Inferiority complex

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An inferiority complex or feeling of inferiority is an emotional feeling that expresses a feeling of one's own imperfection . The psychotherapist Alfred Adler discovered the stylistic term for psychology and psychotherapy, which had previously only been used in art and literary theory, and introduced it as a central term in individual psychology .

Use of the term

The term introduced by Adler was - even before it was given a definitive place in professional circles - familiar to ordinary people, was a subject in the columns of the daily press and was the subject of conversation among intellectuals. Very few, however, knew the name of the father of the inferiority and superiority complex , as Adler was called on his first lecture tour in the USA (interview with the New York Times , autumn 1925).

Initially, Adler used the word inferiority complex in his writings as a synonym for the feeling of inferiority in general. Later he used the term inferiority complex for the abnormally increased feeling of inferiority in contrast to the normal feeling of inferiority .

Critics like the sociologist Niklas Luhmann have counted “inferiority complex” among the “pseudoscientific terms or laws”.

history

The emphasis on the feeling of inferiority ( French "sentiment d'incomplétude" , German: "feeling of incompleteness") by neurotics was first described by the French psychiatrist Pierre Janet and agreed with the findings of Adler, as he did in 1912 in his book About the nervous Character wrote. In contrast to Janet, Alfred Adler assumed feelings of inferiority in everyone. He saw a compensatory interaction between feeling imperfect and striving toward a goal.

Oliver Brachfeld described the problem of feelings of inferiority comprehensively in his book inferiority feelings in the individual and in the community in 1935 . He put the feeling of inferiority and overcome it as a basic motif is that since the modern era employed poets and philosophers. He saw the discrimination against certain groups of people as the causes of many wars and revolutions , but also as the driving forces behind social and cultural creations. Starting from the feelings of inferiority, he wanted to create the basis for a new theory of self-esteem .

In the “crooked view from below”, Oswald Spengler recognized envy and inferiority complexes.

Physical and mental requirements

The individual psychology sees the cause of the normal feeling of inferiority in the infant in his imperfections as a human being. Only when the feeling of inferiority is too strong can a neurotic life plan develop on the way to compensation. A really existing inferiority that is exaggerated can be compensated for with a more or less imaginary superiority. Inferiority perceived as disadvantageous with unusual intensity and longed-for but fictitious superiority cause a certain inconsistency in their experiences of self-worth, first in the child and later in the adult.

Causes and Effects of Feeling of Inferiority

People with an inferiority complex feel inferior, small, and insignificant. Many are depressed and at risk of suicide . Repeated experiences through mistakes and own failure can shape a personality structure in a negative way. Feelings of inferiority can also be expressed in symptoms , which can be signals with which one wants to ( unconsciously ) draw the attention of others to oneself. Feelings of inferiority can lead to poor relationships, inability to love in the form of one-sided dependency on the partner, sociophobia and constant fear of doing something wrong, as well as speech inhibitions.

Feelings of inferiority lead to compensatory behavior such as a clearly perceptible victim role (see also: drama triangle ), in men - often especially at a young age - outwardly directed aggressiveness , overconsumption of alcohol and flight to status symbols or inappropriately expensive valuables. Women are more prone to inward-looking aggressiveness ( depression ). Usually arrogance is seen as a certain compensatory sign of an inferiority complex.

The Swiss psychologist Paul Häberlin emphasized that feelings of inferiority can always be traced back to the individual's internal moral judgment processes: “When we feel inferior, it happens because we realize that we are not meeting our own ideal , our own Feeling or awareness of what is right places us [...] Internal feelings of inferiority are feelings of guilt : We know that we owe something to ourselves, namely the 'right person' in us, that we are of inferior value to him. "

The basis of this moral judgment are internalized value standards which - often hardly consciously - are subjectively held to be ideal. If in the sense of ideal of perfection ( perfectionism ) unattainable ideal images dominate the personal standards, this leads to chronic self-exertion and discouragement. In this case it can already be helpful to expose the original “real ideal”, which corresponds “to the circumstances and characteristics of its wearer”: “It does not require anything that is not [...] within the possibility of the person, e.g. B. no performance for which the type of talent is not available. [...] The real ideal does not contain any discouragement, on the contrary; for it is appropriate to the personality, despite the strictness of its demands. "

Acute feelings of inferiority always arise when one subjectively judges one's own concrete action to be inadequate. Signs of this are a guilty conscience , feelings of shame and remorse , which usually initiate the active striving for reparation and thus already contribute to the renewed stabilization of the self-image. On the other hand, according to Häberlin, chronic feelings of inferiority arise when one permanently gives up the inner resistance to strong temptations, to "certain [n] desires [n] or instincts [n], the pursuit of which does not harmonize with the claim [...] of the real self . […] In favor of this satisfaction we give up our loyalty to our real self, we betray ourselves. "

Chronic feelings of inferiority evoke manifold concealment and compensation reactions and thus have massive effects on life and personality. Häberlin recommended the only effective remedy: “Prevention and healing must target the root, that lazy compromise, [...] with all the suggestions , false ideals, self-delusions that favor it . As a rule, this will require outside help [...] so that man learns to regain the courage and will to fight morally, precisely at the point where he [...] has previously failed. It is not necessary for healing that it no longer succumbs in the future. [...] Overcoming resignation is essential. "

Psychoanalytic approach

According to Sigmund Freud's drive theory , the causes of the inferiority complex and the resulting depression can be found in the oral phase ( Fritz Riemann : Grundformen der Angst , 1961), which could not be lived out or satisfied. Little attention at this age and no breastfeeding of the child, no or only little empathic support lead to an inferiority complex. Affected people were rarely praised and often criticized in childhood. According to Paul Häberlin , too much pampering, “the dance around the child” in childhood favors the development of feelings of inferiority.

Both circumstances remove the basis for building a healthy self-esteem and often lead to an addiction disposition .

See also

literature

  • Alfred Adler : About the nervous character . 1912.
  • Oliver Brachfeld : Los sentimientos de inferioridad. Luis Miracle, Barcelona 1935; German: feelings of inferiority in the individual and in the community. Klett, Stuttgart 1953.
  • Paul Häberlin : Feelings of inferiority. Essence, origin, prevention, overcoming. Schweizer Spiegel Verlag, Zurich 1947.
  • Heinz L. Ansbacher, Rowena R. Ansbacher: Alfred Adler's individual psychology. Ernst Reinhardt, Munich / Basel 1982, ISBN 3-497-00979-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: feeling of inferiority  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Inferiority complex  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. a b Brachfeld: Inferiority feelings , p. 10.
  2. ^ Brachfeld: Inferiority feelings , p. 14.
  3. Heinz Ludwig Ansbacher : Individual Psychology , p. 245.
  4. ^ Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher: Alfred Adlers Individualpsychologie . Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-497-00979-2 , p. 246
  5. ^ Niklas Luhmann: legal sociology , Reinbek bei Hamburg 1972, volume 1, p. 56.
  6. ^ Brachfeld: Inferiority feelings , p. 163.
  7. Häberlin: Inferiority Feelings , p. 7
  8. Häberlin: Inferiority feelings , pp. 32–34
  9. Häberlin: Inferiority feelings , p. 16f
  10. Häberlin: Inferiority feelings , pp. 60–62
  11. Häberlin: Inferiority feelings , p. 24