More on Initial Responses to Affect Theory

• Responses to First Learning about Affect Theory by Jim Duffy a.k.a. J.C.D., 2/28/97
  
  

I would like to add some additional thoughts on shame as the intial response by those hearing about affect theory. As I do so, please keep in mind that according to Tomkins shame is triggered by any impediment to ongoing positive affect (the 2 positive affects being interest-excitement and enjoyment-joy).

Don and I have often discussed that the motivation of many who enter the mental health profession is to gain better understanding of themselves and their negative affect in order to lessen the effect of such negative affect on their lives. Since there are many very bright people in our profession, it is not surprising that the defensive maneuver of intellectualization is prominently featured among us. And there are many psychological theories that cry out for heavy intellectual investment and rumination but mostly avoid affect. Such intellectualization can be somewhat successful in ameliorating negative affect.

Just imagine what happens when you present affect theory to one who utilizes a great deal of intellectual defense and your excitement about the theory is obvious. Such a person is in a catch 22. If they are to be true to their intellect, then they must review the theory. Upon review, the theory contains a great deal that is obviously correct and well thought out. But if it is correct, then affect is the primary motivator of human behavior and to really understand the self, one must give up intellectual defenses that hide affect and tune more to the emotional self. This dilemma becomes an impediment for an intellectual's interest in understanding the self more clearly as they become caught between intellect and affect.

Another problem for many people is that once you begin to understand affect theory, you realize that affect surrounds us like the air we breathe and that nothing becomes conscious unless it first triggers affect. It's easy to feel a bit dumb (shamed) that something so obvious has been going on around us all our lives and we have missed it. Shame is often triggered in this situaton when the new information impedes our interest in a belief that we have incorrectly held, especially if that belief has formed the basis of our professional research and psychotherapy for many years.

I'm sure others have additional thoughts about this and look forward to seeing them here in the shame place in cyberspace.

• I Thought There Was Something Like That by Jim Duffy, 3/2/97
• Rock and a Hard Place by Ed Riemann LCSW, 3/3/97
  • Intellect and Affect by Vick Kelly, 3/7/97
    • Cognition and Human Emotion by Ed Riemann, 3/8/97
      • Independence of affect and cognition by Don Nathanson, 3/8/97
        • Projection and Interpretation by Ed Riemann, 3/9/97
          • Read the book by Don Nathanson, 3/10/97
            • Dan by Ed Riemann, 3/11/97
            • Get On With Business by Bored, 5/17/97
• Is *Intellectualizing* a Script that is Enforced Normatively on Mental Health Professionals? by c.h., 3/7/97
  • Intellectualizing vs Being Intellectual by Ed Riemann, 3/8/97
    • A Question for Ed by Vick Kelly, 3/9/97
      • Motivation/Reaction Formation by Ed Riemann, 3/9/97
        • Next Question(s) by Vick Kelly, 3/10/97
          • To Vick by Ed Riemann, 3/11/97
            • We're Getting Closer by Vick Kelly, 3/16/97
              • Tin Soldiers by Ed Riemann, 3/19/97
    • Transcendence of the Cognitive/Affective *Dichotomy* by Jonathan Grindlinger, 4/15/97
      • Cognitive/Affective Continuum by Ed Riemann, 4/17/97
        • Exactly by Jonathan Grindlinger, 4/17/97
          • Affective Emergence by Ed Riemann, 4/20/97
            • Modularity versus Continuum by Jonathan Grindlinger, 4/23/97
              • Modulation vs Mathmatics by Ed Riemann, 5/1/97
  • Too Sweeping a Question by Vick Kelly, 3/9/97
    • Tomkins' Four Volumes on Order! Thank You for Your Encouragement! by c.h., 3/14/97
      • OXYGEN for READERS OF TOMKINS by Vick Kelly, 3/16/97
    • Am I Being Followed? by Jeff Elison, 1/29/99