Prediction
And Psychological Distress

The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings on this page.

I look at some of the manifestations of fear where it is not readily apparent.

In particular, fear is an ingredient of some kinds of severe distress that result in illness. When some illnesses have a common feature then they can be grouped together as a ‘family’. When some illnesses have characteristics in common then we can be predictive if we know the dynamics of one illness but not of another one. [¹]

The Family of Fear

As an example of prediction, I look at catatonia (which I experienced in 1987) and two other illnesses that make up a family with it, all of them having a factor of fear. [²]

For the moment I give the dynamics of catatonia as fear plus guilt (mode of self-pity). I treat it in more detail in the article Guilt and Meaning part 1. At a lesser intensity of affect than that needed to produce catatonia, the combination of fear plus guilt (mode of self-pity) reduces the will so much that it is almost impossible to do anything – I just dragged the body around the house with me. That is, what willpower I had left was used to drag an inert carcass (which was my body) around the house. It is extraordinary how difficult it was to do that. I simply had no energy.

Another illness that leaves the person with little energy is multiple schlerosis.  Part of its emotional dynamism is self-pity. (See article Psycho-Somatics).

Now it is primarily self-pity, either alone or as a mode of guilt or jealousy, that reduces energy. There are three forms of self-pity, and so there can be three forms of serious illness that feature a pronounced lack of energy. Two of these illnesses are catatonia and multiple schlerosis. These take up the emotions of self-pity (as a mode of guilt) and self-pity by itself, respectively. Therefore it is likely that there is a third illness that features little energy and has an emotional dynamism that includes self-pity as a mode of jealousy. What is this illness ?

A recent illness syndrome that has come to the fore is M.E. or myalgic encephalomyelitis. What is its emotional dynamism ?  This illness generates tiredness, muscle ache, depression, as well as having lesser features. The tiredness and the depression can arise from jealousy, and the muscle ache from fear. A friend of mine who has it is working through problems of jealousy in her principal relationship. To me these clues suggest that the principal dynamics are fear plus self-pity (as a mode of jealousy).

Many factors produce self-pity and a loss of energy in daily life. But when fear is added to the self-pity we witness illness as the terminal condition of energy loss. Using the ideas above, I put into a table the three extreme forms of energy deficit.

Note. I use the symbol to mean ‘indicates’ or ‘implies’, so that the symbol is indicating the emotional dynamism of the particular illness (that is, the emotions that help to maintain the illness and generate its intensity).

Multiple Schlerosis		fear + self-pity
Catatonia		fear + guilt (mode of self-pity)
M.E.		fear + jealousy (mode of self-pity)

Further associations between these three illnesses are given in Table 2b below.

Effects of Fear

What is the meaning of catatonia?  That is to say, what is the unconscious idea that sustains it ? [³]

Now guilt in self-pity mode generates the complete rejection of any form of power or personal authority, whether religious or secular or sexual. Power is renounced because it is rendered meaningless. The guilt functions so as to induce the desire to sever attachments to power and thereby make oneself powerless. When fear is added to the guilt then catatonia becomes the ultimate expression of  the fear of power. The fear of power is the unconscious idea that sustains catatonia and gives it its meaning.

I have linked catatonia to two other illnesses, multiple schlerosis and M.E.  How do the unconscious ideas of these three illnesses link together ?

Jealousy in self-pity mode produces the need for social approval, which hinges on good relationships. But this is reversed when fear is added to the jealousy. The combination generates the fear of relationships, or, more specifically, the fear of sexual relationships.

And self-pity alone neutralises any attempts to achieve anything or to create anything. When fear is added to it then the fear of achievement is the result.

Putting these three illnesses together, we have :

The unconscious idea of catatonia is the fear of power.
The unconscious idea of M.E. is the fear of sexual relationships.
The unconscious idea of multiple schlerosis is the fear of achievement.

The psychological manifestations of these attitudes that are built around fear are put into a table, as a complement to Table 2a.

Table 2b. Associations of Fear

fear + self-pity		Fear of achievement. This fear is expressed as multiple schlerosis.
fear + guilt (mode of self-pity)		Fear of power. This fear is expressed as catatonia.
fear + jealousy (mode of self-pity)		Fear of sexual relationships. This fear is expressed as M.E.

Reversing Reality

Fear is neutralised by excitement. When a person experiences the fear of any form of reality then he can find compensation by producing exciting phantasies of ‘reversed’ reality. For example :

• I have a fear of power. I dispel this fear by switching to excitement. Now I phantasise on refuting the power of others. I feel good since I accept no one as master. I am my own authority.

• I have a fear of relationships. I dispel this fear by switching to excitement. So I phantasise about exciting, sexy relationships.

• I have a fear of achievement. I dispel this fear by switching to excitement. I become immersed in exciting phantasies of creativity, travel or adventure.

In general, it is likely that in any unpleasant situation that occurs, fear and excitement become mixed together in a certain pattern. Suppose that I experience fear in a particular situation. My fear is conscious, but at a subconscious level of mind I experience excitement. When I attempt to eliminate this fear, all that happens is that I reverse the pattern. Now the excitement becomes conscious, but the fear has simply been relegated to the subconscious domain of mind.

This pattern is in harmony with the experience of abreacting guilt, which centres on the reversal of values. [4]

In general, what a person finds most exciting about life is likely to be the opposite of what he finds most distressing about life. This idea can be useful for developing self-understanding, or for therapy purposes. When a person cannot articulate what is distressing him, we can try and elucidate what he finds most exciting about life. Then we can work backwards from there.

Neutralising Identity

A person has two identities within his personality. There is the social aspect of him, his social identity ; and there is the aspect of individuality, his individual identity. Psychological distress can centre on either or both of these identities. [5]

What does catatonia achieve?  The fear of power neutralises the desire for power within all relationships and involvement in the world. This fear neutralises social desires. Hence it helps to neutralise a person’s social identity. Also, when I experienced catatonia, I was putting little or no value on the search for meaning within myself, within my sense of individuality. Catatonia is the result of taking the fear and the lack of valuation to extremes.

Catatonia is the effect of a rejected individual identity
and a failed social identity.

The other two disorders represent lesser forms of the fear of power. The fear of power is handled by restricting it to specific regions of consciousness, thereby allowing power to continue to function in other regions.

In M.E. the power to have adequate sexual relationships is denied. The social aspect of sexuality is neutralised.
Hence the person has a weakened sexual identity.

In multiple schlerosis the fear of achievement neutralises the desire for individual development ; it neutralises the power of personal creativity.
Hence it weakens a person’s individual identity.

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it.

[¹]. The emotional dynamics of some psycho-somatic symptoms are described in the previous article Psycho-Somatics.
A general definition of emotional dynamics is given in the glossary. [1]

[²]. A summary of the factors of four important emotions is :

My definitions, descriptions, and analysis of emotions are given in the three articles on Emotion. See Basic Ideas page. [2]

[³]. I introduce the use of the term "unconscious idea" in the first article on Emotion, section Model of Emotions. [3]

[4]. My in-depth analysis of the process of abreaction is given in the five articles on Abreaction. See Basic Ideas page. [4]

[5]. There is an article Two Identities on the two identities within the personality ; this is on my website The Subconscious Mind. See Links page for the address. [5]

The articles in this section are :

Copyright @2003  Ian Heath
All Rights Reserved

The copyright is mine and the articles are free to use. They can be reproduced anywhere, so long as the source is acknowledged.