Control and Stiffness

A striking aspect of this typology is its rigidity. An attitude of correctness, adaptation to the environment, and self-control represses spontaneity. A state of alertness and hypervigilance activates continuous scanning of the expectations of the environment, in an effort to adapt.

One of our collaborators recounts this atmosphere:

"I barely saw my parents. My father, a law professor, locked in his office. In his presence, I felt stiff. My mother, half blind, reading or with a headache. Rather, I ran away from her too. I entertained myself basically alone. The family seamstress was my reference: she took care of me, told me stories, took me with her to visit her friends... She also became my refuge, especially in the face of the panic my older brother inspired in me—a very strong genius, who hit me."

The apparent position of security and self-control is accompanied by an internal experience of stress and anguish. It seems like an adapted typology, but there is dissociation and division.

"I control myself through rigidity. I perceive my body posture to be rigid at those moments, I feel tension, sometimes I clench my jaws. And a feeling in my chest that oppresses me. It is an exaggeration in my feeling of fear, cowardice, and insecurity, which I do not show to anyone. However, that’s what I feel."