Philobat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The designation Philobat (a word formation from the Greek phílos = friend , philein = love and acrobátes = who walks on the outermost tiptoe ) denotes a type of person who tends to take considerable risks and enjoy it. The term comes from the Hungarian psychoanalyst Michael Balint .

Balint's typology

With the intention of typifying and evaluating human risk behavior, Balint distinguishes between the so-called oknophile and the philobatist in the form of a pair of opposites: While the oknophilous person primarily sees and fears the danger of failure and is accordingly constantly inhibited in his action dynamics, this follows Philobate of the opposite mindset and has more in view of the gain that can be achieved through risk. Trusting in his ability, he is driven by curiosity, self-awareness, the will to succeed and the confidence to succeed, even if he accepts possible failure. While the oknophile primarily develops a need for protection and support, in accordance with his fearfulness, the philobate, conscious of his own strength, trusts more in independence and his own strength. Supply mentality is self-sufficiency compared.

According to Balint, both forms of attitude and behavior move away from the normal range with increasing strength of their expression . The representatives are characterized as extreme types by neurotic traits that require psychotherapeutic treatment . The oknophile suffers from an exaggerated insecurity and weakness in fear, the philobat from a tendency to overestimate himself and a belief in infallibility. While the oknophile usually feels his deficits and seeks appropriate help, even an extreme philobatist according to Balint usually thinks himself healthy. He has shifted the traumas that trigger and feed his extreme behavior into the unconscious . He's sick without even knowing it.

The pair of terms stands in the tradition of depth psychology from Sigmund Freud , who identified nine “ basic conflicts ” in human beings. One of these basic conflicts was diagnosed as the conflict between the need for dependence and the striving for autonomy, which, according to Stavros Mentzos , manifests itself in the second to third year of human life.

Conceptual understanding of recent venture research

The first criticism of the ideas of regression in psychoanalysis came early on from competing Gestalt psychology : Fritz Perls and later B. Waldvogel formulated objections from the perspective of Gestalt theory psychotherapy, above all, with regard to the basic therapeutic area and area of ​​application.

The pair of terms, the philobatist and the oknophile, coined by Balint, has remained relevant in science and practice to this day. However, in the wake of the criticism and the findings of more recent venture research, its interpretation was changed. There was a departure from the idea of ​​the abnormal : Balint's typology suffered from having declared mediocrity as the norm and deviations from it as pathological in the tradition of Freudian depth psychology.

According to Siegbert A. Warwitz , the philobatist is not a neurotic in need of treatment , certainly not one who does not feel his illness and has shifted the causes into the subconscious. The general assumption of a neurotic illness, an unnoticed mental illness, has proven to be an untenable projection with empirical research . Rather, the philobatist's willingness to take risks and risk-taking are part of a broader spectrum of healthy human behaviors that are predisposed by the instinctual structures and teleologically provided by the human values . According to Warwitz, daring achievements are not possible without a basic philobatic attitude. However, these are indispensable for human, social and cultural development as well as for human self-perfection and for value creation . Philobatism is a driving, creative force in society. For ethical reasons, mediocrity can not be declared the norm. But also historically, almost all outstanding personalities in world history were philobatists. According to the word creation, Warwitz defines the philobatist as " a person who loves to go to the extreme " in order to explore and expand his limits and to dare to do new things.

Today's venture research understands a philobatist to be a personality

  • who wants to achieve something extraordinary in a certain area,
  • who focuses more on the expectation of success than a possible failure,
  • whose actions are characterized more by courage than fear,
  • whose high-risk projects require rational control and realistic self-assessment,
  • who needs an ethical set of values ​​for their dangerous actions.

According to Warwitz, the mentality of the oknophile or the philobatist can also be seen in the prevailing mentality of entire societies, for example with regard to a hesitant or courageous willingness to undertake necessary reforms.

This interpretation of the philobatic type does not exclude the fact that there are also irresponsible gamblers who are looking for thrills at the very edge of the spectrum . It also concedes that addiction scenarios can develop in exceptional cases as a result of poor value . The risk must be controlled by reason, expertise and a sense of value in order to be able to promote developments and find general acceptance .

literature

  • Michael Balint: Thrills and Regressions . London 1959
  • Michael Balint: Anxiety and Regression . Velcro cotta. Stuttgart 1999. 5th edition. ISBN 3-608-95635-2
  • Michael Balint: Therapeutic Aspects of Regression. The basic disorder theory . New edition from the English by Käte Hügel. 3rd edition 2003. ISBN 978-3-608-91912-7
  • Stavros Mentzos: Neurotic Conflict Processing. Fisherman. Frankfurt / Main 1984. ISBN 3-596-42239-6
  • Fritz Perls: Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality London 1979 (German: Gestalt Therapy 1979)
  • B. Waldvogel: Psychoanalysis and Gestalt Psychology . frommann-holzboog, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7728-1500-6 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Attempts to explain cross-border behavior . 2nd, extended edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: From the sense of the car. Why people face dangerous challenges . In: DAV (Hrsg.) Berg 2006. Munich-Innsbruck-Bozen. Pp. 96-111. ISBN 3-937530-10-X
  • Roth, Marcus., Hammelstein, Philipp .: Sensation Seeking. Conception, diagnostics, application. Hogrefe, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-8017-1719-4
  • Apter, Michael .: In the intoxication of danger. Why more and more people are looking for the thrill . Kösel, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-466-30355-9 (Original title: The Dangerous Edge. The Psychology of Excitement. New York, The Free Press, New York, 1992)
  • Aufmuth, Ulrich .: On the psychology of mountaineering. Revised u. added edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-596-42314-7
  • John G. Bennett .: Risk and Freedom. Hazard - the risk of realization. Chalice, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-905272-70-9 .
  • Cube, Felix von .: Dangerous security. Pleasure and frustration of risk. 3rd edition S. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7776-0998-6 .

See also

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Michael Balint: Thrills and Regressions . London 1959
  2. ↑ Roth, Marcus., Hammelstein, Philipp .: Sensation Seeking: Concept, Diagnostics and Application. Hogrefe, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-8017-1719-4 .
  3. ↑ Michael Balint: Anxiety and Regression . Klett-Cotta, 5th edition, Stuttgart 1999
  4. ↑ Michael Balint: Therapeutic Aspects of Regression. The basic disorder theory . New edition from the English by Käte Hügel. 3rd edition 2003
  5. ↑ Stravos Mentzos: Neurotic Conflict Processing . Fischer, Frankfurt / Main 1984
  6. ↑ Fritz Perls: Gestalt therapy: excitement and growth in the human personality London 1979 (German: Gestalt therapy 1979)
  7. ↑ B. Waldvogel: Psychoanalysis and Gestalt Psychology . Stuttgart 1992
  8. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: When risk is (declared) mad . In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Attempts to explain cross-border behavior . 2nd, extended edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 , pp. 106–112
  9. ↑ Cube, Felix von .: Dangerous Security: Lust and Frustration of Risk. 3rd edition S. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7776-0998-6 .
  10. ^ John G. Bennett .: Risk and Freedom: Hazard - the risk of realization. Chalice, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-905272-70-9 .
  11. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Attempts to explain cross-border behavior . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 , p. 334
  12. ↑ Apter, Michael .: In the intoxication of danger: Why more and more people are looking for the thrill. Kösel, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-466-30355-9 .
  13. ^ Aufmuth, Ulrich .: On the psychology of mountaineering. Revised u. added edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-596-42314-7 .
  14. ↑ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Risk must be worthwhile (PDF; 637 kB). bergundstieg.at. October 2011
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Risk must want the essential . In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 . Pp. 296-311