Abstract
This article explores the works of Freud and Winnicott from the prism of the experience of helplessness in everyday life. Their theories provide a framework for and psychological insights into understanding the etiological sources and dynamics of non-traumatic helplessness. In addition, it is argued that Freud’s and Winnicott’s respective psychological theories manifest and were shaped by their own personal attitudes and responses toward experiences of helplessness, which, in turn, influenced their views regarding the role of religion in human life.
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Notes
Infantile helplessness is the root of religion for Freud. He wrote, “The origin of the religious attitude can be traced back in clear outlines as far as the feeling of infantile helplessness. There may be something further behind that, but for the present it is wrapped in obscurity” (1930, p. 72). Of course, as indicated below, Freud had a negative view of religion, in part because it involved illusions that provided solace in the face of the forces of nature. Freud saw himself in a more heroic way, as not needing illusions.
In some forms of Buddhism, one practices to let go of the ego. I wonder if it is not the death of the ego, but the death of the illusion of power and control and the ready embrace of helplessness in the face of Ananke and death.
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Freud obviously had an object relations theory, but his focus was more on the intrapsychic factors such as the drives. The parents are important, but secondary. In terms of a unit of analysis, one could say that for Freud the child’s psyche is the focus and the parents are contributing factors. For Winnicott, the unit of analysis is the infant-parent interaction.
While I wish to say more about this stage, it is important to point out that Winnicott (1965) asserted that “the ego changes over from an unintegrated state to a structured integration, and so the infant becomes able to experience anxiety associated with disintegration. The word disintegration begins to have a meaning which it did not possess before ego integration became a fact. In healthy development at this stage the infant retains the capacity for re-experiencing unintegrated states, but this depends on the continuation of reliable maternal care or on the build-up in the infant of memories of maternal care beginning gradually to be perceived as such. The result of healthy progress in the infant’s development during this stage is that he attains to what might be called ‘unit status.’ “The infant becomes a person, an individual in his own right” (p. 44). Here we note that in a good enough environment the child is able to handle experiences of disintegration because of previous and ongoing reliable parental care. This will become important when I consider Winnicott’s own responses to impending disintegration associated with illness and death.
I believe that Winnicott would have been happier with the term interdependence, because of his deeply relational view of human beings. The notion of independence connotes a monad or an isolated being not in need of the care of others, which is not representative of Winnicott’s psychological perspective.
It is paradoxical to call unintegration an experience. The notion of experience indicates a level of organization, yet for Winnicott there is an experience of unintegration or formlessness.
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LaMothe, R. The Paradox and Tragedy of Helplessness: Freud, Winnicott, and Religion. Pastoral Psychol 63, 673–687 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-014-0598-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-014-0598-0