I post entries on Jungian psychology from time to time. I do this to educate and to keep me on my toes. Currently I am not formally treating patients in a Jungian context. Not a day goes by when I don’t think in these terms and apply them to my practice.
To remind you, a complexes are sort of like members around a long table, with the Ego acting as CEO. The complexes ‘say their piece’ and the Ego listens and takes advice etc. but it doesn’t allow any complex to ‘run the show’. The Ego can’t fire any of the complexes, but it can put them in their place – or so we hope. Occasionally a complex swells up with too much libido [aka psychic energy] and it thinks IT is the ego. By the way, this is where we get the word ‘shrink’. Psychotherapy is about shrinking bloated complexes to their appropriate size and position.
A funny complex is called The Rumpelstiltskin complex. It is based on the Grimm Fairy Tale. For those who don’t know the story: A royal couple negotiates with a gnome spinning straw into gold. The gnome demands their first born baby for payment. The parents can get out of the contract provided they can discover his name. Eventually they do, and the gnome is foiled, his power imploded.
Americans are obsessed with ‘naming things’. We think if we can put a label on something – know its name – we can control it. I see the Rumpelstiltskin complex rise up and take over whenever there is a disaster or tragedy. We want to know ‘what explains this’ – and we want a simple easy to understand explanation.
Here is an example: the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior in the 70s. We still don’t know ‘why’ it sank. There are a few theories. To this day people still fight it out/try to solve the mystery. Some of this is liability driven – we want to find something – and someone – to blame. “It sank because.. (the crew was negligent, the hull was poorly built, the captain steered the ship into shallow waters, etc.)
But mostly it Rumpelstiltskin complex driven – we can’t abide mysteries and complicated events.
I see this complex in Medicine. On the positive, ‘giving a name’ to a vague set of symptoms is a relief – sometimes even a bad diagnosis is preferable to no diagnosis.
On the negative, needing to know WHY something happened, whom to blame, what caused this etc. can take up a lot of psychic energy and be more damaging than helpful.
It is ironic for me to sometimes tell people to stop searching for a cause or explanation of things. They may have to live with a mystery that won’t be clear. Sometimes we can’t name the gnome; we have to live with him.
16 comments
April 14, 2010 at 2:35 AM
Lemuel
Thankk you. Very interesting. I did not know that the phenomenon had a name (no irony intended), but I was aware of this deep seated need of humans (or American humans) to resolve the mysteries of life. There are people of other cultures who seem to be able to live with mysteries. We do not. Perhaps it is the rational basis that pervades our western culture.
April 14, 2010 at 2:57 AM
Tai
Is it like “we don’t know whether destiny exists so we should stop wondering about it”? If so, I think “have to live with a mystery that won’t be clear” is good 🙂
April 14, 2010 at 3:37 AM
Jim
Nearly all the people I work with have the Rumpelstiltskin complex! I think it is a product of religions too, there must be an answer for everything and people do not like to hear; “we just don’t know”.
April 14, 2010 at 4:42 AM
Jay
God had Adam name all of the animals.
Genesis 2:19-20 “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;” … (KJV)
So there is a tradition.
Knowing the name is a long standing tradition for having power over it. Once a year the high priest of Israel would go into the Holy of holies or sanctum sanctorum of the Temple and whisper the “name” of God. He was the only one who knew how to pronounce it…
April 14, 2010 at 5:19 AM
Shawn
It does seem in our society that there is too much blaming (energy drain) and not enough acceptance (energy giving).
The above is a choice, what would you choose?
Let us all lead by example.
Thanks Spo
April 14, 2010 at 5:55 AM
Reflection on the Rumpelstiltskin complex « Tai Huu Le's blog
[…] April 14, 2010 Tai Leave a comment Go to comments The idea of this post came from the latest entry of Dr. Spo who makes me so honor by adding me to his blogroll. If I understand it rightly, this complex which I […]
April 14, 2010 at 6:03 AM
Tai
OOH, why my entry appears in here? :O
April 14, 2010 at 7:03 AM
Chris (in Philly)
Very interesting post.
Somethings are not explainable. Sometimes the mysterious is what makes life interesting and more fun.
Maybe it is an American thing, the need to dissect everything down to all its component parts. Maybe it is a fear-based thinking and it does take alot of energy and it does not always lead to a positive result.
April 14, 2010 at 2:05 PM
BentonQuest
Interesting. It seems that people use the search for a name as a way to appear to be doing something without actually doing anything at all.
I remember a former parishioner who so desperately wanted to know why her former daughter-in-law did what she did. I tried to move the parishioner beyond the “why” and just acknowledge that the situation was what it was and to deal with the reality of the situation.
April 14, 2010 at 3:10 PM
matty03
That was really cool and interesting. I never knew where the term “shrink” came from. …I just saw mine today.
I don’t like my gnome. I want him gone.
I’m thinking of starting a facebook petition to have him put to death.
Therapy. …I go 3 to 4 times a week right now. Strange times.
April 14, 2010 at 7:40 PM
Urspo
In general, you can not get rid of complexes – they have a way of coming back even more powerful if you try to eject or deny or squalsh them. So you ‘shrink’ them, into something there but no more than a nuisance. No longer in charge or running the show.
April 14, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Doug T
My profession is rife with the Rumpelstiltskin complex, taxonomists being who they are.
April 14, 2010 at 7:42 PM
Urspo
how successful it this , by the way? The KPCOFGSV taxonomy – with so many subgroups etc – is it still valid and useful?\
Michael (animal, cordata, mammal, primate, homo sapien, spo)
April 15, 2010 at 6:19 PM
Doug T
As with so many things, it’s in flux. Many are abandoning the traditional Linnean hierarchy for cladistics- tree-like structures of relatedness. A lot of that is being driven by the paleontologists who are dealing with no-longer-extant taxa. In this regard, I’m a traditionalist.
April 14, 2010 at 10:13 PM
wcs
Reminds me of that scene in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” when Lucy (the doctor is REAL in) advises Charlie Brown: “I think we should pinpoint your fears. I we can find out what you’re afraid of, we can label it.”
April 7, 2016 at 4:09 AM
Kato
Naming things gives me greater understanding. Without understanding I can’t grow. Some things just are – and don’t need or have answers. Although I do like to be aware of what I don’t know.