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EACH OF THE HUMAN EMOTIONS has been the subject of philosophic scrutiny through the ages. Love, hate, fear, envy, lust, hope, greed, are all seen to be multifaceted defying simple definition. Each may vary widely in causality or stimulation. Each may vary in motive, expression, inner experience and impact on recipient or observer. Aggression is certainly no exception. I will focus on a
particular form of aggressive display in which anger is expressed as protest against the disruption of a relationship. Aggression in this instance is designed to restore a desired interpersonal connection rather than to distance or destroy.
I see this particular type of aggression as characteristic of the hysterical personality. It emanates from interpersonal needs which are central to the hysteric's core experience. Such needs are not limited to hysterics however. They may (and will) occur in all personality types. When such needs are operative, the aggressive display will be hysterical in style. Accurate understanding and interpretation of the aggression requires recognition of the hysteric-like dynamics.
Let me first describe the origins of the aggressive mechanism within the constellation of traits and experiences known as hysterical. The hysterical personality is defined by such qualities as emotional lability, childishness, seductiveness coupled with fear of sexuality, egoism, exhibitionism and demandingness. (Chodoff and Lyons, 1958). From an interpersonal stance, I see the hysteric as maintaining a certain fixed posture in all relationships; one experiences oneself as a needy child and orients oneself compliantly toward the powerful object as the source of required supplies.
The hysteric has long been seen as living out an unconscious fantasy. Freud (1893) first assumed his patients were repressin