The Counter-Phobia Attitude

The Counter-Phobic Attitude

The psychoanalyst, Otto Fenichel, called attention to the fact that phobic anxiety can be hidden behind attitudes and behaviour patterns that represent a denial, either of the dreaded object or situation that is dangerous or that the person is afraid of it.

Instead of being a passive victim of external circumstances, a person reverses the situation and actively attempts to confront and master whatever is feared. People with counter-phobic attitudes seek out situations of danger and rush enthusiastically toward them.

Devotees of potentially dangerous sports, such as parachute jumping and rock climbing, may exhibit counter-phobic behaviour. Such patterns may be secondary to phobic anxiety or maybe a normal means of dealing with a realistically dangerous situation. Children's play may exhibit counter-phobic elements, such as when children play doctor and give a doll the shot they received earlier that day in the paediatrician's office.

This pattern of behaviour may involve the related defence mechanism of identifying with the aggressor.

c/f “Abnormal Psychology”, Barlow/Durand