Introduction to Masochistic Personality Disorder – Masochistic Character to LOWEN

Introduction to Masochistic Personality Disorder – Masochistic Character to LOWEN

The masochistic personality disorder is an apparently aggressive disorder but when you observe carefully you can understand that it is provocative behavior than aggressive. The dominant behavioral pattern is not depression and high spirits like that of oral type, but its of trial and failure, collapse and self-assertion which results in deluged state.

The masochistic structure is transferred biogenetically, but muscular spasms are very strong and concerned person finds it physically unacceptable to withstand for long lasting actions. Lot of people considers that masochism is tantamount with intention to suffer. As per opinion from Lowen, it is the intention of masochistic personality disorder but can differ from person to person. They really suffer and are unable to alter the situation and one decides that he wants to strengthen this status. This does not say about people who have masochistic perversion, which is a characteristic through which they wish to get beaten in order to become sexually satisfied. When consider masochistic personality disorder structure, it indicates people who suffer and complain, yet remain submissive in nature. Masochistic submissiveness is very dominant and widespread trend among women.

People who suffer from masochistic personality disorder exhibits a submissive attitude in their external behavior, while on contrary their internal behavior is different. When consider deeper emotions, they have strong negativism, hatred, feeling of superiority and hostility. Such feelings could be forgotten by fear which might burst in violent behavior. He opposes such form of “explosion” restraint with muscular structure. He prevents any fights with strong, thick muscles with self-praise and faces only through complaints or lawsuits.

Biological, Genetic, Bioenergetic Status of Masochistic Personality:

The masochistic structure is high charged in contrast to the oral structure. Though this charge isn’t frozen, all funds are brought under control or held back. Due to strong diminution of body parts and external organs it is impossible for relaxation and effective discharge and due to this there is limited expressive action. The control is very strong which results in collapse and compression of organism which happens around waist area, while the body bends under the weight of tensions.  Pulses which flow up and down are conked in neck and waist region. It elucidates the firm tendency of fear. The physical development gets impacted severely. The external structures get weakend due to this impairment.

Physical Appearance:  The typical masochistic character usually has thick, short and muscular body. The reasons are still not clear but usually the hair and body is observed to be very strong while a thick neck is especially significant. It points out that concerned both figuratively and literally the head of feeding. The waist is thicker and stronger in a corresponding manner. Another crucial feature is advanced pool. The bottom portion is flattened and reduced and this position indicates the attitude of dog having a tail.

The bottom portion is flattened with buttocks and upper portion of body is responsible for tensions which are caused when the body is buckled at waist. For certain women, they have a rigid body in top half while lower half is masochistic with thicker buttocks and legs, raised pelvic floor and they have dark-tinted skin due to stagnating charges.

For people who have masochistic personality disorder, the skin structure tends to be of brownish tint due to reason of stagnating charges. Due to strong reduction, the aggressiveness is reduced significantly and self-enforcement is restricted. The groans and actions connect in place of self-enforcement.  Whining is only social expression which is restricted by throat. Instead of aggression, a challenging behavior is anticipated to cause a strong reaction to the partner that in turn permits the masochist to react explosively in violent manner. It is applicable during sex as well as in normal situations.

The stagnation of charge which depends on strong control makes a feeling that people who are stuck in nightmare and could not move around freely. The typical attitude of masochistic personality is coquettish and submissive. In conscious level, the masochist has an interest to please others but the same attitude is denied in unconscious level, due to hostility, negativism and rebellion. Such repressed feelings should be discharged before a masochistic person could freely respond to day-to-day life situations.

Factors & Causes of Masochistic Personality Disorder – Masochistic Personality Structure

The masochistic personality structure originates in a family where love and acceptance is combined along with strong pressure.  In this family, mother sacrifices her self and is dominant, while father remains submissive and passive. The self-sacrificing and dominant mother formally smothers the child. Due to this, the child will experience strong feelings of guilt, if he tries to prove his independence or exhibits a contrary attitude. Typically they have strong obsession towards food and defecation. It gets back to strong pressure from both sides. They live with a motto as to make their mother happy and obeying her words. Their efforts to fight back against her are squeezed in early stage itself. People having masochistic structure will have unalterably bad temper, which should be killed. They usually have a feel of sitting under trap and could respond only with resentment and anger. But such reactions usually end in defeat. The patients are in situation to fight as a child with feelings of humiliation when they exhibit their feelings in form of defiance, defile or vomiting.

The masochists are afraid to go out on their own and access certain things as they fear about getting mutilated. Lots of masochists experience castration anxiety. The important characteristic of masochists is their fear of relationships with their parents which restricts their love towards them.  The patients might have lot of complaints about their childhood which should be analyzed mandatorily. The masochists usually suffer from severe anxiety. It is also noticed that men having oral character are very afraid. It separates them feminine and passive character of rigid type, the greater ego development has caused her fear other than under certain circumstances. The masochist’s anxiety varies from their oral character. The former fears when they are in social relationships or at work under pressure, while latter is afraid before facing the situation. The difference is actually small but very important since the feeling of being under high pressure always states the masochistic ego. The masochists’ inertia is not same as depression of people having oral character.

As per Reich, the masochist patients, the masochist provocation, masochistic suffering and masochistic action is significant as per actual or imagined frustration of unrealizable and quantitatively increased love claim. Such type of mechanism is related to masochistic personality disorder in form of neurosis.

The masochistic personality tries to connect the internal anxiety and tension by intimidating an inadequate method, usually wooing in form of defiance and provocation which should fail in due course.  The masochistic personality knows that it should fail in their conscious level. Hence you can understand that they would fail at some point. If this is demand of punishment why should they read much? There are 2 forms of interpretations out of which 1st is justified through failure of own insufficiency for which they could blame others. The 2nd point is that they fear success since the masochists are brought to spotlight and have high fears related to exhibitionism.

One of the patients of Lowen stated that he could feel “devil” in the interior which he could see occasionally. The “devil” which the patient saw has the face of a man with expression of derision and scorn as if to say something to him that he is actually worthless and can not succeed. On other hand, if he called the devil inside it, “he felt better and stronger and masochistic in exterior. On certain occasions, he felt superior to others and contempt for them.  Such type of attitude was expressed towards therapy as below,

“Leak” I am A and I can get out of it myself, I don’t need you. You are totally insignificant. And he realized later that it was the devil inside him which has caused him to criticize his wife without his knowledge.

Lowen observed that the structure of masochistic character was function of a devil. It is negative forces which express distrust and doubt, the opponents of heart’s faith, love and sentiments. The dirty work is done by the devil which through expansion, blocked by suspicion or outward doubt. The masochistic character will be based entirely on bad experiences of early childhood due to mistrust that is imbibed deeply and to resist any attack in stubborn manner. While it remains, you should be prepared for negative reactions for therapeutic treatment and it could be corrected only through careful analysis of character. This position is posted on temporary basis. With very light hint of hostility, this will be taken fast. The devil could overcome if heart’s love, feelings, Eros, genitals and brain dominate.

As per analytical studies it has been revealed that masochist have a strict super-ego. The suffering of masochists is considered as an effort to assuage the superego, the conscience one is relieving the guilty sentient. The masochist behavior is based on hatred and spite. The latent hatred present in patients suffering from masochistic personality disorder would justify the severity of conscience and superego.

This type of observation will not help in solving the problem. The question prevailing among psychiatrists is how the hatred which is directed actually towards outer world, is forced against their own and vice versa? In order to treat patients having masochistic personality disorder, you must start asking them to get their negative feelings. Expression such as “I hate you”, “I will not” will be shown easily. The aggression is held inside by expressing negative feelings. It is taken care to make sure that they feel what is actually said. For being sure, you should ask who remains at negative attitude. If the answer is not correct, the therapist must distrust it since patients who have masochistic personality disorder have negative attitude towards analysis or therapy.

This work to expose the negative behavioral traits of masochistic personality disorder will take very long time and should be done through careful procedural approach. As long as negative attitude exists, it is not possible to get rid of the patient’s suffering. When included in this layer of negativity, masochist distrust in world of therapist and reality. No recognition or love could break their barriers, but it can express positive feelings and it is cause for suffering of masochists. They wish to come out but they do not dare to do it, they would like them to release him, but they do not trust others.

The masochist treatment is really difficult due to the lack of trust on masochists from outside world. We can observe that masochists do not express their negative feelings even in sincere way that could be really difficult for them. Everything is spoiled by distrust, which causes masochists to eventually distrust their own actions and recovery. Due to this lack of trust caused from bad experience during early childhood, that justifies their attitude and you could expect that patients give up soon.

Tendencies for self-reduction and self-harm is another property of masochists. You should analyze them based on psychology and understand why they ask questions like “Look how miserable I am. Why should you Love me?” In most cases, such trends can not be verbally expressed. They manifest in form of personal care and clothing. Masochistic patients usually wear dirty clothes and are sloppy during their meetings.

Once a patient stated that whenever he feels inadequate, he wears a shirt having frayed collar. The contempt which masochists feel towards others is also expressed inward in a proactive way “ Do you love me so unkempt and dirty, as I am?” The other side of that coin is certain people having an heightened sense of cleanliness. It is basically a defensive reaction to strong self-devaluation and masochistic tendencies.

What is the energy dynamics of these tendencies? What are genetic origins?  It has been stated in earlier chapter that masochists function on visceral level. They are also knowledgeable about lack of backbone feeling. It could be stated that masochists think at level of unconscious as snake or a worm. The tendency to wander, one could observe both through bioenergetics and psychology.

Again in unconscious level, they felt that they belonged on floor. They find it real hard to make their body totally upright and inclination to fall to ground is characteristic. If we choose common denominator of such early experience which leads to masochism, it is the sense of humiliation and embarrassment faced during early days. The masochists are individuals who have been embarrassed as a child. They have been made to feel worthless and inadequate. This type of experience could result in masochistic behavior. It is due to force-feeding by parents without consideration for actual feelings of the child.

These mothers believe that they are doing it for goodness of their children and beating them will keep them disciplined. But they do not know the fact that compliance could be achieve through recognition and rebellion will lead to disapproval. Once child is under pressure and experiences harshness from parents, their behavior pattern in set and this determines all their future action. All masochists exhibit an excessive desire to show recognition. They strive hard to please others and believe that this recognition would bring them love. They get disappointed naturally in all cases. We evaluate not the people we love and those whom we should judge, we don’t love. It is humiliating for living, if this feels insecure and depends on submission. Masochists usually have submissive behavior outside and like to please others.

Attention to materialistic requirements of child is created without consideration to their tender feelings or their spiritual demands. Due to this, masochists speak about spiritual values, but acts more materialistically. They try in exchange for work and effort to win love. They deny the importance of material objects, and do not want to posses them. They are confused and embarrassed when they desire something and doubts whether it should be expressed.

When strong tension at masochists’ body output could achieve just a discharge, they also express something or force it out.  Both feature of their sexual function and work are impacted by their reaction quality. They expressed at work such that this function can be maintained through complete extent which is not feasible in oral character, but not informal and relaxed activity. They work with their gut feeling and not with their heart. Due to this, they lack the happening in general of creativity and spontaneity. As the masochist, they are basically very hard workers since they have strong desire for recognition from others. In long run, this constant self-propelling could result the intestines to knot and results in collapse.

It has been noticed that masochists could appear in their dealings that could be really stupid. Even with superficial analysis, one could find out that it is because of confusion that these patients always complain about. They lack the potential to express their feelings or thoughts clearly. It is contrary flow to expressions that is significant of oral character. Apart from their apparent ineptitude, in expression of masochist is very sensitive and intelligent. They have accurate perception and correct understand of others’ behavior. In contrary, they know that forces don’t determine their behavior. Their intelligence is blocked by their distrust towards the world which makes their personal life very dark.

The life is shaped similar to oral character with tendency of variations of depression and elation, the energy pattern of masochists vary between sinking and fear which is qualified in swamp. It has been described correctly by Theodor Reik that “It is similar to sinking in quicksand in which every single effort will make the person sink in deeper, its not dead end, but continuous struggle which is not a static state but a completely dynamic mobile existence”.

Any forward movement is considered as view of rising anxiety till the masochist gets exhausted and gets back to swamp. Here, they dwell till a new momentum to initiate new conditions, new day or new effort will take place. Genital discharge will be the way out, but masochists get blocked with incomprehensible terror this way. There should be application of external force for enabling masochists to break their screw. In some cases, they should literally be whipped forward.

The oral character usually is very confused and has destabilized pulses, but masochists have ambivalence of hatred and love. This describes the crushing guilt and super-ego which terrorized and tortures these people. The masochism problems could be explained if treated a failure. Ambivalence, uncertainty and hesitation dominate all aspects of masochistic behavior. Any aggression movement, impulse or gesture could describe their basic fault.  Before expressing a pulse completely, they are overtaken by uncertainty and doubt and either pushed against resistance or withdrawn completely. They usually consider that pulses which come out and demands a deep analysis to reveal the blocked violence and anger.

There is no emptiness with masochistic character, but a feeling of anxiety and inner tension is present always. The individuals have a feeling which he should offer with respect to love or work more if they could put out. They are more independent when compared to oral character, but this independence is affected by their great yearning for recognition. The masochists are most wiling patients of analysts, and they are the ones with worst outcome. Consider us such that we could understand better the dynamic of various aspects of masochistic issues and compare them with structure of oral character to find suitable solutions.

The oral character is determined by tendency of high spirits, omniscience and megalomania of inflation. The people having masochistic character will exhibit well-developed muscles and decreased spirituality. The muscular system dominated the emotional side of body and suppresses it. The masochist is earth bound and aggression is controlled. Though the muscular system is over developed it does not agree with movement, but with constraints. Hence it is necessary and not surprising that it could cause reduced aggression.

The therapeutic approach towards masochism problem has different sides. You could get in touch with imprisoned spirit for assisting him in forthcoming tough struggle. The masochistic patients who are met with recurrent failures, their suspicion, hostility and hopelessness towards analytic therapists should be met with understanding, support and compassion. Also, they should not be permitted to impose the burden of liability for their condition to the therapists. It is tough to rationally balance between critical analysis of their behavior in one hand and express compassion on other hand, but this is only procedure for therapeutic treatment of patients having masochistic disorder. The spasms in muscular system should be removed. The blocking movements should be freed. The therapy should address the ambivalence between tender feelings and aggression and small amount of instinct fusion should be achieved which is genital function.

The masochistic structure is based on contracted and over-developed muscles. In order to fix the contractions in muscles, movements like elongation and stretching is required. With on-the-couch pounding, like feelings of high self is recommended for body and head by stretching the arms widely, tension tie depth, upper arms and shoulder blades should be brought to consciousness. The entire process is act of rigorous self-assertion. Similarly movements can be used to solve the deep tensions inside pelvic girdle.  The muscular contractions in thighs can be removed by stretching the legs and mobility of tanks should be developed. The patients should be permitted to achieve sense of relaxation and maintain it through their conscious knowledge.

The important feature of masochistic body structure is the hump. Masochistic patients exhibit a thick, muscular neck that is not very rigid. The stiff neck expresses the pride which is lacking in masochistic structure. The severe cramping which shortens the neck is situated in deeper muscular layers which could be achieved through normal conscious movements.

Apart from these muscles, the unconscious will be held and such muscles will block expression of stimuli moving upward. If this triggers the gag reflex in such patients, the rising wave which indicates the pulse of vomiting is blocked in throat. It is not restricted by rigidity which is found in throat of people who have hysterical character, but is blocked through contraction and suppressed which comes down from head. It is as mentioned that there is no impulse to vomit. This state is similar to that developed in body’s lower region. But with application of gag reflex, there are ways for intentionally closing to patient’s mechanism and explaining them the way to overcome it.

In lower body, there is tendency to feed the belly and lifting pelvic floor, to block the excitement wave which flows down that is another important method of same mechanism which we observed recently. The masochism problem could not be solved with tendency to feed stomach and overcome contractions. You could work on consciously, but you should understand this contraction happens due to fear of pain which could result when strong excitation wave arise from pelvic floor and reaches tense sexual apparatus. The active contraction has motive of preventing a painful experience. The patients should face the pain and create the potential to put him before they lose their fear. There are various techniques to achieve this, based on stretching of tighter muscles. The principle of pleasure and pain is very effective. The increasing potential to endure pain will enhance the pleasure possibility. The masochistic personality structure could be a pre-genital behavior pattern which is not in adult realty anchored.

Before starting to study about this group of different character types, we should understand that masochism is tendency to doubt, to whine and to fail. It comes from bad experience in childhood and is exhibited as active suppression of independence which results in trauma of personality. Masochistic personality disorder is characterized by deep desire for recognition from others while there is negativity and hostility inside. They try to please others and hurt themselves and they like to be beaten and tortured sexually. Masochistic personality disorder is one of the severe forms of mental disorders resulting from humiliation and bad treatment in early childhood by inconsiderate parents.

Tags: Masochism • Masochist • Masochistic Character • Masochistic Personality Disorder