The Inner Conflict; Its Sources, Social Results, and Subjective Unity

This is an effort to make a merely plausible, suggestive, portrayal of the beginning, the social consequences, and subjective unity of the seemingly irreconcilable, outward manifestations of “split personalities.” We are so accustomed to think of human psychology in terms of the outward, visible, tactual, audible and motor symptoms^ that it is very difficult to convince people of the subjective unity of all our apparently conflicting utterances and strivings. The so-called “split personalities” have the greatest difficulty in seeing themselves in this manner. Even when such personalities attempt to specialize on genetic psychology, they will unconsciously make their psychologic discussions only around symptomatic groupings and labels, and the logic of such symbolisms. That was the uniform method of the older psychiatrists. Unconsciously to themselves, it is the method of the descriptive “psychoanalysts” and descriptive psychologists of today. The psychoanalyst, with a well unified personality and evolved to a scientist, will be describing subjective processes, as such, and their conditioning factors. Those who can give an empathic reading to the following description, will probably get my meaning in what has just been said. They will also understand from personal experience, the truth of the claim for a subjective unity of all, even seemingly irreconcilable psychologic processes. The seriously “split personality” whether psychologist or layman, is less likely to “get” it.

Our conflict over irreconcilable desires probably begins as far back as the birth process, with its disturbance of the comfortable habits of intrauterine existence. The inner tension, produced by the external changes that are involved in birth, are the condition and beginning of consciousness. The mechanism is identical with that by which a sudden cessation of monotonous street noises may awaken us from sleep; or a cessation of the ticking of a clock, first makes us aware that the clock had been tic