Denial and Dissociation in the Type 8

What is denial in the type 8 is and how does it manifest?

Self awareness in individuals act as a spectrum, it ranges from one extreme with introspective types to another extreme with extrospective types, as on the one hand, the type 4 is considered the most introspective from all the types, while type 8 is considered the most extrospective. Introspection or internalization is an inwardness or collapse of focus onto oneself, this means that harm, blame, guilt and shame is concentrated on oneself, on the other hand, the type 8 externalizes all of the same concepts externally, thus creating something akin to self blindness, this conscious blindness is what we call “DENIAL”, in this sense, both the type 8 and type 4 are different sides of the same coin.

It is not inaccurate to assume that the type 8 has a stunted and limited range of awareness, it is out of all the types, that the 8 lives in the most diluted and castrated scope of awareness, the type 8 does not experience as much as other types experience, in psychological terms, this is a profound type of dissociation affecting cognition. It is limited in its awareness and felt experience, this means that the type 8 misses a very significant part of experience, love, pleasure, hate and pain and all other emotions are degraded into a blunted and stunted state that is faint, the type 8 in a sense, lives as half dead, they are affectively and experiencially dead.

This inner deadness is literal in a sense, the individual shields themselves by clinically dissociating from experience, leaving them objectively, with less contact with life, living but not truly living.

True dissociation

One can understand that this clinical dissociation is not a conscious deliberate decision, it is rather a reactive defense mechanism, stemming from the need to detach “dangerous” sensation from the psyche, dangerous in the fact that they will lead to something called “ego collapse”, the literal recession and disintegrating of the ego into a lesser functioning state, akin to a neurosis that leads to the unraveling of the psyche, or in other terms, psychosis, why would an individual reach psychosis? It is because the psyche equates vulnerability, weakness etc with “death”, it is the lifelong core neurosis of the type 8 and suffering it can lead to significant consequences. All efforts in life made by the individual, is to escape this exact situation, it is the core motivating compound for the type 8 personality.

When the topic of the type 8’s armor is unraveled, it is evident that this “armor” is nothing more than clinical dissociation, a cognitive and affective dissociation but dissociation nonetheless. It is no different from the traditional dissociation that disconnects individuals from sensations, rather it is underlying and pervasive rather than traditionally episodic.

Signs of dissociation in the type 8: high pain tolerance, inner deadness, emptiness, boredom, need for excess, low internal activation, insensitivity to trauma and crisis, high stress tolerance and more.

The natural side effects of dissociation or denial

Intuitively, this state leads to several profound side effects, firstly of course, the individual understandably experiences (weather admittedly or not admitted) a profound dissatisfaction with life as some will not admit to this but nonetheless dissatisfaction is significant, a dissatisfaction that is chronic, underlying and pervasive which permeates the individual's life, why is there an element of dissatisfaction? Its because the affective range is limited thus joy, true happiness and contempt is impossible, life is colorless, bland and boring, this dissatisfaction directly leads to and is counterbalanced by something called “EXCESS”, excess in sensation and vengeance (SP8), intimacy and antagonism (SX8) and social vengeance (SO8). This “castrated” awareness necessitates utmost intensity in life in order to feel “alive”, the alternative is succumbing to a void that is unbearable. As opposed to an internalizing type, the individual does not self harm to feel alive, but harms others, engages in conflict and thrill to feel life fully. In short, dissatisfaction leads to a meaningless and colorless life, a certain type of dysthymia (depressive mind state), a mind state that is clinically low on activation (internal arousal).

Another side effect is true lack of self awareness, a life lived with no inkling of a personal “portrait”, the individual lives by action and sensations and is oblivious to the inner world of their psyche, this of course leads to dryness and directly links back to the dissatisfaction, mistakes are not learned from, self expression and spirituality are void and life becomes nothing more than physics and instinct, I act therefore I am. This physical and somatic orientation is one of the key signifiers of the absence of psychological depth in the individual and confirms the nature of the type. The individual can live life with no conscious awareness of trauma or adversity but beneath this denial of course is an affected and changed individual.

Excessiveness in life leads to unforeseen downfalls, a life lived with intensity is a short life, the constant physical and psychological stress wears down the individual whether admitted or not, a pattern of cardiovascular ailments can arise, stress and psychological pressure can lead to somatic ailments and headaches, the individual brutalizes themselves in the pursuit of lust and excess.

Conscious denial

In the midst of all this unconscious denial, there is also a mirrored conscious counterpart, in the triggering of guilt, the individual will justify and counterbalance guilt with deliberate reasoning, this not only doubles down on the denial, but also gives us a good clear picture of the type. The type 8 seems to be in totality, built on denial, it is perhaps their most essential trait, from denial, do we get lust, the type’s “sin”. Denial is crucial for understanding the type.

Conclusion

Denial is perhaps the most important aspect of the type 8, it is the source and the fuel of lust in the type and it is what truly makes the type distinct in contrast with other types, an individual can be antisocial, vengeful and excessive but if they lack denial, then they are not an 8. It is that crucial to the structure of the personality.