Inhibitions

Nevertheless that causal agent is there – one that had been grafted deeply in the conscious and subconscious references these individuals would have had of themselves vis-à-vis the world external to themselves. The causal agent would be identical in each instance, and it would be the gross parental failure suffered by each of these individuals in their early years.

Compare the decidedly short nail phalanges with the lengths of the middle and base phalanges.

We can identify and detail four programs of inhibitions, each clearly differentiated from the other. But the morphological construction in the hand which exposes their solid entrenchment in personality is the same in each instance. Inhibitions are identified by the marked deficiency in the length of the nail phalanges of the fingers – in the main the middle and ring fingers – relative to the lengths of the middle and base phalanges of the same fingers. It would be differences in the relative rigidity of the fingers when held erect that would identify which of the four programs was integrated into the personality of the individual.

Program 1: Inhibitions in Compliance/ Submission                                                                        The fingers would be held rigidly lacking even a trace of flexibility.

The central difficulty of people with this program in their make-up is in being unable to comply or submit to the orders of others. They cannot accept any situation where others have authority, however legitimate, over any aspect of their lives. The problem becomes most pronounced and most damaging when these people are required to accommodate the demands and expectations of bosses, department heads, and managers – indeed of anyone with the authority to make demands of them and expect compliance without question.

History:

Parental failure in this instance would invariably be rooted in the child’s experience with a rather cruel, ever demanding, unfeeling and grossly oppressive parent – almost invariably, the father. This parent would have shown no tolerance whatsoever to even the slightest negative reaction were this young person to have attempted a response. This history often includes the experience of the arbitrary and capricious nature of the demands, issued largely without reason, and contributing nothing of substance or significance. No support would have been forthcoming from the other parent.

Program 2: Inhibitions in Intimacy/Trust                                                                                        We would find the fingers mildly flexible when pressure is applied.

Here we come upon a neurotic style which promises to grossly and irreparably bring to ruin any close and intimate relationship. This person would powerfully inhibit any readiness to contribute anything of himself, or herself that might promote a genuine sense of intimacy or a feeling of closeness and trust between the partners. It would be beyond the ability of this person to behave otherwise in this regard; hence we may speak of a rather fixed and troublesome neurotic dimension in personality. The quality of this person’s life in the context of relationships which invite emotional investments is generally poor – invariably the partners in the relationship suffer a sense of distance from each other. Two people remain two people.

History: An extended exposure to a home life wherein the parents demonstrated little or no loyalty or responsibility to one another, and where often the infidelity of the partners was the source of much bitterness and resentment in their relationship. There would have been no effort on the part of the parents to insulate the child from the acrimony that gave their home its temper. 

Program 3: Inhibitions in Aggression/Assertion                                                                         When held together in an erect position the fingers would be particularly flexible.

Inhibitions here manifest as a painful inability to be assertive in just about every facet of this person’s life. For example, this person would elect not to bring to the attention of a storekeeper that the change he or she received for a purchase was a dollar short. If someone inadvertently stepped on his toe he would be the one to offer an apology. Confrontations of any order are out of the question.  The reluctance demonstrated by these people to effect what is justly their right and in their interest often diminishes their inherent worth in the eyes of others. It seems beyond comprehension. But for this person low self-esteem, a sense of enormous guilt, and the readiness to accommodate others seemed always to have been an indelible feature of his or her personality.

History: Parental failure linked to inhibitions of this order generally extends from a home environment where the young person was exposed to an overly demanding and endlessly critical regime. Almost invariably just about every word spoken and every aspect of this young person’s behavior would be subject to harsh judgments. At the same time the parents would impress the child with how much they had sacrificed and how much they continue to give of themselves for his or her benefit. In such instances the young person might be moved to let the years pass and then rebel aggressively – often in a manner that would punish the parents. However, where this order of inhibitions appears to have overtaken this person’s attitudes and behaviors we would understand that the young person surrendered to the crushing shame generated in the home environment.

Program 4: Inhibitions in Responsibility/Independence

                   There would be no resistance to even the slightest pressure on the fingers

Inhibitions here expose those individuals who are unprepared to assume any responsibility for the management of their own lives. It would not matter if they were in their 30’s, 40’s, or even their 50’s. The normal willful gravitation to autonomy and independence had been arrested at a very early age. As a rule, the parents take this responsibility upon themselves, often quite willingly. The most severe crisis in the lives of these people is when a parent becomes lost to them either by their demise or by becoming incapacitated. Such instances are not to be confused with others requiring similar support arrangements due to physical or mental health issues. Those described in these lines may be well educated, eloquent, and knowledgeable of world affairs, but they have no reply when admonished for being in this state of abject dependence without the wherewithal to assume any meaningful responsibility for their own lives.  

History: Essentially the failure of the parents here was in their blunting of their child’s natural growth to autonomy and independence. At a time when the child would have learned from the interaction with his peers what effort needed investing on his part to get that which he wanted, a parent, or perhaps another adult, would have intervened to spare him the effort. It would be at about this time that the child would become alert to the capabilities that he possessed and which he might enlist to create a desired reality. But the dominant images in his environment would have delivered that reality without necessitating any effort on his part. In a sense, the child developed a skewed understanding of the relationship between cause and effect. He had learned that to lift, say, one pound of object, one ounce or less of effort would always suffice. The parents would have insulated him from any stress conditions by satisfying all his wants at home, and further insulated him from whatever difficulties he may otherwise have been required to overcome outside the home.