Charles Foster Kane from the classic film ‘Citizen Kane’ displays narcissistic rage and a lack of empathy, psychological features that show up in different personality and autistic spectrum disorders.
Defense Mechanisms VII: Reaction Formation (Not to be Confused with Hypocrisy)
Reaction formation, like all defense mechanisms, is an unconscious process. People with conscious but secret desires they publicly denounce in others are not resorting to reaction formation; they are hypocrites.
Depression Symptoms and the Role of Rage
Unconscious rage plays an important role in depression symptoms. Bringing that rage into awareness often leads to an improvement in those symptoms.
Attachment Theory and the Healing Psychotherapy Relationship
Adult “attachment” in the form of a deep psychotherapy relationship can lead to significant healing, years after a failed attachment during infancy.
Attachment Theory and the Tenacity of Defense Mechanisms
Early failures in attachment lead to the development of defense mechanisms, permanently structured into the brain’s neurology as it develops. This lasting damage does NOT mean that real and meaningful change is impossible.