December 2020: Chapter 1 Teaser from Dr. Frisch’s Upcoming Book

new book

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book in 2021 The Psychotherapy Solution in Troubled Times: Create a Better Life Now, written by me, Dr. Patricia Frisch.

The preface of my new book speaks to the critical importance of psychotherapy. The pandemic has certainly magnified the need for professional help as rising numbers of cases of Covid-19 emerge with no clear end in sight. In the US alone, as of November 15th, 2020 – 245,000 died, 1000 dying daily up by 50% more than any other country; 181,000 new cases assault us daily. (NY Times, November 2020)

Statistics can be dry and have a numbing effect even though we witness the horror on a daily basis. The pain sears through us as each of us now knows someone who has been touched: deaths of babies, adolescents, young and old, brothers and sisters and their families feel the unbearable pain of loss that resides in  their hearts forever.

The potential of vaccines looks promising but the hurdles of the supply chain are daunting and obstacles abound to disperse them to a sufficient population next year. We can’t count on relief from the vaccines as yet.

We are touched by the loneliness demanded by the pandemic, loss of friends whom we don’t see up-close, isolation, longing for contact, hugs, and closeness with loved ones that alludes us.

It is not only the pandemic that is a problem as there are many other issues that call us to psychotherapy. Whether it is our difficulties in relationship, work related problems, the political polarization and alienation that has caused friends with differing views to become alienated, unemployment, domestic violence, and our life-long trauma that causes us to habitually overreact to name a few. We need help from a professional.

We are given ample advice, handy- hints online and we are overwhelmed by varying views from every corner. What we need is consistent presence from a licensed qualified professional that knows our strengths and weaknesses and can provide consistent support and confrontation when needed.

In Chapter 1 of my book, I describe opportunities for transformation. Here is a teaser of Chapter 1:

The Call: Opportunities for Transformation

Transformative experiences make an enormous difference to the trajectory of your life. There are limited opportunities for significant personal transformation presented in a lifetime, although smaller growth moments may present more often. Smaller growth moments may be harbingers of larger changes but are incremental. These opportunities may come to you benignly — because you are receptive to subtle clues and have accomplished a healthy wholeness of self-identity and creative flow — or you are catapulted into a physical and/or psychological crisis that provokes you to make drastic changes. At times, no matter how you are living your life, how healthy and responsible you are psychologically and physically, you can be tossed out of your comfort zone and thrown into the mysteries of the unknown, shocked and upset and needing to learn new rules of the game.

How do you recognize the significant opportunities when the potential appears? Sometimes, if you are lucky (raised with good-enough parents and/or healthy enough circumstances), or by tremendous grit, you have created circumstances that line you up on a path to receive blessings – you are able to recognize a good thing when it comes your way or sense when lightning strikes within, with an idea. You are receptive and available to be touched by inspiration. You have developed your sensitivity and honed your intuitive skill (as you have developed early on without inhibiting shackles). You are able to see precise clarity of direction; you know with or without a doubt, your next steps. You experience courage even if you are terrified. You are able to mobilize and take a risk. You know you can take life’s next step; you accept the challenge. The invitation to transformation may come through a pivotal event, an influential person, a chance encounter – you are dramatically influenced. You are given an opportunity for transformation, you sense it, know it and grasp it.

Signs and Symptoms

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

compulsive character type 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.

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July 2020 Reich’s Phallic Character: The Paranoid- The Case of Sandra

manic depressive

Sandra, 42, was a highly intelligent wiz with numbers who has excelled in mathematics since she was a youngster. She was accepted into an Ivy League university and ended-up with a lucrative position in a top-tier brokerage firm in Manhattan.  Sandra’s relationship with math had always been straight-forward and involved no interpretation; it was a pure and simple proposition. As long as her mind focused on numbers she managed well.

The problems arose in other areas of her life and there she did not cope effectively. Sandra was known among her work associates to be difficult, and, at times, stridently combative. She misread cues, created “stories” in her head about other people’s trespasses; and was convinced they were calculating ways to undermine her. Frequently, she would provoke others in a misguided attempt to prove that her suspicions were correct. She couldn’t resist setting up others and relishing the sense of vindication.

Paranoid Symptomology

She often squinted her eyes, peering out through tiny slits – a sign of ocular holding or eye armoring. (https://orgonomictherapy.com/2019/04/25/cultivating-clear-eyes/ ). Particularly, at those times her perceptions were compromised as she could not accurately assess reality through her eyes. With an ocular block, one’s vision can be blurred, resulting in less visual acuity and the mobility of the eye is diminished. Sandra’s eyes looked frozen, wide-eyed with alarm and terror. Her eyes also expressed anger as she peered into her alienated landscape.

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June 2020 Reich’s Phallic Character: The Manic Depressive – The Case of Delia

manic depressive

Delia, 40, has been called “high-strung” for most of her life; one might say she is “wired”. She expresses predominantly the manic side of this character type although she can fall into depressive episodes. She is known to over-talk, over-eat, over-shop, as she flits from topic to topic during conversations, and is chronically over scheduled. She moves from event to event, project to project — on good days. Delia thrives on impulsive ideas and manifests them quickly without sufficient contemplation, manifesting a textbook manic depressive personality.

Delia has a disorganized quality that permeates her life although she is perceived as functioning well at her job as a sales manager in a start-up.

She is excitable, eccentric and mimics a hot-air balloon that stays up indefinitely until she performs a crash-land. She experiences panic when her instability moves to a breaking point and she feels like she is spinning in circles. She has difficulty maintaining any type of schedule, tends to be undisciplined and “unregulated”, and is not likely to calm down unless she drops from sheer exhaustion. Over time this up-and-down process is wearing her thin as she unravels more with each bout.

She has been married for fifteen years and although he is patient with her ups-and-downs, she causes problems; her hyper-quality creates havoc as she moves about the house at record speed with a mile-long to-do list. She lapses into irritability; she is easily frustrated and impatient, and at times becomes caught in obsessive thinking that traps her in spirals as her thoughts take over and she becomes immobilized and confused.

Delia’s style is volatile. The chaotic elements spin her into a depression where life feels meaningless and empty, and her body becomes laden with exhaustion and pain from the extreme tension. Then she might stay in bed, tossing and turning, throughout her day, in a restless stupor.

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May 2020 Reich’s Phallic Character: The Chronic Depressive – The Case of Bob

chronic depressiveLife in Quarantine – the Global Pandemic

We are living and dying in the midst of an historic, once-in-a-century event — a global crisis, the proportions of WWII with stark reminders of the food lines and poverty of the Great Depression. Many of us are facing immediate financial ruin as businesses collapse, and jobs are lost; the anxiety of faltering resources pervade our consciousness.  We read the news and know we are tumbling into a free fall, over the cliff of uncertainty; the unknowable surrounds us, leading to chronic depressive tendencies.

We struggle through a multitude of feelings as they bounce off each other on our own psychic pool table. The early morning might elicit depression: “I will stay in bed, I feel too lethargic to move. I feel like I am sinking, I don’t want to face another day feeling low”; the next moment invites some energy with the thought of an inspired activity: “OK I am going to clean house today, or plant flowers in my garden, I will feel better if I do something, anything productive. I must stay in the moment”.

Mid-morning: “I need to sign in to my remote work as I am lucky to have a job”. Exhaustion sets in from Zooming. “I feel angry and irritable by late afternoon and my mate is getting on my nerves.” “You are too controlling, demanding – please stop and give me some space”. Tempers flare like sizzling fireworks only to fizzle leaving a kind of emptiness and feelings of abandonment. Later a realization emerges: “I could be alone going through this, that might be challenging too. Is it happy hour yet?“ “OK! I feel better, it is time to watch Netflix”. “I better turn off the TV that compels me to watch for hours.” “Time to sleep except I am up at 2:00 tossing and turning for what feels like hours – thoughts of everything crowd my mind. I am sick of staying home; I miss my extended family; I yearn to hug them. I feel a panic in the middle of the night, I have a cough –do I have the virus or is it my allergies?” Sleep deprived I start yet another day in quarantine. “I hope we continue to flatten the curve but the politics of all of this is making me crazy. I am furious at the government’s response – grrrh!” “One positive in all of this is I am perfecting my cooking, eating, cooking, eating, cooking, although it is exhausting – oh if only I could go to a restaurant and eat with others.” The beat of the quarantine goes on.

Depression

Many of us can be prone to chronic depression which may have existed all our lives. A few suffer from a biological, endogenous depression that therapy and medication can lift. Many have had significant trauma that has resulted in a lifelong battle with depression. Depression can manifest as lethargy, difficulty finding meaning and purpose, feeling waylaid through various significant periods in a life until the losses accrue, the missed opportunities pile up and strong depressive symptoms weigh us down; insomnia, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness to conquer rather than collapse in the battlefield. We may feel historic loss from early trauma that haunts us; a loneliness that is at the base of our existence.

This blog is about a character type called the Chronic Depressive which is a style that differentiates a situational depression as a character marker, from the tendency to exist in a semi-state of depression.

Bob has suffered depression all his life to varying degrees. He has been successful in his career as an engineer and advanced to managing ten people in a successful start-up.

He is married and has two children, 5 and 8, and enjoys family life, although at times he feels he doesn’t meet the expectations and lacks the energy to sustain all his commitments. He feels guilty with his wife and his kids. He simply can’t do enough and falters, feeling badly about himself. He is not measuring up.

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March –Reich’s Phallic Narcissistic Character: The Case of Mark

Mark, 48 moves aggressively in the world with a swagger. He wants what he wants when he wants it. He is an accomplished VP of sales in a successful start-up. Colleagues gravitate toward him, not for his intrinsic likeability but because he has a glow that they attempt to use to their advantage– he has charisma and is boastfully confident so they need to keep in his good graces. (Frequently some business cultures are based on using others for gain without the cultivation of more meaningful values.)

Mark is an opportunist who positions himself well and strives to maintain a top-dog position. He can charm a room with his blazing smile of perfectly aligned white teeth and trendy yet seemingly careless clothing.

Mark has a wife, two kids, a home in a posh neighborhood; he has all the trappings of ultimate success. He has succeeded because of his strong energy system, drive and discipline. He is heading for a fall, though, as his attitudes of grandiosity and inflation give him a false sense of untouchability, as if he can get away with anything, soaring above the clouds without consequences. However, he recently spread himself too thin by purchasing a vacation home while making poor investments, causing him anxiety, an unusual state for him to experience.

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The Art of Character Analysis

Character analysis, as defined by Wilhelm Reich, is an essential component of my method. I often quote Reich as his explanations make vividly clear the nuances of his clinical approach. I picked a selection for you that describes an aspect of character analysis and how it works in practice.

We stated that character analysis begins with the singling out and consistent analysis of the character resistance. This does not mean that the patient is enjoined not to be aggressive, not to be deceptive, not to speak in an incoherent manner, to follow the basic rule, etc. Such demands would not only be contrary to analytic procedure, they would be fruitless… In character analysis we ask ourselves why is the patient deceptive, speaks in an incoherent manner, is emotionally blocked, etc.; we endeavor to arouse his interest in the peculiarities of his character in order to elucidate, with his help, their meaning and origin through analysis.  In other words, we merely single out from the orbit of the personality the character trait from which the cardinal resistance proceeds, and, if possible, we show the patient the surface relation between the character and the symptoms….we isolate the character trait and put it before the patient again and again until he has succeeded in breaking clear of it and viewing it as he would a vexatious compulsive symptom” (Reich, Selected Writings, 1973, 56)

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A Call to Transformation

Significant transformative experiences are life changing and make an enormous difference to the trajectory of one’s life. There are limited opportunities for significant personal transformation presented in a lifetime, although smaller growth moments may present more often. The smaller growth moments may be harbingers of larger changes but are incremental. These opportunities may come to us benignly — because we are receptive to subtle clues and have accomplished a healthy wholeness of self-identity and creative flow — or we are catapulted into a physical and/or psychological crisis that provokes us to make drastic changes. At times, no matter how we are living our lives, how healthy and responsible we are psychologically and physically, we can be tossed out of our comfortable status quo and thrown into the mysteries of the unknown, shocked and upset and have to learn new rules of the game.

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On the Way to Publication

Writing a book has been on my radar for many years as my method began to take shape; yet, the material had not ripened sufficiently until April 2015 when I officially committed to the process at Sea Ranch, California. I discovered a no-nonsense editor and began what would become a 2.5-year process.

In my mid-20’s, I was drawn to the theories and clinical approach of Wilhelm Reich while in a master’s degree program at Goddard College. As my own clinical practice and role as a mentor and teacher developed over the years, I realized the importance of updating Reich’s character typologies to include attachment theory while keeping the legacy of Reich in tact. Jung, the great master of dream analysis and transformational psychology, was an essential component of my analytic perspective. My method has taken shape over the years and is now ready to be shared.

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Hey, What About Your Therapy Commitment?

Why is prioritizing your weekly therapy appointment the single most important factor to the success of your therapy? Many clients have difficulty managing their life; we can be driven by our own busyness. We can say, “There is always so much to do. I have children, a job, so many responsibilities to keep up with.” Sometimes, though, the busyness is really avoidance, by choice, albeit sometimes unconscious.

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