* The author is part of the community of La Vanguardia readers
This is not the first time I have referred to it. But she denies so many things that they don’t all fit in a single writing. In previous articles I have commented on several of these denials (Psychoanalysis of the Spain of Barabás, of the Spain that hates, of the Spain of the sewers, of the Spain of Amnesty). How, in short, he denies bread and salt to so many of her children.
Today we will focus on another denial. We will invoke the testimony of the journalist Celeste López in La Vanguardia: “The Government recognizes that the denial of sexist violence gains ground over equality” (4-17-24). And we will examine it with a psychoanalytic perspective, with Otto Fenichel (Vienna 1867-California 1946).
Celeste López’s chronicle says: “The messages questioning the essence of gender violence, the role of women and their children, and the nature of sexual assaults, which have been spread everywhere for years, especially on social networks , are permeating the general population and, above all, the youngest (…) Misinformation has spread without control (…) Now the Government, aware of this reality, has decided to counterattack and has announced awareness campaigns through all media with special impact on social networks.”
He adds that this was indicated by the Minister of Equality Ana Redondo in a press conference after the Council of Ministers, where she reported on the meeting of the plenary session of the State Observatory of Violence against Women, chaired by the President of the Government, in the that new measures were studied.
This meeting took place after the spike in murders of women and children at the hands of their parents: ten women and seven minors murdered since the beginning of the year. The Observatory is participated by the Government, Autonomous Communities, Judiciary and civil society. It was agreed to reinforce the training of agents involved in helping and protecting victims of gender violence, especially Judges and Prosecutors, since failures have been detected in the knowledge of this very sensitive matter. In addition, it was agreed to extend the forensic assessment units of the gender violence courts.
Now let us examine the question from the psychoanalytic point of view. We will do so through Freud’s Theory of Instincts, the pathological Oedipus Complex of the Spanish Dysfunctional Family, and the mixed psychopathological phenomenon Denial-Repression described, among others, by Otto Fenichel (Vienna 1867-California 1946).
The clinical basis of Freud’s theory of instincts is the existence of aggression, as one of the basic instincts of the human being. In the very first stages of development, the archaic (primitive) instinctive purpose of this instinct with respect to the environment (people, objects) is dual: both to incorporate them by approaching them intimately to receive affection, and to destroy them.
This duality made Freud develop his theory of instincts in which he established the existence of two energies in the psyche: one self-destructive or “Death Instinct” (which can turn against the external world in a “destructive instinct”), and another that pursues that intimate approach to establish relationships of affection and well-being. He called the first Thanatos. To the second, Eros.
Freud explains to us that personal maturation, the result of good upbringing, must consist of the fusion of Eros and Thanatos in which it is up to Eros to neutralize and redirect Thanatos. That is, learning to positivize negative energy (Aggression) so that it serves what it is intended to do: overcome obstacles and frustrations and achieve goals. It is as if a “good bank” merged a bad one to eliminate misery and corruption and create wealth and clean up finances.
But this fusion with absolute predominance of Eros never reaches the zenith of perfection, no matter how good the upbringing has been. Therefore, the actions of human beings are made up of different mixtures of different doses of these two energies. The future of humanity depends on Eros predominating. Currently, climate change and gender violence warn us that Thanatos is rising dangerously.
The Oedipus Complex is the name with which Freud called the normal parent-child/child-parent relationship. In short, it consists of an ambivalent love-hate relationship that begins in the third year of life and ends when adolescence ends. It is the greatest exponent of the Eros-Tánatos dialectic, which has to end as described in the previous paragraph. If this is not the case, and a pathological variant is installed, serious disorders occur, both in the individual family and in the Spanish national family. It is described in Psychoanalysis of Oedipal Spain and in the book Psychoanalysis of Dysfunctional Spain (Ed. Pensódromo 2023). Here, we will focus our attention on the pathological Oedipus Complex in the Spanish Dysfunctional Family.
In the psychotic variant of the Oedipus Complex, the “rage” component of the ambivalent amalgam described degenerates into murderous hatred, in the literal sense. Individually, it gives rise to the abuser, the serial killer (who not coincidentally kills women who have a common profile), and the incestuous or murderous Father (or Mother) (filicidal) OR the patricidal or matricidal son. The latter is the protagonist of Gender Violence, the murderer of the woman-wife, and sometimes even of the children (the so-called vicarious violence) to cause the greatest possible damage to the woman.
In these cases, there has been a pathological stagnation in the maturation process of the individual, who does not reach the third phase of adult maturity (genital, in psychoanalytic language), which normally follows the first (oral) and the second (anal). . It is then said that the individual is in a pre-genital state. The serious thing about this is that as Fenichel says, “…the pregenitally oriented person is more inclined to include destructiveness among their erotic objectives.”
And he adds: “(…) small children really destroy objects, (…) but not because they have a positive desire to destroy (…) but because their purpose is to put an end to an uncomfortable situation, not because they have a positive pleasure. in destroying. This appears later, as a means of forcibly imposing other purposes (…) and later, as a purpose in itself.”
This “later” is located in adolescence and pre-adolescence. Not having been able to complete the maturation, the Eros-Thanatos fusion with a predominance of Eros, could not be carried out. Thanatos predominates. The individual has not been able to fully develop the ability to communicate and relate, and these important deficits in his functioning must be eliminated with violence.
A more detailed explanation of the phases of development can be found in Psychoanalysis of the Spain of Corruption, and in the previously referenced book.
Denial-Repression. Freud explained that the “denial” of a painful perception can be the compromise between two opposing forces: the awareness of pain, and the need to deny it, as a “magical” means of getting rid of it.
Fenichel says: “The (instinctive) tendency to deny painful sensations and events is as old as the existence of pain (…) in young children, the denial of unpleasant realities for them is a very common fact (…) gradual development of the capacity for Reality Judgment makes global falsification of reality impossible. However, this instinctive tendency tries to remain in force (…) in more advanced phases of development the attempt at denial finds as adversaries the functions of the SELF: Judgment of reality, perception, memory.
And he adds: “The gradual development of the SELF and the reality principle reinforces these functions and weakens the tendency to deny. But if the SELF is weak, the tendency to deny may be in a situation of superiority.” Once again we come across the vital question of Maturation. In an individual with normal maturity (genitality) the SELF is strong. In an immature (pregenital) individual the SELF is weak.
It continues: “Only in cases of serious disturbances in the Judgment of Reality (certain mental illnesses) can serious and important denials continue to prevail in the adult.” A practical example is that of the deniers: of climate change, of the Jewish Holocaust and of gender violence, for example.
He continues: “Sometimes, the struggle between denial and perception of reality is evident to the observer: a painful fact or situation can be alternately denied and recognized.”
And a curious observation: “lying can mean the attempt to deny something unpleasant (…..) the attempt to convince the other of the reality of something that is not real, is to contradict and annul the Judgment of Reality (… …) the person who is deceived is the witness of the struggle between the perception of Reality and the need to deny it.” To achieve its ends, Denial uses an auxiliary instrument: Repression. It consists of the unconscious will to reject something that the SELF cannot accept.
In the case we are dealing with, Repression is at the service of denying the Anguish that the painful event or situation brings. There are two ways to deny it: deny the situation that causes it, or deny the anguish itself. In this case, a “reactive moral courage” arises (says Fenichel) that allows the individual to act appropriately even if the Anguish remains deep within the person.
Throughout this writing and all the previous ones we see the importance and determining factor of the Original Group of the individual, and of good upbringing. For complete maturation. The future of the person and the country depends on it. Let us pray that the Spanish Dysfunctional Family gets out of the pre-genital jam in which it lives, and reaches adult maturity (genitality).
Let’s drink to it. Looking at the sky. Because a toast looking at heaven is a prayer.
