Continuing the previous Post, I’ll reflect on Culture’s influence on identities development, considering Culture from two perspectives: 1) Culture as a meta-narrative[1] and 2) Culture as crucial in constituting individuals’ moral standards and, therefore, in constituting Egos. In this second sense, culture is intrinsically linked to the way individuals develop their own concepts, values, morality and, also, their own experiences. From this perspective, it appears in more circumscribed and subtle ways. Culture defines our “smaller container of truths”, that entails traits, values, tastes, and ways of live that come from nuclear families and communities people belong to. All these ingredients: learning abilities, introjection of family’ traits and emotional atmospheres, together with their own experience constitute Ego/Identity. Ego, in turn, excludes contradictory feelings and perceptions from consciousness, in order to preserve people’s moral coherence (psychological integrity). Hence, it works as individuals’ “psychological ground” or as their moral guideline. Still, how to distinguish what is “cultural” or inherited in personality? As a matter of fact, everything is permeated by Culture and this is as complex as trivial. The relevance of this debate is finding flaws in theories that lean towards one way or another when trying to understand the link between psychological events (development) and cultural influences, i.e, when there is too much focus on biological aspects to the detriment of cultural ones or the other way around. To illustrate what that means, think of the changes in mood and behavior in adolescence/ as examples of how events in the development of human species are expected to have an emotional impact in certain stages of life (in this case, to come accompanied by anguishes/anxieties). And, on the other hand, consider successful or failed attempts (performances) as examples that may help us understand the role of Culture in personality formation (better or worse social adaptation and/or self-esteem issues). However, to understand how and why people get emotionally ill, it is necessary to approach and understand the evolution of symptoms in each experience and, therefore, it is important to use both perspectives to have a more detailed picture of the original causes and the evolution of symptoms and psychopathological patterns.
Psychoanalysis, in my opinion, has been the most the most complete theoretical approach to understand the causes of emotional disorders so far, precisely because it's not focused on treating the causes of symptoms alone. Considering that psychopathology (emotional disorder) is always dealing with illnesses that have unknown etiologies (emotional/psychological cause) it offers a broader and more consistent perspective to explain why and how people develop certain psychopathological behavioral patterns (neurosis) to avoid contact with harmful memories/affects. Thus, I’ll take psychoanalysis as reference to reflect on what is still useful and updated or needs to be updated, in my point of view. Well, if Culture pervades all levels and characteristics of Ego’s development – from people’s ethical /moral behavioral scripts to the introjection of their family’s traits-, shouldn’t the changes in Culture have an impact and, therefore, demand adjustments in the way psychoanalysis approaches Egos today? How were Egos from Freud’s time different from contemporary ones? Moreover, would it be enough to understand symptoms as a product of cultural time? If these questions have not been answered yet, how could we go further on this matter? With no expectation of answering to such complex and controversial questions, we will approach them for the perspective of the formation of Ego. The goal is to bring up some triggering points to reflect on contemporary emotional disorders: 1) how culture and inheritance are intertwined, 2) how neurosis is formed, and 3) what could be efficient clinical strategies, in our point of view, that may help patients find creative solutions for authentic/integrated directions in live.
To be continued on the next Post [1] For more details see Post 3- Culture, in Essay 7- Cultural influences on Identity, in: www.ceciliapsicologa.org
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