Other Characteristics and Psychodynamic Considerations

The future E5 child was overprotected while their needs were not seen. This polarity causes a shock that results in paralysis or freezing.

A superprotective mother takes care of her offspring to the point of suffocating them. She may think she is providing care, but there is no affection, only threatening and overwhelming control, which may reach the point of shouting and hitting. She is something the child could never repay; it is too much for a creature whose limits are imposed without them being able to understand.

“I always ate very little; in fact, I was never hungry. And one day, suddenly, my mother came to get me, took me to the kitchen, and put in front of me what I hadn’t eaten. Obviously, she didn’t eat and began forcefully shoving it into my mouth.” — Marta F.

“I was a child who didn’t have the direct presence of my parents. I was cared for by my siblings.

I wasn’t visible. I witnessed the physical abuse my siblings were constantly subjected to, and when I was very young, around five or six years old, I decided to become invisible so I wouldn’t suffer what they did. I took refuge in books, in my room.” — Leda O.

Many father figures are overshadowed by a mother who complains. They are absent, passive; either they abandoned or never were. This silent figure is sometimes someone the boy or girl identifies with. However, this similarity is a type of condemnation.

“I saw my mother as the aggressor and my father as the victim; my mother used to shout and get very alarmed, and sometimes she was aggressive. My father was depressed.” — Camila L.

The figures of the mother and father remain distant due to subjugation and absence, respectively. Orphaned in a hostile world, very quiet and silent but alert, this child will form a character that feels profound desolation, with a cold burden sinking into their chest.

“My mother, a woman disconnected from her needs, wasn’t hungry and thought I wasn’t either, nor would she cover me when it was cold. I imagine that there I learned to minimize my needs and wait, patiently, for them to be met. This also gave me the impression that I was a burden to my mother, that my being around her bothered her a lot

and that she was always looking for someone to take care of me because she had to work.” — Yashmir H.

“When I think of my childhood, I feel a great distance from my parents; it was as if they lived in a very distant world, always concerned with their problems and many arguments, especially about money. My parents’ problems were always more important, and I learned not to ask because I thought it might bother them.” — Camila L.

The child grows up in a silent and dry environment, with little physical closeness, or remains invisible and feels distant from everything. Often, there is economic instability; one must save, not ask for anything because there is never enough, it won’t be enough. They occupy a space that should correspond to someone else. Life doesn’t seem worth living, where everything becomes debt and savings.

There remains a feeling that the person is easily dispensable; something that translates into a deeply rooted rejection of life and a susceptibility to the rejection of others. Essentially, the child feels like a nuisance to their parents, and a mental space is created as a refuge.

“The environment in which you swam and grew was dry, narrow, confined, silent, threatening, airless, desert-like, and desolate. Among the first things I remember is that deep and long silence at home. A paralyzing whistle; the only thing I could do was stand still in one place and wait.” — Marta F.

“As a child, I was afraid to tell what was happening to me because I felt they couldn’t contain me; I saw that any problem caused alarm in my parents. Their superprotective and exaggerated reaction scared me. That’s why I preferred to stay silent, to avoid causing problems and be left in peace (a desire that is still very evident in me today).” — Camila L.

Retention

We are talking about a retentive attitude both mentally and materially. It is observed in the tendency to cling to someone, a memory, or something that may end up lacking or missing in the future.

The feeling is that, due to having so little, one must save to be self-sufficient later, as it is not safe to depend on the outside world. This same retention has a psychic replica: emotions and thoughts are stored.

Insensitive to the needs of others, the Self-Preservation 5 clings to what is in their mind, “stuck” in their thoughts, at the expense of the world and external stimuli.

They are pessimistic about the prospect of receiving care and protection or having the power to demand or take what they need. The crazy idea is that if it is shown, it is lost.

The unshared relationship becomes rigid, and the unexpressed emotions stagnate, until the person is blocked. This is where the disconnection begins, because when they silence and hide, it becomes hard to recognize needs and desires, which makes them nonexistent.

“I cling to things because I turn them into my greatest treasures; they become part of me, of what I am; it’s as if they give me substance. I save money, my emotions, my expressions, my words, my knowledge, my books, and all the objects that hold great value for me.” — Yashmir H.

“For me, retention is, above all, not telling what happens to me. It costs me a lot, and when I do this, I judge myself, as if it were a waste.” — Camila L.

Non-giving

If retention is about oneself, non-giving falls on Ueno in relationships, where he feels he doesn’t have much to contribute. In this fantasy that, by giving, he loses the little he has, what does he lose? Freedom and autonomy? Hence his fear of commitment, which he avoids because it would imply a debt he doesn’t feel capable of satisfying. It’s better to have no ties to anyone, to be completely free, without obstacles, in possession of the fullness of oneself. Here, the rigid idea reigns that the other is the source of a great demand that must be met.

And if he manages to form a bond, in his neurotic way, since he doesn’t know how to give, he doesn’t receive either; he is blocked: he neither receives help nor asks for it, nor believes in the good things others tell him. He doesn’t know how to establish boundaries, and by not doing so, he becomes lost and exhausted. At this point, withdrawal begins.

“Not giving is, for me, a way of not giving myself, of not losing control and not assuming responsibility for the possible consequences. It is accompanied by a feeling of not having enough, of not knowing enough, of not being prepared for life’s situations. And giving the little I have means being left with nothing, in the shallows.” — Leda O.

“I have nothing good or valuable to give. My opinions, ideas, beliefs, experiences have no value and cannot serve you. This is the deep idea, and when someone gives me

something positive, I think: ‘This is good,’ positive back, I think: ‘It’s a lie,’ ‘They say that out of pity,’ ‘To seem good.’” — Manuela R.

Detachment

Detachment is a distancing. To maintain the little they have and feel “free,” this character needs to distance themselves. They don’t need to relate to others, nor do they care. It is a detached attitude, but logical, as there is a connection as if they are thinking: If the only way to keep the little I have is to distance myself from others and their needs and desires, that is what I will do. Deep down, it is a fear of the other’s expectations because they don’t feel capable of meeting them.

Fear of being swallowed

It seems that this subtype has the most difficulty with boundaries; they feel more present when they are at the mercy of the other. Often, they feel used and abused, which confirms their disappointment with the world and that it is not worth relating to it. The anger this provokes is encapsulated, not suppressed, but it manifests as retroflection: they blame themselves for letting the other in and dominate them. They reproduce here the primary relationship with a suffocating caregiver, in which the only resource left is to disappear. When an adult, they will spend their life protecting their private space, very susceptible to invasions.

Excessively docile

Hard on the inside, docile on the outside, they reject the world, which hurts them because, deep down, there is a repressed need for love. The high sensitivity to interference is associated with their tendency to close off in the face of external demands and the perceived needs of others. We are talking about excessive docility, by which this character interferes easily with their own spontaneity, their preferences, and acting consistently with their needs in the presence of others. In light of this excessive docility (a byproduct of this strong repressed need for love), we can understand the special emphasis on solitude. To the extent that the relationship involves the alienation of one’s own preferences and authentic expression, stress and the need to recover, to find oneself again in solitude, arises.

“My cousin was very important to me; I had a lot of fun with her; but she was also someone you had to please in everything if you wanted her to withdraw her presence and words from you. I had to be very careful not to irritate her, but her demands and whims ended up draining our relationship.” — Yashmir H.

“I stopped hanging out with a group of friends because I went where they wanted, when they wanted. This bothered me, and the way to solve the problem was to keep rejecting her proposals until, in the end, no more appeared.” — Manuela R.

Self-sufficiency

This is the attitude that lives as independence, even as intellectual freedom — which precedes the fear of being swallowed and their belief in being deprived, always exposed to the exhaustion of resources without being able to rely on the other. For this reason, they must be autonomous and self-sufficient. They accumulate their resources in an ivory tower. With a penny’s worth, they can’t even use what they have, so they don’t run out.

In their imagination, there is no possibility of asking for help. This mistrust comes from the primary relationship with their caregivers, who didn’t know how they would react, whether with indifference or overwhelming presence. It is here that they learn to be self-sufficient. This makes them a good problem solver, but the result is enough only for themselves, as it is fragile and in small quantity. They experience great frustration when they feel they are unable to sustain others; and then, once again, the solution is withdrawal. Despite self-sufficiency, their material life is usually precarious, because they don’t need much. This is reflected in low-paying jobs, where they value independence above all else. Paradoxically, they may work a lot due to a lack of boundaries.

“There is a fantasy with autonomy or with the feeling of being left alone. When I was a teenager, I already thought I had to be completely autonomous in my thoughts, that nothing would influence me, and that somehow, staying away from more mundane matters would allow me to have more freedom. It is a freedom of mind and time; time just for myself.” - Camila L.

“I moved to a new apartment, and there were some furniture pieces in the new place that I didn’t want. I called a charity that recycles them, but after two or three weeks, they still hadn’t come, and I needed to empty the apartment, so I hired a company to take them away. When I mentioned it to my friends, they asked why I hadn’t called them, that they would have come to help me take apart the furniture. It wasn’t even an option that crossed my mind.” - Manuela R.

Emotionally Insensitive

The Self-Preservation 5 has sensitivity, but it is separated from the body. Emotions are buried, and no one knows about them. They “learned” from their caregiver figure that what happens to them is not relevant and that if they show emotions, it will cause discomfort because they will alarm others. They become a serious girl, a serious boy, who may have had outbursts in adolescence but, for the most part, seem cold and distant; or extremely docile and boring, because they do not show mood changes.

Emotions can be very intense, but they don’t want to burden others with them; they seem overwhelming, and since they don’t know what to do with them, they close off and freeze. Forgetting how they feel can lead to apathy and a reduced ability to feel pleasure (anhedonia).

“I’ve been told that when something bothers me, I have a poker face; it’s hard to express what’s happening to me, especially if it’s emotions that might cause conflict, like anger.

My ex-partner was impressed that I wasn’t passionate about anything or didn’t show emotion or more enthusiastic interest in things he liked. I didn’t realize I was so expressionless, because inside I feel a lot of intensity.” - Camila L.

Their reaction is similar when intense emotions come from the outside: they stun and confuse them.

“My perception of emotions is confusing. There is a sense of the environment and the people around, but they don’t understand it or find words to define it, nor is it identified the same way as it is. feeling. There is an inability to deal with others’ expressions: yes, they cry, but it seems exaggerated or dramatic.” - Rita P.

Orientation Toward Knowledge

Knowledge, as a space of abstraction, becomes a protection against the world, a refuge of security. It can also be a way to relate to others, but as a mere spectator. It is an escape route that provides pleasure.

Unlike other subtypes, especially the social one, where knowledge becomes a stronghold, here the observer of the world is in survival mode. One must be prepared to face a hostile and unpredictable world because knowledge brings order and analysis in the face of chaos. They engage in “endless preparation” for life, through things like reading, and never feel ready enough to take action. They prefer classifying and analyzing information rather than

going out into the world; thus, they prefer intellectualization over direct experience. In the mind, everything is safer, and they are entirely free and autonomous.

“I’m interested in knowing how things work, and I think I’m starting to understand how life works by stepping out of it and placing myself as an observer. It’s a place where I feel at peace. Knowledge allows me to have order in my mind, and order in my mind allows me to know. I’m also interested in topics that are very distant from me. Often, I withdraw so much to read or play alone that this, just this, is my life.” - Marta F.

“I think books can give me the answers I’m looking for, explain what’s happening to me or how to overcome my awkwardness and my obstacles. And although I’ve discovered that merely intellectual understanding of things isn’t enough, there are times when I find myself once again with this hope; especially when I’m in crisis, I realize I turn to reading, hoping it will tell me what to do with my life.” - Yashmir H.

“In the world of knowledge, I feel secure, I know what the rules are, I’m good at it, I don’t get disoriented or lost like in the real world. I like to know anything, even if it’s not of practical interest; I like it because something works. Knowledge is a pleasure. I studied mathematics and found it exciting.” - Manuela R.

Strangeness

Suppressing feelings and avoiding life impoverishes the Self-Preservation 5’s experiences, who suffers from an inner emptiness and may feel weak. There is a profound desolation, where nothing touches, the absurd and the meaningless. They describe it as dryness, aridity, and an existential desert because there is nothing.

This feeling of being a “living dead” comes from the disconnection with the body and emotions. It’s also a feeling of strangeness that makes one feel lost, without an anchor, and like a stranger on the planet. You don’t feel like you’re in this world. In their rejection of life, they may appear as a lost soul; their body, like a ghost, barely touches the ground. They feel closer to death, and this is how they connect with self-devaluation and inferiority, feeling small, undeserving.

“I usually feel like I’m nothing, that I’m worth nothing, and that life doesn’t run through my veins, like I’m dead while alive. And at the same time, there’s a lot of fantasy about being the protagonist of life; but that’s all, just fantasy.” - Yashmir H.

“It’s like drying up, as if nothing happens to me in life, because I live in my head. There’s also nothing to give because it’s all gone. That feeling was very recurring when I

entered depression a long time ago, where I felt like a zombie; I was worth nothing, I didn’t exist, and my problems really weren’t important.” - Camila L.

“The feeling of emptiness I feel like the dryness of the desert. The desire for knowledge, the focus on knowing, covers that feeling of emptiness, which is so huge, deep, and devastating.” - Manuela R.

Guilt

Basically, it’s the guilt of existing, with that crazy idea of not deserving life, as if occupying space that doesn’t belong to you, and your existence is a mistake.

It manifests as a vague sense of inferiority, a vulnerability to intimidation and shyness. They will always blame themselves: for presence or absence, for saying or not saying, for showing up and disappearing. They distance themselves from love in response to an unloving external world, and by adopting this detached indifference, they feel guilty.

“Since I was a child, I was aware that I wasn’t a very loving person, I didn’t feel much affection for my mother, but I needed her to survive, and when compared to other children, I didn’t see myself as an expressive person. At other times, defending what I want or desire made me feel guilty, as if I didn’t have the right.” - Yashmir H.

“I feel a lot of guilt; a paralyzing guilt, where the feeling of inferiority always comes from never feeling prepared.” - Leda O.

Self-Demanding

The Self-Preservation 5 is a perfectionist who identifies as a “loser.” They also make demands of the world and others, but in a disguised way. Deep down, they are strict and severe, but they don’t show this more than in a passive-aggressive manner, withdrawing as a form of revenge and punishment towards a world that’s not worth it; they are too meek and shy to express anger directly.

“There is an inner dialogue. I’m always analyzing myself about what I did, what I didn’t do, what I said, what I didn’t say, what I thought, what I didn’t think, and comparing myself with the way others are. In this excessive analysis, there is always a lack: something is missing in me.” - Camila L.

Negativity

The Self-Preservation 5 is an opposer and a rebel inside. Their refusals are again passive-aggressive because they are not confrontational. They manifest through forgetting, because you can say “yes” when, deep down, it’s a “no.” They “wish” not to do or give what they think is expected of them. And they run the risk of turning something they actually want to do into a “duty” that triggers internal rebellion.

The Self-Preservation 5 leads a life of constant denial of movement, activity, and vitality. Sometimes, the denial is explicit, but usually, it takes the form of avoidance. Just like not asking for help, they feel uncomfortable when told what to do; ultimately, they will do what seems best to them or what they have stubbornly had in mind.

“I remember, at the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence, saying “no” to everything, even before fully hearing what they had to say. It was the only way I felt I could defend myself from the pressures and demands of others. I even caught myself saying “no” to things I really wanted.” - Yashmir H.

“It really bothers me when people tell me what to do, especially by people who I think barely know me. An inner voice says: ‘You are nobody to tell me what to do.’ And, in general, my tactic is to say yes (as if I heard them) and then do what I want.” - Manuela R.

Hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity is an introverted disposition, in which they don’t want to intervene in the world, and in turn, the world intervenes a lot in them, making them feel unprotected against environmental stimuli. These stimuli, which arrive amplified, can be sensory or emotional: from the amount of noise to the energetic quality of a human encounter. The Self-Preservation 5’s emotional insensitivity is a way to protect themselves from this overstimulation.

In situations involving pain, the suffering is so great that they prefer to withdraw and disconnect. They feel weak and fragile and adopt emotional insensitivity. The idea of “better not to have been born” reflects a desire not to intervene in the world, not to harm or interfere; to stay as far away as possible. Their most obvious manifestation of care, sensitivity, and compassion will be towards nature and animals.

“Just as I am numb, I am hypersensitive: probably that’s why I fall asleep. When I’m in the middle of nature, I would like to be able to move without disturbing, without harming any living being.” - Martha F.

“I really feel things deeply, sometimes they affect me too much, and I withdraw. In the face of the world, sometimes I feel transparent, translucent, without skin, without a protective mechanism, and then everything hurts, I don’t know how to react when things have a double meaning or hide something. And if it’s something I can’t deal with, I leave.” - Camila L.

“I tend to be attentive to details, nuances of colors, tones; I get bothered by sounds, noises, or smells that others don’t even notice. I feel sorry when people speak in a way I consider aggressive. I avoid tight hugs, they make me uncomfortable, I feel discomfort and even pain.” - Rita P.

“My sensitivity is on the surface. I notice aggression in tone of voice and manners very clearly when others don’t seem affected. And I notice it, a lot. She was with a friend, and two of her friends were added. My friend was explaining where she was going on vacation, and one of them asked me: ‘What about your vacation?’ It’s not just about someone I don’t know asking me about my vacation, but the imperative and abrupt tone in which they asked. They made a few more sentences like that (not directed at me) with the same tone. I decided to leave because I didn’t feel comfortable with this person.” - Manuela R.

Inconsistent, with a renunciation of action

This character experiences a delay in action, characterized by passivity and apathy: what to do. Nothing moves them, and therefore, they never act.

This inaction can show inconsistency, even in their withdrawals; they appear and disappear, suggesting they want to be alone. The Self-Preservation 5 is quite unpredictable: they’re there for a moment and then disappear. They are reliable (if they commit, they try to follow through), but if they feel they are neglecting their responsibility to the group and prefer to do something else, they suddenly vanish, only to reappear later.

This appearance/disappearance protects the confidentiality of their private world, not just their own but also of others. The Self-Preservation 5 can be extremely discreet and cautious as a way to avoid harm and not care, not just out of fear of being invaded, judged, or rejected. This reserved attitude gives them the ability to keep secrets and be trustworthy.

This confidentiality also follows the selfishness of the miser, who doesn’t share what happens to them in their glass bubble.

“I only look at myself, at what happens to me. I can’t see the other person, I’m not interested in what happens to them.” - Manuela R.