Submission and Obedience

Submission to authority and the group is evident. The fear of rejection, criticism, or disapproval draws a compulsive obedience to what is established, both at work and in private or social settings. An unexpressed rebellion is reflected in a critical conscience, accused of having many demands.

These "serious" and responsible people, with their "mask of affability," live a torturous obsession with complying with what is expected of them and with the norm.

A participant in encounters of this subtype shares:

"In my initial dealings with girls, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-three, I treated myself as cultured and 'interesting,' but inhibited any manifestation of physical approach. It is the way to 'respect' the woman that I have been taught in the family. I went to parties and parties at night, I even had success with the girls, and I also liked myself socially, but sometimes I felt 'out' of the environment, cut off, and inhibited. Simultaneous social life, study, and religious 'commitment' to a Catholic university organization, headed by a brother of mine, eleven years older than me, a Jesuit, a model prototype in the family."