The compatibility of anxiety and actualization

Abstract

PROBLEM Traditional theories of personality view the healthy individual as anxiety-free. Some recent experimental research also seems to point in that direction. Rollins(lo) found a negative correlation between the level of actualization and that of anxiety, and these results later were corroborated by Sedekel'"). On the other hand, a number of more recent theories consider the possible positive aspect of anxiety for psychological growth. Assagioli(') warns us not to be surprised that significant changes in a person are marked by several critical stages that often are accompanied by various nervous, emotional and mental disorders. Dabrowski ( 3 ) (cf. also de Grbe(4)), in his theory of Positive Disintegration, refuses t o consider neurosis as an illness. He goes so far as t o affirm its necessity for deep and accelerated development, and even for creativity. According to this view, neuroses express a conflict between an individual and the external world or between two values in the same individual, as well as a tendency t o adjust to what could be rather than to what is. They thus constitute positive maladjustments. Neurotic episodes, while they disintegrate lower levels of emotion, help the individual to progress toward higher emotional levels. Deviance from the norm and the development of identity often are associated, in exceptional individuals, with neurosis and even psychosis ( 7 ) . The neurotic expressions of these individuals during adolescence seem to be correlated with their future grandeur and historical role. I n opposition to the theory of homeostasis, Ih-anklcs) does not view tension as something to be avoided a t all costs. A healthy degree of tension, such as that which results from the will to give meaning t o one's life, is inherent to human nature and essential to true psychological health. Therefore it would be wrong to interpret existential vacuum as a pathological phenomenon. May@) defines anxiety as a reaction to the threat of values associated with existence as a self. Normal anxiety is that which is in proportion to the threat and which can be confronted in a positive way a t the conscious level. It is an integral part of the individual's development: all development implies a departure from former values in order t o incorporate broader and deeper values. Finally, Shostrom(12) sees the possiblity to develop in a positive way as a result of accepting to live each experience of preoccupation, impotence, fear, pain, suffering or frustration as fully as possible.Contrary to the more traditional theories and to the reported evidence, and more in keeping with these other theories that stress the positive aspect of psychological disequilibrium for personal development, we hypothesize that anxiety is compatible with a high level of actualization. Therefore, there should be no significant difference in terms of level of anxiety between a group of actualized (EG) and another group of nonactualized (CG) Ss.METHOD Subjects and Procedure. The population consisted of 90 mostly middle-class male forest...

A Concept Analysis of the Properties and Conditions of Transformation

“…Movement is identified as a primary characteristic of health (de Grâce, 1974), life itself (Clements, 2016, p. 69), and personal transformation processes (Baker, 2012). Life itself can be viewed as constituting two central modes of movement: outward (expansion) or inward (retraction; Reich, 1949), ascending (evolutionary) or descending (creative; see Aurobindo, 1963Aurobindo, /1990Murdock, 1990;Ouspensky, 1949Ouspensky, /2001 or both directions (Ross, 2017).…”