Akhtar began by devoting the first chapter of his book to fear, stating that fear is a very necessary emotion to be found in animals and humans because it supports the survival function of the organism. Talking about the similar characteristics of fear and anxiety (they include the feeling that something bad is going to happen). He stated that it is more rational in terms of being the object of fear, but that anxiety creates clinical situations because it blurs the facts. He explained the relationship between phobia and feared object and showed symbolic crystallization with examples. He also mentioned the differences of fear and anxiety according to cultures.
According to Klein; psychotic anxiety
According to Winnicott; unthinkable anxiety
According to Hurwich; Anxiety about extinction carries the danger of disrupting mental functioning.
He made a distinction between animal phobia and social phobia according to age, and stated the importance of “companion” in agoraphobia in terms of object relations. The book can also be analyzed as divided into two parts; (Although the titles in the two sections do not give a precise distinction between subject and object..
1-) Affects only the subject/suffering (fear, greed, guilt)
2-) Those that affect the object(s) (deception, betrayal, revenge)
a-) Greed; The first part of the chapter begins with Aesop’s story, which explains this very well. Klein’s; showed that greed was associated with introjection, while envy was associated with projection, explaining it with concentrated oral aggression (intensity of the aggressive drive and true deprivation in early childhood).
b-) Guilt; He started with the explanation that the capacity to hear corresponds to the capacity to internalize objects, and associated shame with not being faithful to the self-ideal, and guilt with the inability to fulfill one’s superego commands. Guilt is triggered by the parent’s actions on the child’s head. Self-blame is formed by emulating a stern parent, maintaining attachment to the primary object. Whatever the context, Oedipal guilt always results in a compromised love life.
c-) Deception; In every lie there is a psychic maneuver to change the self-object. Deception, whatever its form, arises from early trauma and thus inflicts pain on oneself and others.
d-) Betrayal; It arises from object relations in the form of scattered self-damage, identification with the over-promising parent, and sadistic victory over feelings of envy.
e) Revenge; It can also be in the form of covering up the damage received in early childhood. Freud’s first comment on revenge was explained in the context of trauma, which he believed becomes more pathogenic when suffering in silence. Taking revenge holds the possibility of overcoming the injury, but talking about what happened also helps. That’s why psychoanalysis is so important. The addressee of acts of revenge is not always the one who hurts. Because of this, it can also turn towards weak objects. (Terrorist attacks)
