Compensation (psychology)
In psychology according to Alfred Adler, compensation is a strategy that consciously or unconsciously tries to compensate for a real or imagined inferiority ; According to CG Jung, any process that aims to compensate for psychological imbalances and one-sidedness can be described as 'compensation'.
history
Alfred Adler , the founder of individual psychology , introduced the term compensation in 1907 in his study on the inferiority of organs as the organism's response to an organ inferiority . Adler found that if the balance threatens to turn against the organism in the mutual relationship between organ and environment, it responds with attempts to compensate. Since the psyche in the higher-level central nervous system , as part of the overall organism, plays a role in the compensation process, Adler came up with the concept of mental compensation.
Adler later expanded his theory with the concept of inferiority . Individual psychology sees the cause of compensation in the infant's feeling of inferiority due to its imperfection as a human being. If the feeling of inferiority is too strong, a neurotic life plan can develop on the way to compensation. A really existing inferiority that is exaggerated can be compensated for with a more or less imaginary superiority. Adler found the situation of inferiority or inferiority in the psychological area above all in the three life tasks of work - love - community (infant, sibling series, school, job, marriage, exam situations , etc.). It triggers an emotional state in humans that Adler called inferiority. Similar to the compensation of an organ inferiority, the human psyche strives to overcome this state of inferiority by what Adler called it - striving for validity.
Overcompensation
Adler saw three conditions that could cause compensation to overshoot and become overcompensation. These are the barriers of culture, the chaining of the dominant superstructure to other psychic fields (visual superstructure to the acoustic etc.) and the invalidity of the compensations. Adler cited as examples: genius, inferiorities in the visual apparatus of poets and painters, organ inferiorities such as stuttering in speakers, actors and singers, ear disorders in musicians.
distribution
With his theory of relative inferiority, as a result of interaction with the physical and social environment, Adler formulated an early form of field theory . The compensation theory has similarities with the homeostasis developed by Walter Cannon . The interaction of body and psyche described in Adler's compensation theory represents an early treatment of the problem of psychosomatics .
Compensation in Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud)
Classic psychoanalysis according to Sigmund Freud regards the structure of the psyche as a complex system of ideas (representations) that are associated with one another. However, not all ideas can be associated with one another to the same extent. Many associations are actively suppressed ( repressed ) by the patient and form a complex system with one another in the unconscious, from which ideas try to push themselves into consciousness from time to time. This starts the active process of repression, as the behavioral result of which the symptom is seen.
As far as the patient perceives and recognizes the symptom, he can strive to alleviate it through further measures. Compensation here is the ability to prevent the symptom from occurring by using other means than just repression. The individual strategies are very diverse here ( defense mechanisms ).
Compensation in Analytical Psychology (CG Jung)
In analytical psychology according to CG Jung , the term compensation is used in a value-neutral manner in the sense of a psychological balance: “While Adler limits his concept of compensation to the adjustment of the feeling of inferiority, I generally understand the term compensation as a functional adjustment, as a self-regulation of the psychological apparatus According to Jung, the balancing function of dreams is central, “because in my experience by far most dreams are of a compensatory nature . They emphasize the other side to maintain mental equilibrium. ”In general, Jung took the view that“ the unconscious processes are in a compensatory relationship with consciousness . ... they complement each other to a whole, the self . "For example:" Whoever takes the standpoint of eros, its compensatory opposite is the will to power. But whoever emphasizes power, its compensation is eros. ”Inner psychic opposites are required so that (spiritual) life does not freeze.
According to Jung, the compensation mostly has an "unconscious regulating effect on the conscious activity", that is to say without being noticed. Normally, compensating dreams would “balance or supplement the conscious orientation”. But the "greater the one-sidedness of the conscious attitude, the more contradictory are the contents that stem from the unconscious". - In the neurosis , the contrast becomes so great that the compensation no longer functions of its own accord and outside help is necessary: "Analytical therapy therefore aims to make the unconscious content aware in order to restore the compensation in this way."
literature
- Heinz L. Ansbacher, Rowena R. Ansbacher: Alfred Adler's individual psychology. A systematic presentation of his teaching in excerpts from his writings. Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-497-00979-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Adler, Study on Inferiority of Organs. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna; 2nd edition 1919, 3rd edition 1927, reprint 1977
- ↑ Oliver Brachfeld : Los sentimientos de inferioridad, Luis Miracle, Barcelona 1935, German: Inferiority feelings in the individual and in the community, Klett, Stuttgart 1953, p. 163.
- ^ Alfred Adler, Heilen und Bilden 1914, Fischer Taschenbuch 1973
- ↑ Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher, Alfred Adlers Individualpsychologie, Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-497-00979-2 , p. 44
- ↑ John M. Fletcher, The Wisdom of the Mind: I am only certain that in Adler's compensation mechanism we have a phenomenon before us that can be summarized under what Cannon calls homeostasis.
- ↑ Nolan DC Lewis in the preface to the Study of Organ Inferiority: A careful study of the terms related to organ inferiority should be undertaken and included as part of the current trend in psychosomatic medicine.
- ↑ CG Jung (1921, 8th improved edition 1949): Psychological types, GW 6: §764.
- ↑ CG Jung: On the Psychology of the Unconscious, 1st edition 1917, 5th (last edited) edition 1942, GW 7: § 1-201. Quote §169.
- ↑ Ibid .: §274
- ↑ Ibid .: §78
- ↑ CG Jung (1921, 8th improved edition 1949): Psychological types, GW 6: §764.
- ↑ Ibid .: §765.