August 2020 Reich’s Phallic Character: The Compulsive – The Case of Brewster

Compulsive Character Type

Brewster is the epitome of the compulsive character type in that he rigidly controls all of his personal habits and attempts to control all the basic actions of his family members, particularly his wife Sara. The function of his behavior is an unconscious attempt to manage the deluge of anxiety through over-managing every detail of his life in an exacting manner. He chronically fends off the fear of chaos as if his life is guarding against a pending tsunami, as he furiously sets-up bulwarks. Terrified feelings underwrite this character but are out of view due to the compulsive behaviors that mask them. For example, if all surfaces are immaculate, he is relieved; if there is extreme order, he feels “better”.

Brewster, 50 years old, is an intelligent, responsible and dedicated accountant whose methodicalness is appreciated by his clientele. He is the breadwinner of the family and supports an ample lifestyle.

His wife, Sara is not a devotee of tidiness and cleanliness, so finds his preoccupations stifling. She has outbursts of rage in response to his constant requirements and demands. Yet his other attributes keep her somewhat content in the marriage. Brewster’s daughter Chelsey is 12. Sara protects her daughter from his over-controlling behaviors and fortunately limits his infringement. Chelsey has a both a playroom and a bedroom which are officially off limits to Brewster. This containment is important as it will help her grow up without developing her father’s compulsive habits.

Brewster is upset if an item is moved even an inch. Objects need to be exactly where he left them and every single item has an exact place. Spice racks are lined up precisely in a specific order; no dirt is tolerated anywhere; kitchens become command centers where no one else is allowed to cook alongside or participate. He is a vocal commentator on Sara’s choices: “Why are you going there?” “What did you buy? “Was that necessary? It is expensive where you shopped, and we bought something similar at Costco.” Judgmental supervision is the order of the day and it is compulsive in that he can’t stop it no matter how much she protests.

Because rituals dominate Brewster’s life, he takes quite a long time to dress in the morning or go to sleep at night. Each ritual has a prescribed format where nothing can be rushed or skipped or Brewster would have heightened anxiety. The rituals ensure the status quo and lower his sensed stimulation level so he does not feel overwhelmed. He would not admit to any of these habits: the compulsive character often lacks inner awareness because they act out so many of their inner feelings through their actions. In other words, actions rather than feelings and inner awareness plug the dike of chaotic feelings and high anxiety.

Brewster has many projects which keep him up at night and perpetuate his chronic insomnia. He has a list a mile-long and if he accomplishes tasks, he promptly adds more projects that then become imperatives. Relaxing is impossible for him as are pleasurable activities, as his drivenness and hypervigilance sustain him.

Another aspect of this type is frugality due to extreme stinginess, an anal trait. Managing any and all expenditures helps with his need to control; although often Brewster allows himself to spend on indulgences he legitimizes while vetoing or at least commenting endlessly on Sara’s choices.

Many of us have versions of compulsivity without engendering the full-on style. We can be more or less fastidious; tolerating dirt, but maybe not messiness, some or not much disorder. Some versions of compulsivity can be the opposite eshewing order and creating messes everywhere they go; dropping clothes in a trail to the bathroom; collecting papers in stacks on kitchen tables and chairs, disorganized clutter and even hoarding may reign.

Compulsives can be described as human machines, living with extreme caution, often doubting their decisions, going back and forth in a ruminating style as they slowly work through an idea. Brewster is “up in his head” over-thinking, worrying and repeating himself in his mind as he stews on an issue until exhausted.
I quote from a past blog, Reich’s Character Types: Phallic Character Types & the Narcissistic Character to illuminate the particulars of how this type fits into Reich’s paradigm of character types. Reich divided his types into Categories: Genital, Phallic, Anal, Oral and Ocular Types. These are correlated with developmental phases of growth, affecting the character and their biophysical/energetic progression. If an individual does not sustain the Phallic level, he or she may drop back to a Pregenital level (an earlier level of development) because those fixations or blockages dominate the picture. (https://orgonomictherapy.com/2014/08/22/narcissistic-character-types/)

As I italicized, this type is an Anal character and exhibits a pinched, contracted, rigid quality. Classically, these types do not want to make a mess and when they were two to four years old may have had overly stringent potty training rather than allowing that phase to come naturally. Other contributing factors are chaotic backgrounds resulting from early attachment problems in the first years of life which created extreme anxiety: neglect, an overly-dominating parent, loss of a parent, genetic predisposition and many other potential scenarios become the ingredients for the compulsive character type.

Treatment

The compulsive character type has difficulty changing. Exposure therapy is one classic treatment approach. Medications can be a treatment suggestion (The Blue Tree Clinic). I have discovered that if a patient is motivated toward change and understands the root causes of his trauma, then the acting out behaviors can be mediated with awareness, self-regulation, containment and behavioral frames to which the patient agrees, maybe not every habit but enough to make life easier for him and other family members. Inner awareness allows for mediation of symptoms. Depending on the level of trauma that was experienced, that aspect can define how easily the symptoms diminish. High levels of early trauma can make these problems intractable. If Brewster wants to work therapeutically, he can make inroads once he understands his early trauma experiences. Couple and family therapy are an important adjunct. A highly motivating factor is Brewster’s realization that he could lose his family.