties just as I was\nsufficiently disenchanted to consider abandoning my profession. It was a chance\ndiscovery during a visit to my native country, but one which has brought me and\nuntold numbers of my patients much satisfaction and happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suffice it to say, in explanation of what I\nconsider to be the real cause of neurotic repression, that it is not what a\nperson knows<\/em>, or believes<\/em> to be true, about emotions, human drives and human nature\nthat leads him to repress, but rather his emotional reaction to these beliefs.\nHis fear<\/em> or emotional energy<\/em> constitute the repressive force which moves him to\ntry to get rid of feelings and ideas which he is led to believe are socially\nunacceptable, if not morally wrong. His emotional reaction does not depend so\nmuch on the actual teachings themselves, as on the emotional atmosphere in\nwhich they are presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, in the past, the sixth and ninth\ncommandments often aroused fear of sex in children, not only because there were\ntwo commandments on this subject (while stealing, killing, and such had only\none!), but also because many teachers couldn\u2019t help but communicate their own\nanxiety and discomfort with this subject. Other children, again, associated\nfear with the emotion of anger, and thus began to repress it, because they were\nhurt by their parents\u2019 angry punishments and beatings, or also because they saw\ntheir parents hurt each other in anger. These latter children commonly would\ndecide never to let their own angry feelings be a source of hurt and distress\nto others, and thus began to repress their own angry feelings energetically,\nrather than by means of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Are you claiming then that a repressive disorder develops because one\nemotion represses another emotion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Precisely! It is not the\nsuperego\u2014that strange concoction of conscience, moral standards and social\nmores\u2014that forces unacceptable emotions into the unconscious, but another\nemotion that interferes with the natural course of an emotion deemed to be the\npotential cause of trouble. A child\u2019s neurotic disorder has its origin in the\nintellect of the adults who must raise the child, and present it either with\noutright mistaken ideas about the child\u2019s own feelings, or with correct ideas\nbefore he is ready to understand them, or with correct teachings which are not\nfurther explained, or with concepts which are qualified in an atmosphere laden\nwith fear, suspicions and doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, these ideas presented by adults have\ntheir greatest impact on what I have called earlier the child\u2019s \u201csophisticated\ninstinct.\u201d Because this instinct functions in immediate, intimate connection\nwith the assertive emotions, his response will be one of fear or energy (hope\nand courage). It is this emotional response which sets the repressive process\nin motion. To say it differently, it is either the intellectual junk food fed\nto children by adults, or the proper intellectual food that is given\nprematurely to children and therefore cannot be digested properly by them. This\narouses their fear or energy whenever these topics are brought up or personally\nexperienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Can all emotions function as repressive ones, or are there certain\nemotions that do this more than others?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Usually it is the emotion of fear\nthat represses other emotions. Or, if it is not fear, it is the opposite\nemotion of courage (which for reasons of convenience we prefer to call\n\u201cenergy\u201d). Both fear and energy are assertive emotions which in the normal person\nserve as motors that stimulate the person to protect himself from harm or to\novercome obstacles. Like all other emotions they are good and necessary, but\nwhen they become engaged in interfering with other emotions they exert an\nunhealthy influence on man\u2019s psyche. This, of course, is because of the fact\nthat no emotion should make it its business to prevent other emotions from\nrunning their natural course, which is to exercise their function in close\ncooperation with reason. All emotions should operate in equality, on the same\nlevel, and be open to the guiding or tempering action of the will informed by\nreason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, the proper object of the\nemotion of fear is anything that is an actual threat to the well-being of a\nperson, e.g., a rattlesnake ready to strike. And because no man has a single\nemotion that could be considered a threat to man, it is pathological to feel\nfear of another emotion. Conversely, the emotion of courage or \u201cenergy\u201d serves\nthe purpose of stimulating one to defend oneself against anything that\nthreatens one\u2019s safety, health or life. Again, as no one emotion ever falls in\nthat category, it is neurotic to use the emotion of energy for the purpose of\nbattling other emotions. If one does so anyway, one will develop a repressive disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Earlier you described how a healthy, mature person reacts to something\ndesirable by giving the example of a man\u2019s response to seeing an attractive\nbrunette. Would this be a good time to explain how a person with\nobsessive-compulsive repression reacts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A When a person with\nobsessive-compulsive repression\u2014let us say, a scrupulous man\u2014spots an\nattractive brunette, his immediate response will be one of fear. He is afraid\nshe will arouse in him a desire that he considers sinful, potentially sinful, or\nan occasion for sin. He uses his fear to get rid of the desire immediately\nbecause he wills<\/em> to lead a chaste\nlife. He actually thinks that what he is doing\u2014letting his fear repress his\ndesire\u2014is the reasonable thing to do. He does not know any better, for he has\ngrown up with this approach since an early age and his beliefs and actions are\nbased on his felt<\/em> interpretations of\nmoral teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But by repressing his natural responses to the\nsight of the pretty brunette\u2014the emotions of love and desire\u2014he makes these\nemotions inaccessible to guidance by reason. Because these repressed emotions\nare buried alive<\/em>, and are not dead\nand forgotten even though it may seem so for the moment, they try to rise up in\norder to get what they need: guidance by reason. However, as soon as they get\nclose to the conscious level, fear is aroused and pushes them back again into\nthe unconscious. The battle between fear\nand desire<\/em> is on, and goes on without pause, only to break down sooner or\nlater in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Is it as easy for a nonprofessional to spot a person with a repressive\ndisorder as it is to recognize a person with emotional deprivation disorder?\nThe fact that there are different kinds of repressive disorders, such as the\nhysterical and the obsessive-compulsive kinds, seems to make it more difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A It is not difficult once he is\nfamiliar with the basic clinical symptoms that these repressive disorders (the\nobsessive-compulsive and hysterical types) have in common. Then, when you see\nin addition to these common symptoms the more specific symptoms of the two\nkinds of repressive neuroses\u2014in the hysterical neurotic this could be an hysterical\nparalysis of an arm or leg; in the person with obsessive-compulsive repression\nthis could be a hand-washing compulsion\u2014then it is not difficult to make a\ndiagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q What are the basic symptoms that all repressive disorders have in\ncommon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A The basic symptoms of all\nrepressive disorders are psychic and physical. The basic psychic<\/em> symptom is that of tension. This is not surprising because\nin these persons two emotions are constantly engaged in a battle. Not just once\nin a while, but day and night. One does not repress one day, and deal normally\nwith one\u2019s emotions the next day. The two opposing emotions are like the arms\nof two men engaged in arm-wrestling. The tension is as great as that of a\nrubber band being stretched between two hands pulling away from each other.\nJust as the band is under constant tension to the point of breaking, so the\nperson with a repressive disorder suffers from a constant feeling of tension.\nHe is constantly \u201cnervous,\u201d tense, unable to relax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As time goes on, this state of tension will\nproceed to restlessness, if not agitation, and an inability to sit still.\nPreoccupied with this tension and ways to find relief, it becomes increasingly\ndifficult to concentrate on any particular thing. As the entire emotional life\nbecomes affected in time by the repression of one single emotion, the person\u2019s\nreactions to stimuli from outside are increased and he becomes increasingly\n\u201coversensitive\u201d and irritable. The smallest things bother him; he is touchy,\njumpy, easily startled, and may at times \u201cexplode,\u201d just like the rubber band\nin time will snap. He is more and more \u201cunreasonable\u201d in his reactions to the\nworld around him. All this, of course, is the result of the fact that the\nnormal tempering and regulating function of his intellect on his emotions is\nbeing interfered with by the repressive process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because emotions have a psychic as well as a\nsomatic component, bodily<\/em> complaints\nwill also make themselves felt sooner or later in the person with a repressive\ndisorder. Most common complaints are fatigue, headache, backache, insomnia and\nsome other ones, depending on individual constitution. The whole body may show\nthe pressure under which the emotional life operates. The person\u2019s facial\nexpression is often tense, while his posture may become bent or stiff. Not\ninfrequently one can make a diagnosis of a repressive disorder by the way a\nperson shakes hands; it is stiff and unnatural. Interestingly, the handshake of\nthe person with emotional deprivation disorder is often the very opposite. It\nis often warm and prolonged as if he cannot or does not want to let go of the\nother person\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q What are some of the more specific symptoms of obsessive-compulsive\nrepression?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A In these individuals it is the\nemotion that causes all the trouble; the process of repression determines the\nclinical picture. However, we must distinguish between the person with\nfear-based repression and the person with energy-based repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the person with a fear-based repressive\ndisorder, the fear is so prominent that it places its mark on the entire\npersonality. The fear pervades the person so intensely that it is aroused not\nonly in the presence of an actual danger, like an approaching tornado, but even\nat the slightest possibility of danger, yes, even when no danger exists, but is\nonly imagined. The person with a fear-based repressive disorder lives in\nconstant fear that danger may befall him. Because the true object of his\nfear\u2014another emotion\u2014is deeply repressed, or even better, buried alive<\/em> in the subconscious, there is nothing the person can\ndo to deal with it. Instead, his fear often becomes focused on all kinds of\nother things, which may or may not have a reasonable relationship to the fear.\nAs the person is unable to do anything to get rid of his fears, his fear turns\ninto anxiety. Every person who has suffered with anxiety knows what a dreadful\nfeeling that is. It is especially terrible when there seems to be no way of\ngetting rid of it. The anxiety is with you all the time and makes life a\nveritable hell. When this symptom is the patient\u2019s only, or most pronounced,\ncomplaint he is officially diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But usually, in time, other symptoms are going\nto develop as well. Because it is most frustrating, if not maddening, not to\nknow why one is so fearful and anxious, the mind will play a trick on the\nperson with an anxiety disorder. This trick will give him the satisfaction of\nknowing, or rather of thinking that he knows the cause of his anxiety. Sooner\nor later the person with an anxiety disorder will find himself in an actually\nfrightening situation, for instance, in an elevator stalled between floors.\nFrom that day on he will have a fear of being caught in an enclosed place\u2014he\nhas a phobia of being in an elevator, and of all situations in which he is not\nin control of the situation. A typical example of this kind of phobia is the\nfear of flying. I have treated several men who flew their own plane without\ntrouble, yet were too fearful to fly in a commercial plane. Of course, the difference\nis that these men are in control of their own actions when flying their own\nplanes, but not when a passenger in a commercial plane. These people are afraid\nof the unexpected and are unable to trust others. The same holds true for\npeople who are afraid to be a passenger in a car driven by somebody else.\nOthers again have a barbershop phobia, and suffer unbearable anxiety when they\nfinally must submit to the scissors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is evident to all that the life of someone\nwith an anxiety or fear-based repressive disorder is far from pleasant. His\nlife becomes more and more depressing. Whenever the symptom of depression\nbecomes dominant he will also be said to be suffering from a depressive\ndisorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the repressive process is an unnatural\none it cannot be expected to be as successful later on as it usually is during\nthe adolescent and young adult years, when the fear is strong enough to keep\nthe repressed emotion from surfacing. When the repressive process is finally\nbeginning to show signs of wear and tear, the repressed emotion begins to sneak\nto the front of his awareness. The person then becomes obsessed with the very\nthings he has repressed successfully for so long. If it were the sex urge that\nhe repressed for so long, he now becomes obsessed with sexual thoughts,\nfantasies and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From then it will not be long before he becomes\ncompelled to do the very things he was always afraid of doing. For instance, he\nmay now begin to masturbate or look at sexual objects. Though he experiences\nintense feelings of guilt and remorse when he does these things, after a while\nthe compulsion to masturbate, or attend obscene movies, or purchase\npornographic magazines will make itself felt again. If he is to resist this\ncompulsion, he can do so only by virtue of a greater effort of the repressing\nemotion of fear, for his will was excluded long ago from dealing with the\nsexual feeling as it should. At this final stage of fear-based repression this\nperson is officially diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference between the official psychiatric\ndiagnosis and mine is that the former is determined by the most pronounced\nclinical symptoms of the patient (anxiety, phobia, obsessions and compulsions),\nwhile my diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive repression describes the nature<\/em> of the illness and the kind of\nperson who develops it (as distinguished from the hysterical neurosis). If it\nis fear that causes the person to repress I call this obsessive-compulsive\nrepression fear-based repression; if it is energy, energy-based repression.\nFrom this brief presentation it is clear that the repressive process is always\ndoomed to fail in the end in its purpose, namely, to do what one had been led\nto believe was right. This is a most tragic and frightening happening for the person\nwho for many years had become convinced that he had it made as far as control\nof his sexual urges was concerned. Having always conscientiously followed the\nadmonishments, if not living examples of his educators who lived in chronic\nfear of everything sexual, he could not help but believe that his neurotic\napproach to his sexual urges was the only reasonable, correct and natural thing\nto do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To experience this failure in one\u2019s forties or\nfifties after years of heroic practice of continence can cause someone with\nobsessive-compulsive repression to fear that he is losing his mind, or create\nan attitude of despair and self-reproach in the belief that he has lost his\nwill power and succumbed to his \u201cweak and evil nature.\u201d Of course, that person\ndoes not even know that his will<\/em> had\nbeen inoperative in the repressive process, and that it is his fear<\/em> that finally failed in its\nunnatural task of subduing other emotions and feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Is it correct to conclude from what you have said about anxiety\ndisorders that everyone who experiences anxiety has an anxiety disorder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A No, that would be a mistaken\nconclusion. Let me explain what anxiety is all about. Many people are confused\nconcerning this topic, which comes as no surprise when one learns that some\npsychiatric textbooks require three pages to define \u201canxiety\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When our life, health, or whatever else we\ncherish is threatened by something evil, we experience the emotion of fear,\nwhich readies us, psychologically as well as physiologically, to defend\nourselves or others. This we can do either by running away from the danger or,\nwith the help of the emotion of courage, by opposing it in the hope of\nconquering it. In either case, provided we are successful, the fear abates. But\nwhat happens when we fail and thus remain exposed to the danger? It is then\nthat our fear turns into anxiety, a most unpleasant feeling, but not\nnecessarily a sign that we have an anxiety disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, the person with a repressive\ndisorder is unable to deal effectively with the threatening evil, because he does not know<\/em> what he is afraid of. He\nhas repressed it deep into his subconscious, where it is beyond the reach of\nreason and will. Although in the beginning when he was young he knew what he\nfeared, the ongoing repressive process buried it ever deeper as time went on,\nso that the whole process of repressing became automatic and virtually\nunconscious. Consequently, he became helpless in dealing effectively with what\nhe had been told was a danger. His fear turned into anxiety along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is also possible for a person to know\nexactly what he is afraid of, and yet not be able to eliminate it at will. This\nmay happen, for instance, to a soldier in the jungle who is exposed to a deadly\nsniper he cannot see. If forced to remain in that jungle for a prolonged\nperiod, his fear may turn into anxiety\u2014if not panic. This is one of the reasons\nwhy it is said that every person has his breaking point. The actor or\nafter-dinner speaker may suffer enough anxiety to prevent him from eating. He knows\nwhat he is afraid of, but he can do nothing about it (except by being well\nprepared) as the time of acting or speaking is fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A person may also experience anxiety when he believes<\/em> himself too weak and inadequate\nto overcome what he considers a danger to him. A good example of this is the\nperson with emotional deprivation disorder who lives in constant fear of the\nadult world around him. This unaffirmed person suffers from a fear that is not\nirrational, unlike that of the person with a fear-based repressive disorder\nwho, for example, fears invisible germs on doorknobs. Feeling like a child in\nthe adult world around him is a real<\/em>\nsource of fear. His life is fearsome indeed. This existential fear<\/em> disappears as soon as the adults become truly\nloving in their attitude toward him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once one is familiar with these two kinds of\nfear and anxiety it is easy to distinguish between them in meeting such\npersons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Awhile back you spoke of an energy-based repressive disorder. I have\nnever heard that term used before. How can energy cause a person to have a\nrepressive disorder? I thought we were all supposed to be energetic and work\nhard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Unless you had read some of our\nearlier writings you could not have known about energy-based repression. It is\na new term introduced by my colleague in the Netherlands [the original term was\nenergy neurosis<\/em>], when she discovered\nthat a person could misuse his emotions of courage, hope, daring, or whatever\nyou want to call them, just as much as the emotion of fear, and apply them for\nthe purpose of getting rid of what are considered unacceptable or dangerous\nemotions, feelings and urges. She decided to give all these emotions the collective\nname of \u201cenergy,\u201d as it is a fitting one in our energetic, driving and driven,\naggressive and utilitarian world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, it is harder to spot a person with\nan energy-based repressive disorder in this kind of world where the\nhard-driving, aggressive businessman is praised for his energetic pursuits even\nthough it leads much too often to all kinds of physical and psychological\ntroubles, if not to premature death from a heart attack. But this is all the\nmore reason to recognize this type of person early, because he himself is\nusually the last one to realize that he is in need of help. Ordinarily, he does\nnot come to the attention of a psychiatrist, except for such late complications\nas chronic alcoholism or depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q Are you saying that all people who are energetic have energy-based\nrepressive disorders?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Not at all. Most of us need to be\nenergetic in our work and lives. And even if one is too energetic and drives\ntoo hard part of the time or all the time, unhealthy as that may be, it is not\nappropriate to label that person with an energy-based repressive disorder. The\nterm \u201cworkaholic\u201d would be more appropriate for him. It is only when a person\nuses emotional energy to interfere with and repress other emotions that he is\nconsidered to have an energy-based repressive disorder. It is just like a\nperson who is excessively fearful, scared of a little mouse or cockroach,\nafraid of a thunderstorm, etc. Unless his fear interferes with the natural\ncourse of his other emotions he cannot be said to have a repressive disorder.\nShy, timid, worrywart, etc., may be accurate names to describe that excessively\nfearful person, but not neurotic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Q How do you recognize the person with an energy-based repressive\ndisorder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Characteristic for this illness is\nthe all-pervading action of the energy that places its stamp on the whole\npersonality. Although usually presenting an outward appearance of efficiency\nand self-control, a person with an energy-based repressive disorder radiates an\nair of inflexible self-restraint that permits no natural spontaneity. He acts\nsomewhat like a robot in the use of his will for the purpose of imitating the\nnatural expressions of emotions: by smiling, laughing, looking sad, etc. He\nwills certain manifestations of emotions which he does not really feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He commonly displays an air of coolness and\naloofness, even of hardness. The tension that is produced by the repressive\nprocess is revealed in his deportment and manner of speech, his tendency to overreact\nwhen irritated. In those moments his harsh, biting words, intolerance of\nopinion, and exaggerated outbursts are in marked contrast to his usual even,\nthough always coldly polite, disposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Usually, persons with an energy-based\nrepressive disorder are highly intelligent and gifted people who demand a\nrepudiation of all feelings in everything they do, even in the spiritual life.\nMany even consider it their duty to rid themselves of feeling love for nature\nand art. Those feelings, they reason, might lead to the arousal of unacceptable\nemotions, and therefore should not be given an opportunity to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physical symptoms characteristic of\nenergy-based repression are low or absent muscle-stretch reflexes33<\/a><\/sup>,\nlow systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and a low or flat blood sugar curve.\nFor a better understanding of the repressive disorders and their symptoms, one\nshould consult Psychic Wholeness and\nHealing<\/em>.34<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q One often hears talk about hysteria and hysterical [histrionic]\npersons. Do those persons also have neurotic disorders, and if so, what kind?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A You are right in saying that the\nterm \u201chysterical\u201d is a common one. Unfortunately, though, it is not always used\ncorrectly. For example, people who wail loudly or tear their clothing at a\nfuneral, are often labeled hysterical by people who grieve in more moderate,\nless emotional ways. As the word hysteria has no other meaning than \u201cmorbid,\nsenseless emotionalism that is neurotic in nature,\u201d it is a most unfortunate\nchoice of words, one that symbolizes the confusion in the minds of many about\npsychiatric topics. And this particular topic is doubly confusing, because\nthere also exists a personality disorder [Histrionic Personality Disorder]\nreferring to what was formerly called \u201chysterical personality,\u201d to indicate a\nnonneurotic condition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To bring some order to this topic that is confusing\nfor most people, I shall explain these two conditions as follows. The\nhysterical neurosis35<\/a><\/sup> is one type of repressive disorder (the\nother is the already described obsessive-compulsive type). The hysterical\npersonality [Histrionic Personality Disorder], on the other hand, is one of\nmany and varied types of personality disorders, conditions which have nothing\nin common with repressive disorders, other than their occasionally superficial resemblance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cause of both hysterical neurosis and fear\nor energy-based repressive disorders is repression. However, the difference is\nthat in the person with hysterical\nneurosis the repressed emotions are allowed to do as they please<\/em> and\ntherefore will manifest themselves outwardly in the person\u2019s conduct. This\ndiffers radically from the person with obsessive-compulsive repression in whom\nthe repressing emotions of fear or energy never permit this. In fact, the\nrepressing emotions pursue the unacceptable emotions so relentlessly that they\nthemselves, and not the repressed emotions, color the person\u2019s entire feeling\nlife and conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason for this difference is that the\nhysterical neurosis occurs almost solely in persons with a below-average\nintelligence, while the other type occurs in those with a superior\nintelligence. Consequently, when two persons with different levels of\nintelligence repress the same unacceptable emotions\u2014usually sexual feelings or\nthe emotion of anger or both\u2014with the same repressing emotions\u2014usually fear or\nenergy\u2014the less intelligent person no longer concerns himself with the\nrepressed emotion once it has been made to disappear from consciousness by a\nsingle act of repression in childhood. The more intelligent person, on the other\nhand, continues to occupy himself with the repressed emotion in some way or\nother in order to be sure that it will never surface and lead to intolerable\nactions. The result of all this, of course, is that in the more intelligent\nperson the repressing<\/em> emotions of\nfear or energy dominate the clinical picture, while in the less intelligent one\nthe repressed<\/em> emotion will manifest\nitself without activating in any way the repressing emotion of fear or energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if the sexual feeling has been\nrepressed in a young woman of below-average intelligence she will often act in\na flirtatious way, while not having the slightest awareness of the fact that\nher behavior is \u201csexy\u201d and suggestive of a desire for erotic affection or\ngratification. In fact, if a man were to take her up on what he perceives as an\ninvitation 19<\/sup><\/a> i.e.,\nsinful in itself, as opposed to \u201csubjective,\u201d meaning \u201csinful for that\nparticular person in his particular circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20<\/sup><\/a> American\nPsychiatric Association: Diagnostic and\nStatistical Manual of Mental Disorders<\/em>, Third Edition (DSM-III<\/em>). Washington, DC, APA, 1980, 9-10, 377.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21<\/sup><\/a> Conrad\nW. Baars, M.D., \u201cAffirming Living.\u201d Association of Christian Therapists\u2014Houston\nConference, Spring, 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 22<\/sup><\/a> Editors\u2019\nnote: The term psychosis<\/em> has had\nnumerous definitions over time. According to DSM-II<\/em> (1968) standards (in use at the time this book was\npublished), a condition was \u201cpsychotic\u201d if it \u201cresulted in \u2018impairment that\ngrossly interferes with the capacity to meet ordinary demands of life.\u2019 \u201d\nMore recent definitions include, \u201c \u2018a loss of ego boundaries\u2019 or a \u2018gross\nimpairment in reality testing.\u2019 \u201d According to DSM-IV-TR<\/em> (2000) standards, \u201cthe term psychotic refers to the\npresence of certain symptoms,\u201d including \u201cdelusions, prominent hallucinations,\ndisorganized speech, or disorganized or catatonic behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 23<\/sup><\/a> Editors\u2019\nnote: The DSM-III<\/em> (1980) omitted the\ndiagnostic class of \u201cNeuroses\u201d and clarified the meaning of the associated\nterminology. The DSM-III<\/em> stated that\nthe term neurotic disorder<\/em> \u201cshould be\nused only descriptively\u201d as opposed to the term neurotic process<\/em> which was to be used \u201cto indicate the concept of a\nspecific etiological process \u2026\u201d Over the course of time the different neuroses\nhave been reclassified into categories such as mood disorders, somatoform\ndisorders, anxiety disorders, and dissociative disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 24<\/sup><\/a> Editors\u2019\nnote: A personality disorder according to DSM-II<\/em>\n(1968) standards was \u201ccharacterized by deeply ingrained maladaptive patterns of\nbehavior that are perceptibly different in quality from psychotic and neurotic\nsymptoms. Generally these are life-long patterns, often recognizable by the\ntime of adolescence or earlier\u201d (p. 41). A personality disorder according to DSM-IV-TR<\/em> (2000) standards is an\n\u201cenduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from\nthe expectations of the individual\u2019s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has\nan onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to\ndistress or impairment\u201d (p. 685).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally,\nit appears that Terruwe and Baars defined the term psychopathic personality to\nbe broader than how it is presently understood. For example, not only would\ntheir definition encompass psychopathic behavior (and thinking) but also more\ncommonly known (diagnosed) personality disorders including Borderline,\nNarcissistic, Antisocial, Hysterical and Histrionic. Therefore, because there\nis no clear equivalent for the formerly used terminology we have decided to\nleave this section as Dr. Baars wrote it, thereby allowing the reader access to\nvaluable insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 25<\/sup><\/a> Editors\u2019\nnote: Rational psychology is \u201cthe philosophical science which gives a rational\nexplanation of observed mental facts \u2026 it proceeds from the facts and by\nexplaining their causes it distinguishes clearly between the various mental\npowers so that their operations may be understood.\u201d (A.A.A. Terruwe, Neurosis in the Light of Rational Psychology<\/em>,\ntrans. Conrad W. Baars, MD, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1960.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26<\/sup><\/a> Editors\u2019\nnote: The term \u201cneurosis,\u201d used to describe deprivation neurosis (now called\nemotional deprivation disorder) is actually a better term than \u201cdisorder,\u201d as\nwhat has occurred here\u2014although perhaps contributing to an emotional\ndisorder\u2014is really only the delayed or stunted emotional growth of normal human\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 27<\/sup><\/a> Several\npersons with emotional deprivation disorder have told me that they feel guilty\nbecause of the Prayer of St. Francis: \u201cWhere there is hatred, let me sow love,\u201d\n(but they are incapable of doing this), and also, \u201cGrant that I may not so much\nseek to be loved as to love,\u201d (yet they need to seek and find love).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 28<\/sup><\/a> American Psychiatric Association (DSM-II, 1968; DSM-IV-TR, 2000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 29<\/sup><\/a> The Neurosis in the Light of\nRational Psychology<\/em>\n(A.A.A. Terruwe, trans. Conrad W. Baars, MD, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1960.)\nand Loving and Curing the Neurotic<\/em>\n(A.A.A. Terruwe, M.D. and Conrad W. Baars, M.D., Arlington House, New Rochelle,\nNY, 1972).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nlife, intellectual life, the life of the will and the emotions<\/i>2
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