Passion In The Sphere Of Instinct: How Fear Works In The Social Subtype

Various disciplines (social psychology, anthropology, and group psychotherapy) point to the existence of a drive, a social appetite directed towards an archaic thirst for belonging and being seen, for the establishment of bonds and the essential human encounter.

However, when the fear and anxieties associated with the deep insecurity of this character invade the genuine social instinct, it turns into a kind of passion, with its reactive movements, ranging from an anxious search for validation and approval to an anxious search for security in the other, the group, or the ideal.

This display of compulsive behaviors “covers an intimate feeling of vital emptiness with bandages of distorted ideas associated with the desire for recognition: If I finally get the longed-for approval, I can be part of it, have a refuge, and calm anxiety.”

Thus, from his childhood in the family sphere, the Social 6 developed an ideal of himself rooted in the capture and obedience of prevailing norms and codes. His strong adherence gave him a basic feeling of being accepted and belonging.

But beyond this compulsion for approval, he has power and begins to search for parcels of power that allow him to feel more valued and recognized. This impulse, however, runs up against his tendency to obedience and submission, with the internalized demand for adherence to the norms and the group, along with his fear of authority. This ambivalence generates an internal struggle within him, between the poles of the good legal son and the rebellious impulse to take the father's place.

The anger that results is threatening, so it must be repressed. This new tension generates symptoms ranging from rigidity to chronic anxiety.

The usual way out of such paralyzing tension is clinging to ideals, leading to dogmatic identification with leaders, codes, and totems... often with fanaticism. It is an adherence to patriarchal power that gives him pseudo-security, as renouncing the exercise of freedom saves him from the much-feared mistake and guilt. It saves him, above all, from his intimate feeling of emptiness. "I belong, therefore I am" could be his vital equation.

Let’s now go through the reactive patterns of this character below.