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Living by the manual:

Ego-oriented social character – pathogenic effects of globalization
Rainer Funk
A condensed paper of „Living by the Manual. Ego-oriented Social Character – pathogenic Ef-
fects of Globalization“ was presented under the title “The Unconscious Impact of Living
Without Limitations: The Pathogenic Effects of Globalization” at the IFPS Forum XV „Identity
and Globalization. New Challenges for Psychoanalysis“ in Section 3: „Pathologies of the
New Century: What to Analyze?“ at the Marriott Santiago Hotel, Santiago de Chile, on Oc-
tober 17, 2008. „Living by the Manual. Ego-oriented Social Character – pathogenic Effects of
Globalization“ was first published in: International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 19 (No. 2,
2010), pp. 84-91. - Translation by Anke Schreiber
Copyri1ght © 2010 and 2011 by Dr. Rainer Funk, Ursrainer Ring 24, D-72076 Tuebingen,
Germany; E-Mail: funk[at-symbol]fromm-online.com.
Abstract: According to Erich Fromm and a relational psychoanalytic approach, changing eco-
nomic and social requirements always impact human beings and their psychic structure. Be-
cause globalization leads particularly to a blurring of boundaries and limitations, the forma-
tion of a new character orientation that is driven to construct reality anew without limita-
tions can be observed as a reaction in progress. The pathogenic effects of globalization can
be studied through the analysis of this new character formation and the uncovering of re-
pressed, unconscious feelings that characterize the new personality type, especially in regard
to their sense of identity, their way of relating to others, and their defacto loss of ego
strength – in contrast to the enacted „ego unlimited.“ Finally, some aspects of transference
and countertransference, as well as some particular defense reactions with which we psycho-
analysts are confronted in the treatment of patients suffering from the pathogenic effects of
globalization, will be discussed.
Psychoanalysis and societal change

Sigmund Freud explained the fact that people behave in a typical, and thereby often
dysfunctional, manner, with the formation of a character structure through which certain
instinctual aspects can find their ego-syntonic permanent satisfaction. Erich Fromm had
already revised this instinctual psychological explanation of character formation in the
1930s, in a way that did not look at the question of instinctual satisfaction, but instead
at that of a person’s relatedness to himself or his environment as the driving force in the
formation of psychic structure, and consequently also character formation. This „inter-
personal“ or „relational“ approach made it possible for Fromm to assign economic and
social requirements a causal role in character formation (Fromm, 1937/1995, 1941/1976;
Funk, 2000). This different understanding of human psychic driving forces made it pos-
sible for Fromm to overcome the typical individualistic view of psychoanalysis, with its
irresolvable dichotomy between cultural and instinctual requirement. He defined the in-
dividual as a primarily social being, who is shaped in his motivational structure through,
on the one hand, economic and social requirements, and on the other, psychic needs
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Funk, R., 2010l
Living by the Manual
that are specific to the human being, such as the need for relatedness. Even for Fromm,
however, the person was not an unwritten piece of paper, on which society and culture
could simply write their text. If one asks, though, what makes people think, feel and act
similarly, then it is difficult to get around defining the significance of the requirements of
life in a community and social survival differently than Freud did in his „metapsy-
chology of instinct theory.“
In his relational approach, Fromm used the Freudian dynamic concept of character,
but differentiated between character formations based on individual destiny of life
(which he termed „individual character“) and those based on the needs of economic,
social, and cultural cohabitation. Fromm said (in a posthumously published text from
1937):
Various societies differ from each other not only in differences in manner of production and
social and [85] political organization but also in that their people exhibit a typical character
structure despite all individual differences. We shall call this the ‘socially typical character.’
(Fromm, 1937/1995, p. 222).
He would later talk about „social character“ (Fromm, 1941/1976, p. 277).
Crucial here is what kinds of experience of relatedness a person or many people have. These
are dependent not only on specific contact-people, but also on the requirements and guiding
principles of culture, economy, and companionship that are internalized through such con-
tact-people and through other media that act as „psychological agents of society“ (Fromm,
1941/1976, p. 287).
Social character orientations have a very central function for the cohesion of societies,
societal groupings, and milieus. They bring about the situation „that people want to do
what they have to do in order to secure the proper functioning of society“ (Fromm,
1964, p. 62). This is because:
it is the function of the social character to shape the energies of the members of society in
such a way that their behavior is not a matter of conscious decision as to whether or not to
follow the social pattern ... and at the same time [to find] gratification in acting according to
the requirements of the culture. (Fromm, 1962/2006, p. 78).
After Fromm developed the authoritarian character orientation in the 1930s (Fromm,
1936/1999), which is concerned with diverse personifications with the demonstration of
authority or submissiveness, he defined the marketing orientation as a social character
orientation in the 1940s (Fromm, 1955/1976). In this model, the best marketing strategy
determines thoughts, feelings, and actions, to ultimately sell oneself and one’s products
most successfully. In the 1960s, Fromm followed with the still rarely accepted necro-
philic orientation (Fromm, 1964, 1973), which is fascinated by the lifeless and by every-
thing that can be objectified and assessed. It represents a significant societal characteristic
prerequisite for the present increasing economization of all aspects of life.
The development of every social character orientation necessarily leads to the sup-
pression of awareness of certain feelings, emotions, wishes, fantasies, etc. that do not fit
the parameters of the orientation. Consequently, every character formation also leads to
the creation of a cultural or social unconscious.
After these short remarks on the concept and function of the social character, the
question remains of which social character determines people’s thoughts, feelings, and
Funk, R., 2010l
actions in today’s world, and what psychodynamic this character formation is based on.
It is impossible to overlook the present economic and social changes. To broach just a
few:
 The globalization of production and markets has led to an unprecedented experi-
ence of the blurring and dissolution of borders, augmented especially in the Euro-
pean Union by a noticeable loss of political borders.
 Next to the effects of globalization, from a psychological perspective, the transition
from a production and service-based economy to one which creates its own markets
that produce realities in the form of lifestyles, spheres of life, spheres of experience,
and feelings is highly significant. Successful business enterprises do not sell products,
but realities. That the change in the economic processes has been so drastic is of
course the result of a number of other factors as well, for example mass production
enabled by mechanization, which has led to a saturation of markets and to an at
times cut-throat crowding-out competition.
 The fact that big sectors of the economy can concentrate on selling reality takes
technological innovation, especially digital technology and electronic media, as a
prerequisite condition. Without these, the present dissolution of borders between
various areas of life would hardly be possible. Without them, there would be no
merging of space and time; no instant knowledge and information transfer; no im-
aging techniques that open completely new recognition and measurement possibili-
ties; no space- and time-independent communication, knowledge acquisition, or
conversation; no mobilization, globalization or transition to flexible production
processes or agents; no decoding of DNA; and no exploration of space.
 Another fundamental reason for the changes are modernization thrusts that are not
confined to, but tend to accompany, digital technologies and electronic media. They
lead to a permanent transformation, and even disintegration, of careers, jobs or
other ways to make a living, of products, production processes, distribution avenues
or the provision of services of all kinds. There is no longer anything by which to ori-
entate oneself or to which one can hold fast. The traditional social securities mani-
fested in social organization, job security, tenure, and predictable courses of life
have broken away just as ideas of worth and steadying orientations, not to mention
attempts at individuality in our society. [86]
In order to not fall off track in the face of the pervasive disappearance of borders, many
people turn their distress into a virtue. They identify themselves with the open and
flexible economic and social relationships in such as a way as to find the lack of any
borders and consequently the lack of hold, security, and orientation attractive. They are
expected to leave everything that used to be valid and defined by limits behind with
pleasure, even passion, to determine and build their own life circumstances without limi-
tations.
Against this backdrop of fundamental changes in our life circumstances, a new social
character has been formed: the ego-oriented character (Funk, 2005, 2007). An empirical
study performed by the SIGMA Institute in Mannheim shows that this orientation can be
Funk, R., 2010l
seen in approximately 20% of Germany’s adult population (Frankenberger, 2007). 1

What are the basic tendencies of ego-oriented people?
The ego-oriented character

Ego-oriented people are proponents of a radical constructivism, which knows no
bounds. For them, everything is arbitrary. Everyone and everything can and should be
approached playfully. There is nothing that does not exist; therefore, anything goes.
And everything that is available is OK. They propose a provocative definition of the self:
„I am me, in that I am me, and you are you, in that you are you.“ Consequently, no-
body has the right to say what is good or bad, right or wrong, healthy or sick, real or
unreal, true to reality or illusionary.
The only thing that counts is the ego-oriented fabrication of reality – the reality that
he himself is, but also the reality that surrounds him in the form of life spheres, lifestyles,
and staged spheres of experience. This might sound egoistic, or even narcissistic, but it is
not, since the ego-oriented construction of reality does not seek personal advantage or
perceive a warped reality. Rather, it expresses a desire for a self-determined fabrication
of reality, one that is not limited by guidelines or requirements.
There are two versions of the ego-oriented aspiration, the active, and what I call
the „interactive,“ passive version (Funk, 2005). The active ego-oriented type wants to
create and market himself and his environment, his lifestyle, and his sphere of experi-
ence. The interactive ego-oriented type wants to take part in a staged life in a way he
determines. He chooses the surroundings, the lifestyle, the brand, the style of music, the
events that match him.
The sought-out self-experience is also correspondingly different. The interactive ego-
oriented type wants to be / in that he is associated with others and belongs. Only thus
can he experience himself as free and unbounded. It is in the context of the we that he
feels the /. Being linked to others makes him free. As much as the ego-orientation and
being bonded to others are mutually exclusive, since every bond signifies dependence
and limitations, association with others is important and central for him, since through it
he can overcome his own limitations.
Consequently, there is not only a new „I-expression“ and „I-experience,“ but also a
new „We-experience,“ a new kind of sociality and public spirit, that results in a new
„We-feeling.“ A deep-reaching aspiration to not want to live life by limitations of any
kind is indicative of both types, and yet to stage life in association with others, or rather
take part in a staged life in a self-determined fashion. Exactly this is the meaning of ego-
orientation.
This ego-orientation becomes obvious in a series of notable features, of which only
some will be mentioned here:
 Ego-oriented people are the typical „doers.“ They show a great zest for doing. Eve-
rything can and should be done; the „overdoers,“ the managers, always have the
say. Everything that is produced, staged or can be done new and differently is more
1
I gave up my original participation in this study, after the quantitative methodology used was to be used to measure
productive character orientation as well. For such an examination, however, because of the expected rationalization
on the part of the respondents, a dynamic understanding of character and a proportional operationalization using pro-
found interpretational methods is indispensable.
Funk, R., 2010l
attractive and valuable than is facing a reality or to having to accept a situation in

which not much more can be done.
 Especially noticeable is the feature of cynicism, with which everything prescribed or
existing, esteemed or secured is attacked and decoded. Postmodern entertainers
dismantle countless values, mock everything that could be sacred to people, and
bask in shamelessness.
 Very typical of an ego-oriented person is his sentimentality. Barely anything is as in-
dividual and marks personal borders and belonging quite as much as feelings. For
just this reason, the ego-oriented person avoids sensing his very own feelings. In-
stead, he stages feelings or he shares the feelings portrayed by actors in love stories
or action films. He lives on instinct, and gives created or appropriated feelings free
rein, sometimes so much so that one can speak of an incontinence of feelings. Peo-
ple who stage feelings or share proffered feelings, instead of feeling for themselves,
live sentimental lives. [87]
 The most impressive evidence for this abstention from his own feelings is surely the
fact that today everything has to be experienced, and turned into an experience, an
event or an occasion. Experiencing feelings is dependent on „animation“ (from the
Latin „anima,“ but understood as „enlivenment“) or „inspiration“ (from the Latin
„spiritus“ respectively „inspirare“) from others or from self-production. One crucial
advantage of such a sentimentalization of experiencing feelings is that one can re-
strict one’s feelings in a targeted manner to only those that are positive.
 The aspiration of the ego-oriented person to the dissolution of boundaries and
wanting to experience boundlessness is also very characteristic. He loves the risky,
the marginal, the boundless, the encroaching, the unconventional, the impossible.
To place risky bets without limit, or to play poker for an entire weekend holds in-
credible attractiveness and leads only too often to gambling-addictive behaviors.
Most importantly, however, he wants to experience himself as ruler of time and
space. He turns night to day and day to night, at work and at play. He likes to be
on the road. Mobility is his home – the goal of his traveling is traveling in the mid-
dle of nowhere. His motto is Heraclitus’ „panta rhei“ („everything is in a state of
flux“). The only recognized dimension of time is the „Here and Now.“ Continuity is
the devil’s work, and the most hellish of punishments is boredom.
 For every psychology that is interested in questions of attachment and relationship,
the manners of relating to others and to oneself, another feature that is striking is
the fostering of contact and the pronounced outgoing nature, especially of the ac-
tive ego-oriented person. He is entertaining, interesting, and usually in a good
mood, he can speak about others or about himself endlessly without difficulties, and
he always wants to play to the crowd.
If one looks closer, this fostering of contact generally replaces what was previously un-
derstood as a relationship and has come to be known more as an attachment. It is not
about a relationship in the sense of emotional ties and corresponding feelings of longing,
consideration, commitment, closeness, faithfulness, and yearning, but rather about occa-
sional contacts, an ends- or time-constrained contact experience that shapes a perception
of freedom, fulfills sexual needs or allows him not to be alone.
Because this is not a question of traditional emotional attachments, but rather the
Funk, R., 2010l
maintenance of a contact-base, a peculiar attribute of the ego-oriented person is that he

is never reproaching, and stays a good friend despite the collapse of a partnership. For
the most part, jealousy is no issue. Sexually, it is imperative to feel free and to fulfill one-
self. Anything and everything is allowed, even abstinence.
However, aspirations toward a relationship, contacts or partnerships out of which
commitments, expectations of dependability or even wishes of permanent togetherness
might result are taboo. The desired non-commitment comprises on the one hand a high
measure of tolerance and respect of the other, as well as a willingness to cooperate, and
fairness in the association with the other, while on the other hand, apathy and indiffer-
ence toward everything that does not apply to oneself.
The interactive ego-oriented person shapes and experiences a relationship especially
as a need to be connected through contacts and to have access to another as he deter-
mines. He too does not want to be bound, but he wants to be connected. Here too re-
lationship means first and foremost to be in touch with a preferably large number of
others, and to ensure himself of this network and these possible contacts, independent
of space and time. The media that are preferred for this type of contact experience tell
us this much – cell-phones, the Internet, e-mail and text messaging. Contact is put in the
place of relationship. The creation and securing of a network through the fostering of
contacts replaces the building of a relationship.
This brief sketch may be enough to investigate the psychodynamic of this new char-
acter formation.
The psychodynamic of the ego-oriented character

Since the invention of the first tool, the human has used human ability and the ability of
that which he has fabricated – i.e. fabricated ability – to construct and configure reality.
The term human ability comprises, next to his own bodily and mental/ intellectual
forces, his cognitive, emotional and affective abilities, which all have the peculiarity of
only being at one’s disposal in the same measures as they are practiced.
In the past, fabricated ability in the form of tools, machines, and techniques, be-
came of ever-increasing [88] in importance, but the exercise of cognitive, emotional,
and affective abilities was never seriously called into question. Only now, with the tri-
umph of digital technology and electronic media, can one recognize that the human has
much higher potential in most every field if he does not rely on his own abilities, but on
fabricated ones, in the form of technique and technologies, control systems, manuals,
and programs.
The psychically relevant changes occur especially in those domains that were previ-
ously exclusively or almost exclusively handled by the use of human ability: in the do-
main of one’s own personality or in the domain of personal or social interaction. In this
domain, digital technology and electronic media have enabled entirely new psycho- and
social technologies. After the expansive collapse of the old organizational systems, they
deliver the sort of urgently necessary „operating systems“ and „software“ for the con-
struction of personality and the organization of social life.
With personality training and corresponding management programs, one optimizes
self-perception and decision-making, establishes social competencies, improves percep-
tive and communications abilities, enhances conflict management and learning abilities,
Funk, R., 2010l
and acquires leadership abilities.

What psycho-technologies achieve in the sphere of personality-building, social tech-
nologies enable in the domain of human interaction and social organization. Today, al-
most everything is overlaid or interlinked with descriptors like „control,“ „program,“
„process“ or „management.“ Just this increase in the terms „management“ and „pro-
gram“ shows clearly that the human is no longer the controlling agent in the fabrication
of reality, but rather that humans are being controlled by programs and steering vehi-
cles. Even managers in a company are hardly at its helm. Their power and responsibility
lies in that they must choose those steering vehicles offered them by management con-
sultants, and then leave the execution to consultants, experts, and designated elites
(Friedrichs, 2008; Leif, 2006).
With the help of the fabricated ability, the human gradually learns that he is better,
wealthier, and more successful when he adopts fabricated ability and uses it, rather than
adopting his human ability. An Internet search engine is far superior to any human
memory, even a trained one. A synthesizer can create sound-scapes that cannot be at-
tained with a voice alone. With a flight simulator, one learns to avoid false reactions in
a way that would be impossible in the real world. Why should this same principle not
be valid when extended to human psychological capacities? Because of a preference for
the use of fabricated abilities, the use by ego-oriented people of their human abilities
falls further and further behind. Salvation is expected from personality training, know-
how regarding social competencies, and the newest control program.
Fabricated ability is now replacing human ability even when it comes to personality
construction. Ego-oriented people see their very personality as a fabricated potential;
they identify with what their staged personality and their trained know-how are capable
of. They construct their relationship to others like this too, expecting them to communi-
cate with their fabricated abilities as well, because only thus can a higher threshold po-
tential be attained.
If a person focuses on fabricated potential, his fundamental feelings must necessarily
be fabricated feelings. He consciously wants to impress with a fabricated personality; his
relationships should be steered by fabricated interactions; raising his children should not
be based on the experiences of the mother or father, but rather on the instruction-
package fabricated by magazines and psychological advisors, to be implemented only by
parents.
To put it in a concise formulation, one could say that the sense of identity of the
ego-oriented can be defined as „I am the fabricated ability,“ and the other is for me that
which he makes of himself with the fabricated ability available to him. Otherwise, the
self and the other do not exist, and it makes no sense to search for something else ex-
planatory, underlying, meaningful, fundamental or unconscious to incorporate into the
relationship.
With the help of fabricated ability, ego-oriented people can see themselves as all-
powerful and do not feel subjected to any tangible limits. Everything is possible. Noth-
ing is impossible. Handling finite-ness and accepting limits becomes unnecessary. Oppos-
ing this conscious experience of identity of the ego-oriented person is a series of distinc-
tive features, which he is reticent to acknowledge and which should be permanently
prevented from entering his awareness through the formation of his character:
 Ego-oriented people try to evade the polarity and ambiguity of life and can stand
Funk, R., 2010l
ambivalent perceptions only with effort. If feasible, everything should be fun and be
experienced positively. They are the biggest champions of positive thinking, feeling,
and perception. Even if a situation is fear-arousing or aggravating, they tell them-
selves and others what about the situation is positive, to avoid at all costs meeting
reality face to face. To risk conflict, to label it, put it on the agenda and execute it
means for them to be a spoilsport and not be able to see matters in a positive light.
 Related to this, ego-oriented cannot perceive or stand negative self-esteem, such as
feelings of emotional pain, helplessness, passivity, power-lessness, and isolation.
Even though it has not been empirically proven, it is noticeable that ego-oriented
people often report dreams in which they experience themselves as powerless and
defenseless, or in which they are isolated and moving sluggishly in barren landscapes
or deserted rooms.
 Ego-oriented people have notable difficulties accepting borders and personal limita-
tions in the form of fateful coincidences and constraints, and in being satisfied with
less. If they are given demarcations or instructions by a partner or supervisor, they
prefer to break off the project, change position or begin a new relationship.
 As much as ego-oriented people want to be connected to others, they find it diffi-
cult to create emotional bonds and to feel feelings of longing, faithfulness, closeness,
and affection. At the same time, they have a pronounced difficulty coping with
separation and feeling feelings of separation – grief, loneliness, loss, and disap-
pointment. Thanks to the cell-phone and text messaging, such feelings can be
avoided without a problem. If separations are inevitable, it is preferable to separate
painlessly, if need be with a high indemnity.
 Another noticeable attribute is the extensive lack of feelings of anxiety, guilt or
shame. It is not as if they are totally lacking, but they often manifest themselves only
as a reaction formation. Instead of feeling scared, the individual searches for excite-
ment; instead of standing by weaknesses and apologizing, he shows himself to be
self-conscious and above self-doubts; instead of covering his eyes out of shame, he
feasts his eyes on the shameless. This contraphobic behavior, as pertaining to the
psychic development of the basic affects fear, responsibility, and shame has far-
reaching consequences because the inner control mechanisms for self-experience and
social cohabitation remain underdeveloped. Valuation of worth is determined not
by inner notions of auxiliary egos and auxiliary superegos, but by advisors, manuals,
ethical regulations, and political correctness. Etiquette guides are back „in,“ not for
reasons of authoritarian subordination, but because ego-oriented people do not
have an internalized grasp of what is required for respectful cohabitation.
 Finally, it is noticeable that important ego-functions are reduced, such as the ability
to control impulses, to check reality, to tolerate frustration, and the aforementioned
perception of ambivalence, so that their intensification leads to an escape toward an
illusionary staged reality – following the motto of changing projects to sink into a
new reality.
The above-named behavioral characteristics alone lead to a conclusion that, in the ego-
oriented character formation, an increasingly unconscious ego-weakness and ego-
regression should continue to be kept at bay from awareness: especially the unconscious
experience of powerlessness, dependence, and isolation should, through a staged and
Funk, R., 2010l
constructed self-experience, served by today’s omnipresent possibilities of delimitation,

stay permanently repressed.
Not only can their powerless and isolated ego (due to the lack of its own binding
forces) not enter their awareness, but the dependence on the means of delimitation
must also remain largely out of their consciousness. This dependence sometimes threat-
ens to make itself noticeable if a hard drive crashes or a cell-phone is stolen. Such failures
are experienced as total emptiness and isolation for the time until a remedy is found,
and they allow a glimpse of just how powerless, dependent, and isolated ego-oriented
people really are.
From this point, it becomes again more understandable why ego-oriented people
want to be connected without binding themselves to others. Without being connected,
they have no possibility to delimit and self-determinately construct their ego anew. A
psychodynamic approach therefore understands this dependence on alien, fabricated,
and animating forces as a lack of connection to internal psychic structures and driving
forces.
What consequences arise for therapeutic treatment?
Guidelines for the therapeutic handling of ego-oriented people

The fact that this ego-oriented way of relating to the internal and external reality has
become a socially advocated and even demanded pattern of relatedness has the effect
that ego-oriented people do not suffer so long as they have command over fabricated
potential, because their character formation allows them to relate to others like them. If
ego-oriented people seek psychotherapeutic treatment, the reason is usually that their
ability to fend off feelings of powerlessness, internal emptiness, passivity, and isolation
with the help of their character formation is weakened. They begin to suffer from their
„pathology of normalcy“ (Fromm, 1944, 1955/ 1976) and feel the affliction of their un-
conscious ego-weakness. This affliction is especially [90] symptomatic in that they can no
longer function correctly: at their job, in their relationships, in the enduring of limits and
disappointments, in their handling of conflicts or coping with separations.
Whenever such symptoms appear in the context of the described ego-orientation, it
is proper to establish a therapeutic goal to rediscover and retrain the human abilities.
However, such rediscovery often means that one has to dismiss the alluring and often il-
lusionary fallback on fabricated potential, to train one’s own, often much more moder-
ate, human potential, and to painfully recognize the limits of possibility.
Initially, a transferential relationship typical of the ego-oriented character comes in
the way of this objective: they look to the therapist primarily for reinforcement of their
ego-orientation. They want their therapy to further delimit their ego and to eliminate
the contradictory formation of symptoms with the help of auxiliary egos and auxiliary
superegos. They want to be connected to someone who knows how it all works and
who works in as resource and result-oriented a way as possible.
In addition to those transferential problems of ego-oriented patients, psychoanalysts
are confronted with similarly supported expectations stemming from professional proto-
col, controlled especially by the insurance companies and their indemnifications. Pursu-
ant to them, the object is no longer to work in a process-oriented, but a result-oriented,
way, and to offer the patient a more effective fabricated capacity, with designated
Funk, R., 2010l
therapeutic manuals specific to certain disorders. Here, too, the only question becomes
about the „right technique,“ which means falling back on fabricated potential, with
which the patient is returned to a functional state.
Such expectations and transferences are to be understood as defense constructions in
a psychody-namic approach, to avoid encountering unconscious feelings of powerless-
ness and isolation. This occurs if the psychoanalyst shifts back to a conversation about
everyday problems or tries to help manage everyday conflicts differently, be they in
marriage, in child-raising or at work. Being consistent with such a transferential expecta-
tion, the therapist reinforces, often counterproductively, the defense and fosters in him-
self the establishment of a countertransferential resistance, which serves to protect him
from feeling the patient’s unconscious powerlessness and helplessness. The possibility
should not be ignored that the psychoanalyst too has developed strong ego-oriented as-
pirations, so that his own countertrans-ference blocks access to the patient’s unconscious.
Especially toward ego-oriented patients, a therapy that gives the unconscious ex-
perience of relationship space is mandated, which means that it must take up
and contain those feelings that one feels when one is ready to acknowledge that
which has been warded off – emptiness, passiveness, powerlessness, and isolation – and
permit them in oneself. This usually does not feel very good, because one gets to feel
some of the negative self-esteem under which patients really suffer. With such counter-
transference notions, the psychoanalyst does not feel primarily worthless, as with narcis-
sistic patients, but powerless, helpless, and often perplexed. To be able to stand by such
feelings in oneself and expect them of one’s patients is often the only possibility to en-
courage patients to admit and integrate these unbearable feelings in themselves – with
the result that they can live happily and well with a limited, in human-potential-rooted
ego.
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Funk, R., 2010l

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Living by the manual:

Psychoanalysis and societal change

seen in approximately 20% of Germany’s adult population (Frankenberger, 2007). 1

The ego-oriented character

attractive and valuable than is facing a reality or to having to accept a situation in

maintenance of a contact-base, a peculiar attribute of the ego-oriented person is that he

The psychodynamic of the ego-oriented character

and acquires leadership abilities.

constructed self-experience, served by today’s omnipresent possibilities of delimitation,

Guidelines for the therapeutic handling of ego-oriented people

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