Understand the concept of character after all, what is character, what are its types and how is its formation Author Marco Bonatti evaluates the definition, based on psychoanalysis.

In this brief text we will analyze the factors that, in the course of psychic development of a child determine the formation of character in an adult, molding his way of acting, thinking, feeling, and Being (Dasein).

Character, besides representing the psycho-physical characteristics of a person (individuality), constitutes a special armor that protects the individual from the attack-stimuli of the external (social environment) and internal (unconscious) world.

Character Concept

According to Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957): "Character consists of a chronic change of the ego which could be described as a stiffening." (Meaning of character. Blog: Clinical Psychoanalysis. SP: 10/13/2019. Available at www.psicanaliseclinica.com.br / Access date: 12/29/2020).

In other words, the individual only apparently has freedom of choice, but in fact he responds mechanically to stimuli and depends on his degree of ego hardening that forges the character structure (traits) and conditions the way he perceives, feels, acts and values, interacts with the environment (Being with others) and the world he lives in (Being in the world).

Character as a defense mechanism

According to Wilhelm Reich character is formed as ego defense mechanism that protects the individual against sexual impulses and libido (unconscious psychic energy).

That is, the character is formed as an infantile defense against the anxiety of sexuality, against the desires coming from the ID and the fear of punishment by the parents, besides other factors that we will analyze later.

The couration in character formation

It is interesting to note how a child, for fear of punishment from his parents, represses his excess psychic energy forming the armor of character and at the same time produces a "muscular armor" that can make an individual rigid (e.g. stiffening) and resistant to libidinal energy.

On the other hand, the character armor is psychic energy repressed and somatized in the muscles of the body, which prevent the energy from flowing freely and the sexual drives (which respond to the pleasure principle) from obtaining the satisfaction of desire.

In short, for Reich: "The armors of character define the accumulation of a person's repressions on his instincts" (Wilhelm Reich's Psychoanalysis. Blog: Clinical Psychoanalysis. SP: 02/29/2020).

In fact, the body knots, called armor by Wilhelm Reich, besides hardening the muscles of the body, trap emotion (from Latin, e-movere) and are at the origin of neurotic trauma.

For Wilhelm Reich neurotic trauma can be cured from the dissolution of the knot (through specific techniques) and the related emotional discharge (e. g. ab-reaction in Sigmund Freud).

However, this point marks the main difference between Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his disciple Wilhelm Reich.

The types of character or character traits

If for Sigmund Freud repression and neurotic traumas could be solved by "healing through speech" (free association method); for Wilhelm Reich, therapy had to involve the physical part (body) of the patient, dissolve the muscular armor and allow trapped emotion (pleasure, anger, anxiety, etc.) and repressed sexuality to manifest freely (character analysis method).

In fact, there is a story written in the body of each individual-patient, his or her own life story that communicates to the analyst and to the world an important message that, most of the time, proves to be superior to the verbal message itself.

Schizoid Character Trait

It is up to the body analyst to decipher and interpret the language (alphabet of the body) and or content of the communication forged in it (manifest and/or latent).

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However, the character traits arise from problems or traumatic events that may exist throughout the different stages of the child's psychosexual evolution.

According to Wilhelm Reich, in his reflection on the concept of character, during the uterine gestation phase the trait of schizoid character This is particularly true when the newborn baby experiences the pain of rejection by its mother.

However the baby who experiences the pain of rejection also develops a resource, namely the ability to imagination, creation and reasoning that lead him to live in a world different from the real world (abstraction).

In the schizoid trait, the infant may develop a thin, stretched body shape, a blurry/absent gaze, and a large head, as well as harboring feelings of isolation (they speak little and have little sociability).

Oral character trait

Soon after, in the oral phase when the newborn baby and the mother are in symbiosis (one thing) the baby has physical needs (feeding) and emotional needs (to be loved), but may experience the pain of abandonment (the baby's needs are not properly met: by excess "too much feeding" and/or by lack "too little feeding") forming the oral character trait.

The nervous system will mold the child's body with a trace of oral character giving the body a more rounded shape, with short legs, and the baby develops the characteristics of orality (the need to speak and express himself and/or compensate for the lack of orality with various substances or objects); in which the sentimental side (extroversion) will be very intense for fear of suffering the pain of abandonment again.

Psychopathic character trait

Around the age of three, in the anal phase, when the child develops its individuality (perceives the outside world) and the ability to move (first steps) it may also experience the pain of manipulation (the child receives attention, approval or disapproval, depending on the things it does and says to satisfy others) and develops the trait of psychopathic" character wanting to manipulate others, including the father to get advantages from his own mother and vice versa.

According to Wilhelm Reich's reflection on the character concept the body shape of the individual with a psychopathic character trait (not to be confused with the main psychotic organizations: schizophrenia, paranoia and melancholia) is that of a inverted triangle (strong at the top and thin at the bottom) can develop the resource (when he is not trapped in the armor-enrichment the cause of the resentment of trauma) of leading groups, articulating and negotiating.

Masochistic character trait

Furthermore, in the anal stage the child develops the ability to control the sphincters (pee and poop), but can also experience the pain of humiliation (debauchery such as "he pooped his pants") and forge the masochistic character trait (which involves holding the poop; the persona closes in on itself, internalizing difficult situations and becoming introverted).

In the trace of masochistic character the child's nervous system contributes to a more square body shape (tense and rigid musculature) develops feelings of implosion and introversion, but also has the possibility (could be, potential) to use the resource of this trait and become a detailed and organized person, with the ability to endure pain and cope with difficult situations, etc.

"In medio stat virtus" said the Latins, to express how the main virtues of man lie in the middle term, that is, in every situation it is necessary to find the balance, for example in the masochistic trait between excessive habit (excessively organized) and lack of habit (lack of organization).

Thus, it is worth understanding, when the individual (ego) does not overcome the anal phase in a normal way, it will develop some existential neurosis and trauma in which the pathological symptoms will also appear in the body (besides the mind) and will accompany the subject for the rest of his life until its resolution.

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Rigid character trait

Finally, to understand the concept of character from its types, when the child around 4-5 years of age reaches the phallic phase he develops his sexuality (Oedipus complex and/or Electra complex) and identity (he perceives himself as an I different from the father and the mother), and may also experience the pain of betrayal (and the fear of castration), that is, he feels betrayed by the mother who chooses the fatherand vice versa.

The girl perceives the loss of love from the father-lover and the boy perceives the loss of love from the mother-lover (experienced by the child as sexual fantasy).

In the rigid character trait the person develops a sporty and harmonious body shape, with the potential to develop the competitiveness resource (agility, task execution, and ability to achieve results) for fear that the child will again experience the pain of betrayal needs to win all the "battles" and become, in the eyes of others, better, stronger, and more expert.

Concept of character and its formation

Importantly, failure to healthily overcome a psychosexual phase produces attachment points in the adult subject (childhood experiences can be experienced in frustrating forms or in the form of over stimulation) facilitating a return to an earlier phase as a means of coping with a difficult situation.

Therefore, all character traits are characterized by fixations, restrictions, rigidity, neurosis, and ego armor but are also always accompanied by corresponding resources (skills) (manifest or hidden).

Unfortunately, this brief text on character conceptualization cannot explain and describe the traumatic resentment that would be in the etiology (cause) of the neuroses (forming each character trait) as well as the latest modern techniques (e.g. Japanese, Russian and Italian) used to cure the main neuroses and personality deviations, which may be the object, by this student, ofa future TCC work.

However, it is important to understand that the different character traits described above are body armor-plating and above all emotional armor-plating that the ego creates (defense mechanism) when faced with existential pains suffered by the child that are deemed unbearable and unacceptable.

Besides Wilhelm Reich's character theory it is necessary to remember that the personality's psychic structure (its authentic way of being and relating) may depend:

• of the dynamics of the psychic instances (id, ego, superego) that form the personality theory (Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939);
• of the child's relationship with his parents (Melanie Klein, 1822-1960); and
• of the child's relationship with the mother (Donald Winnicott, 1896-1971), among other authors.

In any case, it is not possible to underestimate the peculiar Reichian vision about Character Analysis which represents an acute and detailed reading of the somatopsychic structure of a person, different from the Freudian psychoanalytic science that is, without a doubt, esteemed and recognized by all of us.

In fact, Wilhelm Reich did not renege on his psychoanalytic training (he was also appointed President of the Psychoanalytic Society in Vienna where he attended to the most severe cases that Freud sent to him) and always maintained a good relationship with his Master, but in the course of time, he drifted away, simply because he changed the field of scientific research and the method of therapy.

In any case (whether you agree or not), the Wilhelm Reich's Character Analysis could be a complementary and empirical tool, helping Psychoanalysis to better understand the dynamics of character formation, existential pain, the patient's trauma, and the potential resources hidden in each character trait.

If Sigmund Freud's genius allowed him to discover the importance of the mind (unconscious) inside the body, his disciple Wilhelm Reich had the audacity and concern to go beyond and discover (in a systemic vision) that the body also explains the mind (character analysis) and that the latter reveals the life history and traumas (present and past) of each one of us.

This article about the concept of character, the types of character and the reflection of the theme in psychoanalysis was written by MARCO BONATTI ([email protected]), resident in Fortaleza/CE, PhD in Social Psychology - UK - Buenos Aires, Argentina; Degree in Philosophy FCF/UECE - Fortaleza, Brazil; Post-graduate in International Relations, Valencia, Spain; Degree in French Language at the Sorbonne, Paris, France; Currently a student in Clinical Psychoanalysis at IBPC/SP.