On the Defensive use of Mastery

The urge to feel in control of what cannot be controlled appears to be a universal side of human nature. It is an impulse reinforced by the practical fact that we really are able to achieve impressive alterations in ourselves and our world. In many areas, as a species and as individuals, what we once could not, we now can. Freud noted, in the purely psychological realm, that the ego may aim to master its sense of helplessness in face of wounding and overwhelming situations through activities as diverse as play and repetitive dreams. From one viewpoint, defensive mental operations in general may be understood as ways to “handle,” if not truly master, potentially wounding psychic realities. However, an enigmatic residue always remains and calls forth prayer, exploration, magic, or cynicism. Indeed, a pervasive thrust of Freud's work as a whole was to unmask the quasi-delusive sense that the ego was and perhaps could be “master in its own house.” The sense of mastery itself may function defensively, warding off the impact learning about one's deeper psychic nature may bring.

A study of dreams reveals that the dreamer frequently tries to appear in control of situations he feels or once felt helpless in. In many dreams the dreamer projects an image of himself as quasi-master of felt insufficiencies, often subtly so. A dream, in part, may function as a kind of trick to avoid experiencing areas of dreaded resourcelessness. (Dreams of helplessness can mask hidden controlling tendencies, just as a mastery dream may mask helplessness. One must be alert to how the meanings of dreams vary according to their function in a given context.) At the same time, it may point to precisely the kinds of felt incapacities the dreamer needs to represent and integrate.

One patient, Ann, encapsulated herself in a self-attack process. She saw herself, and her mother, asa kind of witch, her father as devil. She was quite in contact with feelings of hate, envy, and contempt, and was caught in thei