Etiology of the psychopathic character structure
During the various stages of personality development, a young child is exposed to many stresses. One of the main ones is the Oedipal period.
Biologically, a young child has what it takes to cope with the first manifestations of its nascent sexuality, but it is not equipped to deal with the sexuality of an adult.
In a psychopath, the parent of the opposite sex behaved “seductively” towards him.
A young child cannot repel his parent on the one hand because he is not really aware of what is being played and on the other hand because he needs to maintain an emotional bond with the parent. The child, therefore, responds spontaneously to seduction by becoming himself seductive.
A child may have trouble distinguishing between reality and imagination, between emotion and action.
The seduced child thus finds himself trapped inside a triangle which he feels as very real: He lives with the parent of the opposite sex a story of seduction and feels in competition with the parent of the same sex.
To get out of this the child will have to deny any sexual feeling but also deny all his needs given that it is his need to be close to the seductive parent who put him in a vulnerable position.
Although the child denies his feelings, he will at all costs try to keep in touch with the seductive parent. This can be done in two ways: either by becoming submissive or by becoming one who dominates.
In a psychopath we will always find frustration following a promise never kept. Indeed the parent promises: “If you are nice I will love you” This promise, repeated many times, will unfortunately never be kept. The frustrated child still wants to believe in the possibility of being loved and begins to evolve in a world of illusions.
To get out of it the child will then reverse the roles: He becomes psychopath by dint of playing the parent’s game: He promises the parent that he will be the ideal child, disappoints him and before the disappointment of the parent promises again.
Threatening both to reward and to disappoint, he can get whatever he wants from the parent.
Please note: The child’s promise is not usually expressed in words.
She will express herself in the way of standing, her attitudes, the tone of her voice … ..
Energy structure:
-Energetically, the head is not connected to the body and the flow of energy is interrupted between the top and the bottom.
-The upper body is swollen.
The pelvic region is discharged of energy and tightly compressed
There is little contact with the feet, the load is held up.
Two physiological functions are disturbed:
-Genitality is not related to the rest of the body or to the emotional world.
-Vision, in the sense of “See the other as he is” or see reality as it is “.
The gaze is elsewhere, often suspicious.
The psychopath does not see reality as it is perceived, but rather clings to the preconceived images he has made of reality.
Characteristic attitudes and defenses:
- Lying and lack of moral sense: The psychopath does not make the difference between the truth and the lie, he continually lies and can not even believe what he says.
He does not know how to differentiate between good and evil and therefore does not feel guilt.
Lack of feelings and indifference to the vulnerability of others.
Instead of principles, the psychopath uses power as a benchmark. - No body or emotions:
The blockage is between the head and the body. The head refuses to admit that the body has a life of its own.
The psychopath does not feel his emotions: he does not feel anger or sadness and will not admit that he is afraid either. - Absence of the sense of reality:
In its most extreme form, the psychopath rather relies on his ideas and denies the information given to him by his senses.
Objectives and challenges of therapeutic work:
Let’s start by saying that true or pure psychopaths never come to therapy. Since they do not trust anyone and cannot bear to ask for help from anyone.
A person with a strong psychopathic tendency is therefore very difficult to help in therapy and the worst thing a therapist can do is to assure (promise) that he can help him.
The psychopath must go through a sincere renunciation: Give up his tendency to control others.
He will have to surrender to his inner being, accepting to feel his emotions and sensations, including his sexual sensations.
He will then manage to live in reality and create friendly ties.
Summary of the character structure according to Anne Hodiamont, bio-energetic therapist and certified in “subtle energies” since 2016. Anne studies Integral Presence with Jan since 2011.