How Psychoanalytic Ideas Help Us Understand
and Address Problems of Aggression (A Current Concern)

By Leon Hoffman, MD

Sigmund Freud pointed out that civilization is only made possible by individual renouncements, including the renouncement of violence. Violent individuals, however, often experience no guilt about a violent act nor do they have an empathic connection with their victim. The psychoanalytic understanding of both the roots of violence and the ways in which people connect with one another is a critical factor in understanding violent behavior and crafting a solution to this nationwide problem.

Sigmund Freud stated that humans instinctually are aggressive and seek egoistic self-satisfaction. Culture, however, has the effect of putting prohibitions and curbs upon our human tendencies toward unchecked aggression and egoistic self-satisfaction. From these prohibitions and curbs comes the individual person's sense of guilt--conscious and unconscious--that has become the hallmark of civilized humanity. Understanding the role guilt plays in helping us check our tendencies towards aggression and violence is paramount.

Q. How do psychoanalytic ideas about child development help us to prevent the development of violence in people?

A. Children, being children, will always have selfish and aggressive impulses. Psychoanalysis has taught us that when children are acting in an angry and destructive fashion, they are not simply being "bad," but that they are upset for a reason. Talking with the child, helping him or her to understand what the problem is helps in several ways. The child is more likely to feel understood and cared for and less likely to feel he or she is "bad," and this in itself tends to diminish the anger and destructiveness. The child is also helped to put his or her anger into words, instead of destructive behavior. Limits to behavior are necessary, but in an atmosphere of understanding, fewer battles over them are needed.

Q. Is corporal punishment relevant to this discussion?

A. Yes. It remains common, and it encourages violence! Psychoanalysts have often observed that people who are hurt often wish, consciously or unconsciously, to get out of the hurt position by hurting others. A parent hitting a child shows the child by parental example that violence is OK, and kindles the fire for the child to strike someone else later when he has the chance. Treating the child as a person with his own sense of self and developing autonomy, that is, with respect, is much more useful than corporal punishment. Psychoanalysis has had a profound influence on how we raise our children, but much remains to be accomplished.

Q. Did Sigmund Freud consider how violence in human society could be understood psychoanalytically? Where did he discuss this?

A. The major work in which he discussed the problem of violence was Civilization and its Discontents (1930) in which he discussed the irremediable antagonism between the demands of instinct and the restrictions of civilization. In Thoughts on War and Death (1915), written at the beginning of the horrors of World War I, he wrote about the general, including his own, disillusionment brought about by civilized countries acting immorally and by individuals acting brutally.

Q. What does psychoanalysis show about the deepest essence of human nature?

A. Psychoanalysis shows that human nature is composed of primitive impulses, including selfish and cruel impulses.

 Q. What usually happens to these impulses in people?

A. The primitive impulses undergo a lengthy process of modification during one's development. They are inhibited, redirected to different aims, or commingled with one another. Civilization is attained through renouncing or controlling these impulses. Similarly, civilized societies expect and demand that newcomers to their society also control these impulses and to be able to relate to one another.

Q. What impact does guilt (conscience) have in society? Can a person's sense of guilt be excessive and cause problems?

A. In social interactions, it is natural that people have mixed feelings toward people they must interact with, and which results in a conflict between love and aggression. Some people have a great deal of guilt (even an unconscious sense of guilt) and may unconsciously direct great harm towards himself. This leads to a great deal of self-punishment. Since this can be a common problem, many people falsely think that the solution to life's problems is to eliminate guilt and to lead "guilt-free" lives. However, it is impossible-and unwise to totally eliminate guilt because guilt is a normal and necessary feeling state for individuals to have in order to interact with others, thinking not just of oneself but of the other person too. This normal guilt is the source of the commandment "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

 Q. What threatens the social group and the relationships among people?

A. The greatest threat is the tendency toward aggression, which can be seen in all of us.

 Q. How does civilization help us relate with one another?

A. Human life in a community is only possible as a result of people coming together and agreeing that no one individual can exert power over another and where individuals agree to restrict their own personal inner wishes in favor of the communal needs. In other words, people have to develop the two Freudian tenets of human nature and society: guilt and empathy for fellow humans.

 Q. Do people give up their egotistic desires easily?

A. One of the major problems for humanity is reaching a balance and reconciliation between the desires of one individual and the claims of the social group. The goal of society is to continually address how to achieve the best balance.

Q. How does civilization set limits on people's tendency toward aggression towards one another?

A. It is important that people identify with one another and develop relationships with one another that are not just lustful. This is the essence and the personal source of the commandment, love one's neighbor as one self .

Q. When groups or nations band together this way, what happens to their aggression?

A. A group may be cohesive and caring, one member to the other. The group, however, may direct its aggression toward members outside the group or toward another nation (an example of a Freudian term, called "the other," that is still very applicable in 21st century society).

Q. What is the most important way in which individual humans have learned to control their aggression?

A. The key factor is the development of the conscience (or what Freud termed the superego).

Q. How does a child develop this conscience (superego) or internal authority?

A. In their early life, children identify with an external authority (the parents or caretaker) and take the authority as their own. As a result of the relationship and interaction between parent/caretaker and child, the child gradually internalizes the parent's or caretaker's authority. This helps the child limit and control his or her actions. Freud stated that "a great change occurs only when the authority is internalized." In other words, there is a replacement of "external authority" with "internal authority." Of vital importance to the development of a child is the child's relationship with parents and caretakers.

Children also experience mixed feelings toward people they love (especially their parents), which results in an ongoing conflict between love and aggression. Every time a child renounces an aggressive wish toward the parent, it intensifies his or her sense of guilt. What also occurs during childhood is that as the child's relationships widen in the community and he or she develops ties to other people, the internal conflict between love and aggression becomes active.

 Q. The development of the individual and the development of civilization involve similar processes. In what way are they different?

A. An individual's happiness is a product of the interaction of two urges ("egoistic" urges to satisfy him- or herself and "altruistic" urges to help other people). In civilization the aim is less the development of happiness (it is pushed to the background) and more the urge to create unity among human beings.

Q. Is there an analogy between the development of the individual and the development of a community?

A. The community develops a "superego" like the individual does. The superego of an era is based on the personalities of great leaders; ideal demands are set up in the superego of each individual and similarly ideals (the development of ethics).are created for each culture.

Q. What are some psychoanalytic ideas as to how a child learns to control his or her aggression?

A. Several psychoanalytic ideas apply toward how children control aggression:

• Child-rearing always involves a balance between frustration and gratification in the interaction between parent and child. Restrictions are a normal part of child-rearing. If the child were allowed limitless gratification, his or her progressive development toward autonomy within the social environment would be greatly compromised.

• Aggression is normally modified in the course of infant development through the child's love for his mother.

• The ability to reflect upon thoughts and feelings in oneself and others provides children with a fuller range of responses to their own and others' perceived aggression.

• External experiences of violence, abuse, and deprivation influence the child's experience of his own and others' aggression and prevent the child from normally modulating aggression in social settings.

Q. What can be done for children who exhibit problems with control of their violence?

A. Psychoanalysis can give children an increased awareness of their feelings, a way to express their feelings, and help them understand the possible causes of their behavior. In other words, with long-term, intensive treatment, their behavioral problems may be reduced and they may acquire a clearer idea of their competencies.