Page 154 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

A Portrait of a Christian Psychologist: Paul C. Vitz

For our purposes, exactly when it occurs and ences caused by others occur. Many of us “nor-
whether it happens suddenly or slowly does not mal” adults tend to see our enemies as all bad
especially matter. We need only keep in mind and friends as all good. This kind of splitting is
that understanding a given person as a mixture especially common in war, or in cases of intense
or integration of both good and bad properties political conflict or when one has been deeply
is a developmental accomplishment. hurt by some individual. These painful situati-
The psychological cost or consequence of the in- ons create intense anger which is often cultiva-
tegration comes from putting together the two ted to where the enemy or offending individual
conflicting representations of the mother which is seen as all bad and one’s self and friends as all
causes a depressive or remorseful response. good. All of this is to justify our constructed an-
The infant now recognizes that the mother that ger, etc. In short, splitting has returned. A major
it was angry at and presumably hated was the sign of this splitting is the presence of internal
same as the wonderful good mother. This cau- scenarios of revenge; more on this later.
ses sadness or remorse or a kind pf primitive
or proto-guilt. This negative feeling motivates a Hatred as Choice
desire for reparation in order to repair the re- Hatred in childhood can exist primarily as an
lationship with the mother. This reparation is affect with associated thoughts and not as a
presumed to take place in unconscious fantasy willed decision, for example, as a response to
but might show in the child’s patting the mother severe abuse. Presumably very little true voliti-
and seeking her out. on is involved in the experiences that set up de-
However, if the early experiences of aggression velopmental arrest and pathological conditions
and deprivation are too intense, the child may in children. An essential point however is that
never bring good and bad experiences of the hatred in most adults at its core is not just affect
mother (or the child’s self) together in an inte- and thoughts but intrinsically involves volition.
grated whole, and the result will be psychopa- Of course, the emotional or affective compo-
thology and a continued reliance on splitting. nent of hatred plus the associated cognitions re-
As a more or less permanent aspect of persona- main a major part of adult hatreds but with ma-
lity this splitting response is found in seriously turity the will now becomes a crucial and little
disturbed individuals and is fortunately uncom- acknowledged part of hatred. (Vitz and Mango,
mon. 1997a, b)
Now how do these psychologists know about The point is that adults either freely decide to
this splitting business in the minds of 1 to 2 year accept their previously built up hatred and to
old children? Young children don’t talk this way. continue maintaining it or to work at rejecting
Where’s the reasonable evidence for this theo- it. In psychotherapy itself, the patient is often
ry? These are good questions. Some of the evi- explicitly confronted with this kind of choice.
dence comes from observing children, especial- He or she must decide to start, or not to start,
ly listening to older children who can report or the process of letting go of hatred. Also, as pre-
show through play activity the content of their viously noted, for the adult, the affect is connec-
dreams and fantasies. But most of the evidence ted with previously built cognitive structures, at
comes from interaction with adults, in particu- least some of which involved acts of the person’s
lar seriously disturbed patients such as those willing acceptance of the constructed scenarios
with borderline personality disorder who com- of revenge and resentment. Continued adult
monly split their representations of self and the hatred, therefore, involves a decision, a refusal
other. Hence, the theory of splitting is in many to love; and often a refusal to request, accept,
respects a theory of its origin in children in or- or give forgiveness. In the sense that it is willed,
der to account for its presence in adults. hatred for others (and also hatred of self) is ne-
For present purposes it is important to keep in ver healthy. It is natural in the sense of being
mind that the tendency to split the internal re- common but it never produces psychological
presentation of someone can be found in almost health.
all adults especially when very painful experi-

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