Emotionality and Fantasy

The Social 2 resorts to fantasy with a dual purpose: First, as a defense mechanism to avoid establishing real contact with their most depressive emotions and the underlying feelings of deficiency; and second, to escape the boredom that arises from the mundane or their own reality.

Their strong emotionality is functional when it prefigures the goal they want to achieve, one that satisfies their ambition, and they fantasize about the feeling of fulfillment they will obtain once they reach it. It also serves as a way to generate enthusiasm and excitement in others.

They received from their family the mandate to emotionally contain themselves. Many individuals of this subtype experienced anaclitic depressions in their childhood, but they learned to mask them. Given that hidden depressions emerge cyclically in adulthood, fantasy becomes an easy way to escape from them.

Their imagination is fueled by reading, which was often a refuge in childhood to disconnect from their own experiences and from the vast emotional world that no one helped them understand or regulate. The desire for active exploration in the world had no place in the family, especially for us, the daughters. The outlet I found was to explore imaginary worlds through reading, more than I was allowed. I pretended to study or read locked in the bathroom. I lived what I was reading, hiding or concealing the emotions I felt. I kept a great distance from the risk of being thrown off the pedestal of a model daughter, as my parents wanted me to be, and the one I was proud of because for me it was the only way of existence. "Suicidal fantasies were a constant in my life until I became pregnant with my daughter." —Alba Arena

Despite being an emotional character, there is strict control over emotions, leaving very few available: aversion and anger. The rest are not as real as they seem because emotionality does not flow with thought and action. Rather, it is fantasy that gives rise to different emotions and regulates their intensity in accordance with the interest of the moment. The examination of reality is characterized by overvaluation and re-dimensioning that keep the fantasy alive.

Through evident stereotypes, the Social 2 modifies reality, orienting itself toward a generalizing, excessively abstract thought filled with absolutes. These generalizations aim to maintain the illusion of understanding reality while completely altering it. The goal is not to question the feeling of omnipotence. The reality the Social 2 sees is partly constructed with "bricks" taken from factual events and also from a very particular fantasy. In this daydream, they live in a world where they are special, fortunate, and important, and the people in that world live for them. This is how they maintain a high ideal of themselves.

Histrionism can also be understood as a vivid imagination, where they replace living in the here and now with consciously imagining sublime situations that could happen. It’s similar to the ideal construction of life. The Social 2 creates and recreates without stopping, in their immersion in the self-absorption of the E7 or in the “milkmaid” of the fable. Being an optimistic character, they find it difficult to see the negative aspects or the price to pay for achieving their goals.

"One day, in a SAT, they were going to play a video by Claudio for the morning meditation. I don’t know why, but I was left without a partner to meditate with (which happened to me often because I was so ‘selective’). I sat on my bench, and when I opened my eyes, of

course, there was no one, but who was in front of me? The very Claudio Naranjo, looking at me, addressing only me. In short, I meditated with the Maestro exclusively; I felt very lucky. (Afterward, I couldn’t stop laughing at how I had sublimated the fact that I had been left without a partner again for meditation)." —Ana Baza

In general, the Social 2 thinks in images, sees what they imagine, and, starting from the belief that they can handle any endeavor they set their mind to, they come to believe it. In fact, they create an ideal situation in their mind and try to make things go the way they imagined, even forcing reality, people, and themselves. However, they won’t see the failure or how easily they force others. They are particularly skilled at "inflating" reality, much like a peacock displays its tail. They are a tailor who constructs reality to fit them and always in their favor. As Napoleon said after winning the early battles in Egypt: "I already see myself following the steps of Alexander the Great. I imagine myself founding a new religion, marching toward Asia on an elephant with a new Quran in hand."

In their escape to fantasy, they feel like the Sun: they warm everyone and are loved by everyone, but no one can get too close. It’s like Galeano’s "little fires": "Some fires, silly fires, neither shine nor burn; but others burn life with such passion that you can’t look at them without blinking, and whoever gets too close catches fire." —Eduardo Galeano, A Sea of Little Fires, in The Book of Embraces, 2013

I was the oldest of several children and was imprisoned by the responsibility my parents placed on me; that’s why I had to adapt to being "the grown-up." When I realized it wasn’t true, I felt unbearable anguish, terrified by the idea of being discovered and humiliated. I then took refuge in omnipotent fantasies, which slowly began to shape my character. One example: For a long time, I felt identified with Tom Thumb, the entrepreneurial little boy, small as a thumb, who saves his seven siblings from abandonment by parents who couldn’t feed them, and later, from the Ogre who ate children. After many adventures that he overcomes with intelligence, Tom Thumb manages to return home with his seven siblings, along with a heroically earned treasure, which would allow his parents to keep them. I identified with Tom Thumb’s superiority over his parents, and in my fantasy, I too obtained their recognition, a triumph, just like in the fable. —Alba Arena

The ambitious person enjoys anticipating future successes in their mind to better structure the objectives they must achieve. This positive visualization of their projects leads them to compulsive action, which covers the deep sense of emptiness they feel. Moreover, just like the E7, they confuse fantasizing with doing. They overfill themselves with fantastic projects, awarding themselves the medal before the battle has even started. The Social 2 uses fantasy to give wings to their emotions, becoming a whirlwind serving the ambition of

the moment. The downside is that they don’t care for relationships or address their basic needs, expecting others to do the same. If they don’t see this correspondence, they become enraged.

They imagine shocking and unexpected events that will resolve problems and, thanks to them, they will receive universal recognition. They conceive thoughts that don’t follow fixed rules or logical connections, and this mental modality reinforces the idea of themselves as someone particularly intuitive and ingenious, close to genius. Their intellectual life is intense but not always reasonable, and they seek data that confirms their intuitions, leaving no room for doubt or confusion.

The superficiality attributed to them is partly due to their lack of connection with their real emotions. Not touching pain or not "realizing" what’s really happening is a result of the emotional freezing characteristic of E2 and, more specifically, of the Social 2, which leads to situations where disconnection is evident.

When I was around twenty-seven years old, I was at my parents' house, and my grandmother was living with them. My mother and I noticed that something was wrong, she was having respiratory failure, and she died while I was holding her hand. When the ICU team arrived, it took them no more than a few minutes to confirm that she had passed away. When the doctor approached to tell me, the first thing I did was smile at him while pointing at his name on his coat and saying, "Oh, wow! You have the same name as my brother..." The man went pale and stared at me as if I were slow. Can one be more superficial?

—Ana Baza

We can consider the Social 2 a consumer of projects; a glutton for ambition. But they don't stay to receive love, nor even their own satisfaction, which is really fleeting. Once the goal is achieved, it loses its emotional value, making space for new desires, which will materialize into new objectives that will only serve to stimulate and feed back into a blind and overflowing personal ambition. The achieved goal never reaches a level of value that could be considered a final point, a lasting and full satisfaction. They don’t even stop to savor what they have achieved. They destroy it and move on to something else. And it is precisely this transition from the fantasy of possessing to the reality of the relationship with the object that makes them lose interest in the object.

In other words, the hyper-desire with needs. The Social 2, disconnected from their primary needs (being cared for, loved, recognized as a human being), shifts the organic satisfaction to the conquest of the public. This dynamic always leaves them deeply unsatisfied, locked in that magical thinking of being important.

Sometimes my need for compensation or contrast with that painful aridity shows itself in the search for immediate gratification, for an excitement that is consumed instantly, leaving me with the same internal emptiness, the same dissatisfaction as before. It's then that I look for something external, and in a consumerist outburst, I buy clothes I don't need. The vain investment in appearance increases the distance between my social image and my inner reality of emotional deprivation.

—Alba Arena

To build the emotional dynamism necessary to seduce the group and receive their acceptance, they recreate in their fantasy tricks and fireworks to "stimulate" the most hidden strings of those they want to convince. There, they find the strength that allows them to present themselves to others as someone solid and self-assured, deserving to be heard, and capable of interpreting and giving voice to the ideals and concerns of others.

Their fantasizing ability is overwhelming.

I had two ways of comforting myself. One was waiting for everyone to fall asleep, then I would go to the kitchen with a puppy we had and cry holding it, without anyone seeing me. The other, besides crying and reading, was fantasizing. I would crawl under the blankets, and then I would start recreating an agonizing world, where only a few survivors remained. We would cover ourselves with cloths from radioactive rain or a contagious disease, which I clearly never had, and suddenly, when someone could peer into my gaze between the cloths, they would realize I could heal them. I had powers of different kinds, but they all revolved around healing: I healed, I listened, and I enlightened your heart, making you see the world in a more hopeful way. And that’s how I would fall asleep many nights.

—Ana Baza

The Social 2 uses fantasy in the strategies they employ to convince people and groups to get involved in the project that reflects their current desires. They often dream of community projects based on both personal and group needs and ideals.

The people they target come to recognize in them the person who will finally give voice to their thoughts and desires. By participating in the typical enthusiasm of this character, they will recognize their personal importance and fuel their conviction of carrying out a work of great social significance.

Premonitory fantasies, tied to success, allow this subtype to live in the future and distract themselves from the contact with the inner experience that disturbs them. The past doesn’t hold much interest; the present is valuable only because it represents preparation for the future. The projects they want to carry out seem like the final goal to pursue, but the objective is always postponed and never achieved.

Fantasy is mainly activated to project themselves into a future where they will finally be recognized in their rightful place, in the family, in the group, in society, where no one can forget them, expel them, or deprive them of the love they deserve. They imagine actions that represent the realization of the indispensable justice for the world, only thanks to their personal commitment.

The expression of "negative" emotions, such as anger and sadness, is linked to the belief that the other, and themselves, would discover a part of them that is not so magnificent, a part in need. This goes against their idealized image of being strong and "superior," with fantasies of being thrown out or destroyed by the other. These emotions, moreover, would make them feel on the same level as any human being: in need of support, while their self-image demands that they always be the one giving from above.

Facing failure is the feared occasion to feel their frustration or lack and, above all, humiliation. In this case, they either hide to give themselves time to restore their image or, manipulatively, sink into the abyss of victimhood, with an internal experience and a histrionic expression of their "deep pain," the deepest pain any human being could feel. This type of manipulation is also in the service of revenge against whoever caused their failure, instead of being an opportunity to see themselves as they truly are and integrate alienated parts that could threaten their narcissism.

In their view, the world is made up of aggressors or victims, and the Social 2 swears they will never be the victim again. Although they will inevitably play this role throughout their life. But they cannot recognize it, thanks to repressing the pain and losses that will continue to happen. Any form of abuse is denied and pushed to the shadow, dissociating from the suffering but also from the possibility of protecting themselves assertively. What’s important is not to feel dependence, fear, or their own insignificance. This is how they become someone disdainful, condescending, authoritarian, believing they have no limits, which allows them to feel powerful and above others.