Student RLY0004

Post Graduate Certificate in Gestalt Therapy Theory Studies

Tutor Carmen Ablack

“Self Conquest is socially esteemed as ‘character’.”

Perls Hefferline and Goodman 1989 Gestalt Therapy (Souvenir Press p364)

Outline and discuss the process of self conquest and the development and maintenance of

character as understood in Gestalt theory. Contrast with views held by ONE other theorist

such as Freud, Reich or the work of the Existentialists.

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Introduction

In researching this essay I felt as if I had fallen into a swamp of ideas which I thrashed

around in, vainly reaching for a firm handhold to catch onto. Many of them took me off into

interesting wild goose chases about the role of cognition, intelligence and understanding,

about change theory and intentionality. A timely intervention by my tutor brought me back

to the essay title which I will attempt to answer as simply as possible.

In this essay I will use the phrase ‘self conquest’ and the word ‘character’ in the sense that

they occur in the quote above. This has caused me difficulties in contrasting with other

writers as their terminology differs so widely. For this reason I have chosen to also broaden

the meaning of ‘character’ to include the definitions in the Compact Oxford English

Dictionary. I.e.:

“character • noun 1 the qualities distinctive to an individual……….6 strength and originality

in a person’s nature. 7 a person’s good reputation. “

These are the aspects which I consider relevant to this essay title. What makes individuals

different, qualities in an individual which are applauded by society, and a person’s standing

in society.

Perls Hefferline and Goodman, use the word to denote the rigid moralistic attitude of an

individual denying his natural passions and needs in order to comply with society’s mores. I

will attempt to explain this specific theoretical idea regarding the development of character

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and then to contrast with Irvin Yalom, Victor Frankl and Rollo May’s understanding of

human character.

The Process of Self Conquest

In their book, Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, Perls Hefferline and

Goodman, 1951, assert that internal conflict is normal and necessary for the organism

(person) to function healthily and that people are constantly regulating a multitude of

conflicts, both in and out of awareness to serve their needs. However they say that the

process becomes unhealthy when, what they term as

“the meddling inward of outside-the-skin social forces…deliberately upsets the spontaneous

inner-system.” (1951, p355).

As I understand this, there is often a contradiction between cultural and societal values and

the healthy functioning of the organism. When an individual introjects societal values over

their natural organismic regulation of conflict, neurosis occurs.

Perls et al, say that:

“neurosis may be regarded as self-conquest”. (1951p 353)

If the individual, particularly when they are young, despairs of a solution to conflict because

their opponent seems too big and powerful (i.e. society at large, or principle care-giver) and

the only prospect is continued suffering, they will give up. They will become resigned. This

is a process of numbing and putting the raging conflict out of awareness. Although not in

awareness, the conflict is still there, but the individual’s drive to resolve the conflict is

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missing in the figure. This is a vacancy which must be filled. The individual does this by

identifying with the other, the loved and feared caretaker or society at large. The self

introjects the other, their values and beliefs. Then, when an internal need expresses itself in

the future, the introjected self will swat itself in the same way that the introjected person or

structure would have, thus conquering itself.

Top Dog/Underdog

This introjected internalised system of values and beliefs was developed by Fritz Perls into

the concept of ‘top-dog’ and ‘under-dog’. He called the dominant aspect of a person’s

personality ‘top-dog’. This is the part of the self that moralises with shoulds and oughts. It

is critical and punishing. The other polarity is submissive, but engages in conflict with top-

dog by sabotaging. I am struck by the polarity to self conquest - self defeat - which I see as

the work of the underdog.

“You grow up completely surrounded by what you should and should not do, …. you spend

much of your time playing this game within yourself – the game I call the ‘top-dog/under-

dog game’….One part of you talks to the other part and says, ‘you should be better, you

should not be this way, you should not do that, you shouldn’t be what you are, you should

be what you are not’” (Perls 1970, p 17)

So the individual is waging an internal and unacknowledged battle with both sides having

considerable power. The vitality that is taken up by this conflict is unavailable for the

natural growth and development of the organism and it is consequently weakened.

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The neurotic will battle for victory against the self as Perls et al term him - a ready victim

(1951, p353) – and so conquers himself. He has experience of losing and been humiliated in

the past, but he has not assimilated the loss and grown from it, instead he feels the agony of

shame and repeatedly tries to save face by scoring wins. Every experience and interaction

with others becomes a little battle with a chance to win and so prove his superiority. The

object of the battle is not what is being fought over, but purely to win. Perls et al, say that

the neurotic will avoid real conflicts. This is because in a genuine conflict, change will

inevitably occur, win or lose, and the neurotic finds change in the status quo unacceptable.

(1951, p353)

Creative Disinterest

According to Perls et al, the opposite of this neurotic need for victory is ‘creative

impartiality’ or ‘creative disinterest’. This occurs when the spontaneous self engages in

conflict, is not invested in either side, but is merely open to and curious about the

possibilities of change that will inevitably result from the conflict.

“What then is the function of ….suffering?.....to get us to attend to the immediate present

problem and then to stand out of the way…to let the conflict rage and destroy what needs

to be destroyed.” (1951, p 359)

For the therapist with a neurotic client, the challenge is to bring the conflict into awareness,

but this is a risky business. The neurotic who has developed this system of self conquest

might be torn to pieces by the suffering that they would have to endure to resolve the

internal conflict. However, Perls et al, believe that the way to protect the client is not to

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weaken or eradicate the conflict, but to strengthen the self-support and awareness of the

client. When this is adequate to the task they will be able to endure the conflict and

experience growth from enduring the suffering and reaching an outcome.

“When one realizes that it is one’s own conflict, and that one is tearing oneself to pieces . . .

one sooner reaches the attitude of creative impartiality and identifies with the coming

solution. . . . But neurosis is the premature pacification of conflicts . . . It is, briefly, self-

conquest. (1951, p. 360)

The Development and Maintenance of Character

Perls et al, suggest that the process of self conquest as described above has been identified

in Western culture as ‘character’. (1951 p365) Individuals have historically been rewarded

who demonstrated mastery over their ‘appetites’. An individual was and (to a lesser extent)

still is admired as a ‘person of character’ when he overcame his weaknesses. However,

Perls et al, 1951 say that what this culture identifies as weakness is actually the individual

responding to his natural drives and fulfilling his needs. This squashing of his natural drives

diminishes the individual, rather than making him strong.

“grace, warmth, strength, good sense, gayety, tragedy: these are impossible to persons of

character” (1951 p365)

I understand this to mean that the characteristics named above abound in the spontaneous

self but are impossible for the ‘person of character’ due to the fact that they ignore their

organismic drives and therefore are unable to meet their needs, nurture themselves grow,

assimilate and integrate.

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With self conquest there is no excitement of growth. Needs may be satisfied to a certain

extent in a controlled way, i.e. in the experience of sexuality, aggression and grief, but the

individual is not committed to the experience and so takes no risk of growth and suffering.

For this reason his experience is dull and the acts lack meaning.

“Meaningfulness is the same as the excitement of the coming solution” (1951 p367)

I see my father as a very vivid example of this phenomenon of self conquest and ‘character’.

He was a man with a rigid value structure handed down to him by his family who were

financiers and scientists and well respected in British society. He held himself rigidly, had no

physical grace, little humour and after living in Cuba for 15 years still spoke with a very

strong English accent, thus demonstrating that he maintained his character without

adapting to his new environment. His upright morality was flawed by periodic bouts of

alcoholism. The warring tensions within him were visible to the naked eye, with his tightly

clenched jaw and trembling hands. The only place I saw him lose this tension was in the lab,

working, when he became relaxed and purposeful. I saw him in very stark contrast with the

Cuban men around who were, generally speaking, graceful, relaxed, humorous, and free.

Cuban culture does not have the same concept of self control and ‘character’ that English

culture does.

This contrast between my father and the Cuban men I have known demonstrates for me the

impact of society and culture in the development of character, whether of the type that

Perls et al, 1951 describe, or simply, as in the definition above, ‘the qualities distinctive in an

individual’.

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Three Existentialist Psychotherapists

Existential philosophy emphasises the importance of personal responsibility and the fact

that each individual is alone and must live through his existence himself. The existential self

chooses who he is moment by moment within the limits of his existence. The word ‘choice’

holds particular importance for me in the development of the ideas in this essay, as it

implies use of the will to achieve change, whether internal or external. The phrase ‘will

power’, I associate with the concept of ‘self conquest’ as outlined above, and as distinct

from this – ‘the will’ is a natural extension of the wish, projecting the individual from the

present into the future.

I have looked at the writings of three existential psychotherapists, Victor Frankl, Irvin Yalom

and Rollo May in an attempt to understand how they view the phenomenon of ‘character’.

Frankl

Frankl believed that human beings are unique in that they have the ability to transcend

pain, suffering, hardship, as well as wealth, prosperity and abundance beyond their

instincts, drives and conditioning and biological responses. He calls this the ‘will to meaning’

and suggests that finding meaning is man’s primary intention as opposed to self

actualisation.

“I would say self-actualization is the unintentional effect of life’s intentionality” (1969 p38)

Without meaning he observed that human beings fail to thrive and that in conditions such

as he experienced in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, without meaning people

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give up the will to live, they become resigned to their fate. This observation echoes the

description above of the individual who numbs themselves when faced with extended

conflict. Conversely, Frankl observed that if a person has meaning in their life, they can

survive great hardship and transcend themselves.

“There is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment

and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man's attitude to

his existence.” (1963, p. 106)

So according to Frankl, man has a choice as to the attitude with which he lives his life. With

choice there is also responsibility, conscience and intention. A person’s character is

therefore developed by the choices of attitude that he takes to live his life by.

Irvin Yalom

Yalom also puts great emphasis on the importance of taking responsibility. He makes the

statement

“responsibility avoidance is not conducive to mental health and responsibility

acceptance ....leads to therapeutic success.” (1980 p261)

However, he is very clear that awareness of responsibility alone is not enough for change.

Change must be expressed in terms of action rather than just knowing, dreaming or

intending. This brings the issue of decision making into play and how difficult decisions can

be. Yalom suggests that this is because they are a boundary experience. Once crossed a

boundary cannot be uncrossed. He says

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“Masochistic characters who are encased in a symbiotic relationship with a parent have

particular trouble with guilt and decision” (1980 p319).

He goes on to say that such people find a set of rules a

“handy decision-making agency” (1980 p327)

This statement supports the Perls et al (1951) description of the individual who introjects

parental values, and then engages in self conquest.

Rollo May

In Rollo May’s book ‘Love And Will (1969)’, he explores the relationship between ‘wish’ and

‘will’, and concludes that there can be no meaningful act without a prior wish. The wish is

our projection into the future and our awareness of our feelings and wants. Will on the

other hand is how we decide to achieve that wish. Will is the driver and wish precedes the

will.

However he stresses the importance of having access to all the information, mental,

emotional and physical when bringing wish and will into play.

“Victorian man used his will to push down and suppress what he called “lower” bodily

desires. But one surely cannot be a man of decision without taking bodily desires into

consideration” (1969, p238)

I conclude from this brief outline of these existentialist psychotherapists that they regard

human beings as creatures who are meaning makers, that to live in service of their meaning

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gives them fulfilment and allows them to self actualise, that this meaning allows them to

transcend even the most degrading and tragic of circumstances and choose the attitude that

they live their lives with. Furthermore, taking stock of all the information available to them,

including their physical drives (i.e. becoming fully aware) allows them to take responsibility

for themselves. By making choices and using their will combined with taking action to

achieve their wishes they project themselves into the future and form their characters day

by day.

Conclusion

As discussed above, according to Gestalt Therapy Theory, the neurotic who has introjected a

set of values and beliefs over and in conflict with his own needs is in a state of constantly

battling with himself and scoring petty victories. Ultimately he is frozen, unable to engage in

his life which becomes meaningless. In unawareness he lives by an introjected set of values

with which he destroys himself and masochistically beats himself down. He avoids engaging

in genuine conflict from which he would change and grow. This description complies with

Frankl’s observations of people in concentration camps who surrendered internally, and

ultimately died.

Conversely according to existentialist psychotherapy, a person who chooses to live their life

according to their own values and beliefs can find meaning and fulfilment even in the

bleakest situation. The fact that they take responsibility for choosing the attitude with

which they meet their life circumstances gives their life meaning and creates the conditions

for them to achieve self actualisation.

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Word Count 2514

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References Section

Clarkson, P. and Mackewn, J. (1993) Fritz Perls London. Sage Publications Ltd.

Frankl, V. E. (1963). Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. New

York: Washington Square Press.

Frankl, V. E (1969). The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy.

England: Penguin Books Ltd.

Friedman, N. PHG A Summary and Explication. Presentation at The Gestalt Journal’s 24th

Annual Conference.

Perls, F. S., Hefferline, R. F and Goodman, P. (1951) Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and

Growth in the Human Personality. New York Julian Press,

Perls, F. S., (1970) Four Lectures in Fagan, J. and Shepherd, I. L. (Ed) Gestalt Therapy Now.

England Penguin Books.

May, R. (1969) Love and Will. New York: WW Norton & Company Inc.

Woldt, A. L. and Toman, S. M (2005) California: Sage Publications

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