Oppression and challenges in life result from the various contexts of one's existence. Intersectionality developed as a result of the contextual difference in which black women found themselves in, experiencing oppression as a result of both their gender and race. The concept has grown and helped refine perspectives on the oppression that results from the multiplicities of contexts in life.
The psychoanalytical theory defines the behavior and how people react to different situations differently—elaborating on how one action drives another and the subconscious programming of the mind since childhood. The theory suffers several shortcomings, key being its overgeneralization of human behavior and lack of factoring in external stimuli in human behavior.
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The theory helps logically appreciate cultural competence in light of Levi's reaction to the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS. It helps one understand the role of the meta-narrative on HIV in his childhood, and how it influences his current perspective and actions towards his diagnosis.
Keywords : Intersectionality, Race, Gender, Psychoanalytical Theory.
Theory Identification and Analysis
Society defines one's context, and the multiple factors in it influence one's behavior and perspectives. Various predicaments result in different reactionary actions. Intersectionality describes how different realities and contexts play out together to result in the oppression or plight of a person. Although laws that promote affirmative action and acceptance of people from different social constructs have been popularized, discriminations based on social constructs is still pervasive in the contemporary social setting (Oexle and Corrigan, 2018). In a bid to explore the interplay between varied social constructs, this research paper evaluates Levi's case and expounds the same in light of the psychoanalytic theory
Levi is a 35-year-old male with a multiplicity of social challenges that have had a significant bearing on his life. Diagnosed at 25, Levi has been living with HIV/AIDs and taking the medications for the same, which has kept him healthy. Due to the stigma that comes along with the condition, he has not disclosed the same to any of his friends or family. The decision for non-disclosure while it may be a protective measure against being viewed as promiscuous, which is the predominant stigma perspective, has denied him the support and love of family and friends, which helps in chronic disease recovery path. Levi is a motor vehicle mechanic, a manual job that requires physical energy and is hardly respected compared to white-collar corporate positions. The emotional toll subsequent to these problems has resulted in his indulgence in cocaine, which he posits enables him to have a start for work. To calm his anxiety in the evenings after work and allow him to sleep, he takes anti-anxiety medications.
Levi's main apparent issue is the emptiness of his life, which is what prompts him to seek counseling. However, a critical look at Levi's life shows a web of the intersectionality of a low-grade job, drug abuse, solitary, isolated life, and stigmatized chronic diseases. All these couple up to lead to what he terms as an empty life (Oexle and Corrigan, 2018). Each of the conditions in a societal context carries a capacity to drain and emotionally strain a person. All these issues thus compound up to result in the feeling of emptiness, that Levi attributes to as his main problem. A solution to such a situation must encompass and handle each of these areas.
The psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud helps better appreciate Levi’s predicament. The psychoanalytic perspective combines conscious and repressed desires and motives in describing the human motivation that drives behavior (Solms, 2018). Freud worked to define how the unconscious mental life ends up explaining how we view our world. The mind's functioning is categorized into three different parts: the id, which is the desire for immediate gratification. Second is the superego, which is defined by the existent moral codes of society. The third component being the ego governed by the reality principle. The ethical codes, according to this perspective, are defined in one’s childhood.
These functional components can be linked to the actual physical anatomy of the human brain. The id, which is referred to as the libido, manifests in aggressive behavior and is associated with the amygdala of the brain. The amygdala is the center of primitive emotional functioning. The ego is responsible for a rational approach towards issues that defines how one copes with life challenges. It modifies emotional impulses from the id and society's rules from the superego to decide actions. This action is associated with the prefrontal cortex of the human brain that is responsible for reasoning.
In Feud's theory, he posits growth to be when one's ego is freed from the undue dominance by either the superego or the id. Anxiety, for example, according to Freud, results from the excessiveness of emotions and feelings. These, when controlled, helps one live a worry-free life. While HIV/AIDs is a condition that is yet to find a cure globally, significant progress in science has made it quite manageable. Unlike in its onset, when it was synonymous with a death sentence, it is not so today. For Levi to be indulged in drugs and have unending anxieties, there is an element of the id and superego dominating over the rational. The id which yearns for immediate pleasure makes drugs fashionable. Cocaine within the human brain works on the pleasure centers releasing dopamine. While the dopaminergic effect generates satisfaction, in the long term, it is responsible for addictions and challenges such as withdrawal effects associated with drug abuse.
Behavior such as denial, which is what drives non-disclosure, arises when anxiety takes preeminence over a person. Tension is generated when desires and wishes from the id emerge in one's thought or action. The unrealistic nature of those desires results in the ego mobilizing repression to cover the anxiety; this results in denial, withdrawal, and projections. The actions are a defense mechanism against what the superego translates as weaknesses and vulnerabilities in light of societal standards. Addiction and drug abuse stem from a desire to compensate for the emptiness that result from not being in a position one wishes to. The drugs supply a temporary feeling of fulfillment. While the ego can rationally understand that the drugs offer a short term relief (Alvarez-Monjaras et al.,2018), the impulses from the id overpower it, and the illogical pursuit for temporary gratification takes its course.
The psychoanalytic theory is appropriate for Levi's scenario as it explains the intertwined actions in Levi's life logically. The approach can account for why the stigma from society towards HIV/AIDS drives one into anxiety and even drug use. Several shortcomings are, however, evident in theory. It limits and overly generalizes human actions. The theory assumes that only the mind and one's regulations of it determines human behavior. The truth is, as has been fronted by multiple other methods, numerous factors, some being hereditary, influence behavior. The behaviorist approach, for instance, argues on the impact of environmental effects in defining behavior (Schlüter et al., 2018). To design curative and treatment procedures for mental conditions, much more beyond the psychoanalytic theory is needed. The psychoanalysis theory can also not sufficiently factor in the role of social stratification and one's economic status in defining behavior.
Cultural competence defines how one can integrate and understand the impact of one's cultural context on behavior. Psychoanalysis theory factors in the cultural component in its argument for the formation of the superego (Gaztambide, 2018). Childhood experiences and lessons learned through society define this component as one of the three functionalities responsible for behavior as per this theory. The extreme tension in Levi's life can be associated with the stigma that existed towards HIV/AIDS in Levi's childhood. For a 35-year-old, they were children in the 1990s when little was understood of the condition. Fear, hatred, and myths were the hallmarks of this condition. At that stage in life, Levi's worldview towards the disease was formed. Years later, even with effective antiretroviral therapy, it is difficult to rewire the superego and, thus, anxiety and non-disclosure.
Multiple factors influence behavior. To better understand these drivers of behavior, various frameworks exist. The psychoanalytical perspective expounds Levi's predicament in a coherent and easy to understand way. However, there exist shortcomings in this perspective, which are best explained by other theories not covered within this research paper.
References
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Gaztambide, D. J. (2018). Review of Psychoanalytic theory and cultural competence in psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(4), 468–472. https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000174
Oexle, N., & Corrigan, P. W. (2018). Understanding Mental Illness Stigma toward Persons with Multiple Stigmatized Conditions: Implications of Intersectionality Theory. Psychiatric Services, 69(5), 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201700312
Schlüter, M., Baeza, A., Dressler, G., Frank, K., Groeneveld, J., Jager, W., Janssen, M. A., McAllister, R. R. J., Müller, B., Orach, K., Schwarz, N., & Wijermans, N. (2017). A framework for mapping and comparing behavioral theories in models of social-ecological systems. Ecological Economics, 131, 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.08.008
Solms, M. L. (2018). The Neurobiological Underpinnings of Psychoanalytic Theory and Therapy. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00294
