Erich Fromm's Humanistic Psychoanalysis

• Fromm was once a follower of Freud.

• Fromm witnessed the world war 1 and asked himself why people, who have the capacity to become rational, act irrationally. He was finding the answer why innocent lives need to be involved. Dito nabuo ang humanistic psychoanalysis.

• Fromm believed that modern humans are separated from the nature and prehistoric unions (prehistoric people). To give more context, in prehistoric times, people work together to increase survival. They work in hunting and protecting themselves from wild animals. But because of civilization and the sudden utilization of our reasoning (aka practice intelligence), we work independently. We realized that we can cultivate lands and survive alone. In other words, we are separated from people and nature because we believe we can be alone.

• BTW, reason is synonymous to intelligence or questions like “why did this happen? what is happening”

• As modern humans, we develop our reasoning. However, reason has pros and cons:

1. It is used for survival. They realized that aside from hunting, they can cultivate lands.

2. But we become self-aware and developed existential dilemma.

• The separation of modern individuals to the nature and people contribute to loneliness (aka existential dilemma).

Existential dichotomies

1. (Alam nating mamamatay tayo). Because of reasoning, we are aware of life and death. Death is uncomfortable to talk and accept but some people believe on life after death to diminish cognitive dissonance. However, it is a futile attempt in solving life and death.

2. (Alam nating di natin kaya gawin lahat sa buhay). Humans are capable of self-realization and completing its goal, but we are aware that life is short to attain all of it. The coping mechanism of some people is to think that their generation is the perfect generation. They believe that despite not getting everything they aspired in life, they are luckier compared to past generations.

3. (Alam nating mag isa lang talaga tayo). Humans are ultimately alone, even if we have support system, they cannot 100% understand us. We are alone in feeling negative and positive emotion, we are alone in our deathbed. However, we cannot tolerate being alone.

Existential dilemma births to existential needs

1. Relatedness - we want to reunite with other people (aka relation).

• Unhealthy relatedness - performing complete submission in a relationship and abandoning your identity and freedom

• Healthy relatedness - pursuing love

  • submission - a person who submits

  • domination - a person who dominates

  • a submissive and domineering partnership depend on each other. they have a symbiotic relationship. however, they give up their freedom and independence (and the responsibility thereof), so it is unhealthy.

  • a healthy way of uniting with people is love. Love is the union/partnership of two people while maintaining independence, individuality.

1. Transcendence - we want to become more, be bigger than what we are now.

• Unhealthy transcendence - destruction of people to climb the ladder.

  • malignant aggression - humans are the only species who kill beyond the reason of survival. humans sometimes kill just because.

• Healthy transcendence - it means “creation”. examples would be: creating projects to help people. creating laws. creating songs. creating religions.

1. Rootedness - our needs to feel at home. How can we satisfy it?

• Unhealthy “” - become stuck in mother or mother substitute situations. Fixated to feel motherly protection and care. Pwedeng mag manifest ito sa relationship preferences nila. Pwede ring in terms of career, ayaw nilang mag step out sa comfort zone.

• Healthy rootedness - going outside to explore the world (literally and metaphorically) to generate a new homey feeling. Ito na ang magiging bagong tahanan o rootedness. ang advantage dito ay mas lumalaki ang mundo mo.

1. Sense of identity - It is our urge to be with people (relatedness) while having a sense of “I”.

• If you do not want a sense of identity, you become insane.

• Unhealthy sense of identity - always following trends and adjusting to powerful people. In this way, you develop personality solely for others’ validation and it’s not because it is what you feel you are.

• Di naman masama ang pagcater at incorporate ng personality ng iba sa’yo basta in moderation and it resonates with what you want.

• Healthy - having individuality.

1. Frame of orientation - need to have a direction in our life by having a goal (aka final goal/s)

• Unhealthy frame of orientation - having irrational goals. The disadvantage is the waste of energy and time because goals are inconsistent and not feasible.

• Healthy “” - having rational goals

→ As seen above, every existential needs have unhealthy and healthy approaches to attain it.

• To reason is to realize and to be enlightened. It gives you a chance to pursue freedom (freedom of want), but not everyone wants to chase freedom. For unhealthy people, they give up their freedom because freedom entails responsibility (it needs action). So, they surrender their freedom because it is easier (e.g., submission, becoming stuck in finding a mother substitute situation than finding a place/situation to call home, absorbing the personality of other people).

• Unhealthy people give up their freedom because they want to maintain relatedness/union with people (this is another reason ha). However, according to Fromm, there is a concept of positive freedom.

  • Positive freedom is when a type of freedom you achieved healthily. You retain your sense of identity and connection with other people. A tangible example of PF is having a work/job that satisfies you and serves the people.

Mechanisms of Escape (is similar to defense mechanism)

1. Authoritarianism - (moving towards people). in order not to feel the burden of freedom and its responsibility, they give up their freedom on the hands of others.

• Masochism - submission

• Sadism - Three kinds of sadistic tendencies

  • Make them dependent on you

  • Compulsion to exploit others

  • The desire to see others suffer

1. Destructiveness - (moving against people). it involves waging war (micro-level) or starting a quarrel (macro-level).

2. Conformity - (people pleasure, moving towards people). it is giving up individuality or not seeking individuality.

• Positive freedom is what we need. It is not a part of mechanisms of escape

Character Orientations

• It is defined as how I relate myself to the world while I solve my existential dilemma. Kumbaga, ito yung estilo mo

• Nonproductive orientation - naglalayo sa’tin sa positive freedom (as in freedom to have individuality and belongingness to community).

1. Receptive character - passive type of people who want to receive good things.

2. Exploitative character - aggressive type of people who want to receive good things.

3. Hoarding character - they save things they have obtained.

4. Marketing character - their personal value depends on their exchange value.

5. Productive orientation - instead of receiving/taking or destroying, you will create. you engage in productive thinking.

• your growth through creation is termed by Fromm as “syndrome of growth.” When you grow, you love life, too (biophilia).

• syndrome of decay ang opposite ng syndrome of growth

Personality disorders happen when you do not develop productive orientation (yun pagkakaintindi ko).

• the opposite of syndrome of growth is necrophilia - love of death. they hate humanity

• malignant narccisism - preoccupied with themselves

• incestious symbiosis - exaggeration of mother fixation.

SUMMARY: Existential dichotomy → needs → “healthy needs” → positive freedom → defense mechanisms → character orientation → personality disorders