The Ultimate Resistance

Abstract

Although resistance takes many forms, this article elucidates the primary source of resistance in psychotherapy as well as the fundamental resistance to leading a fulfilling life. The ultimate resistance to change, in both cases, originates in the anticipatory fear of arousing existential angst. To varying degrees, most individuals retreat from life and adopt defense mechanisms in an attempt to avoid reawakening suppressed feelings of terror and dread they experienced as children in early separation experiences, and, in particular, when they first learned about death. As clients dismantle their defenses during therapy and move toward increased individuation and self-fulfillment, these unconscious fears threaten to emerge into conscious awareness, and core resistances come into play. Certain events and circumstances, both positive and negative, arouse or intensify latent death anxiety, whereas other circumstances and defenses relieve it. There are numerous defenses that help ameliorate the core anxiety including the fantasy bond—an illusion of connection or fusion with another person, persons, groups, or causes—addictions, microsuicidal behavior, and literal and symbolic methods of denying one’s eventual demise. Although these defenses provide a measure of security and a sense of immortality, they adversely affect one’s psychological adjustment, emotional well-being, and interpersonal relationships.

Adapting psychotherapy to patient reactance level: A meta‐analytic review

“…Resistance in the context of psychotherapy implies a fundamental apprehension and aversion to change (Firestone, ). To a clinician, resistance is an attribute of the person and indicates, as the term suggests, a pulling back and digging in to prevent change from occurring.…”

Collective in exile: Utilizing terror management theory to understand women’s wailing performance

“…Wailing represents a transition “from tears to ideas” (Holst-Warhaft, 1995). As speech, it has been decoded by researchers (Abu-Lughod, 1993; Feld, 1995; Seremetakis, 1990; Urban, 1988). As in Misharina’s (2011) case, I found that Yemenite-Jewish wailing functions as a representative voice that creates an encounter among possible intersubjective identities and representations (“dead,” “alive”).…”

“…It clashes with male-oriented “rational” and religious patterns of suppression, acceptance of divine judgment, and concern about the transmigration of the soul (Das, 1986; Gamliel, 2014). The femininity of wailing is associated with its being viewed as an “affective discourse” (Abu-Lughod, 1993), “wept thoughts” (Feld, 1995), a “symbolic force” (Briggs, 1993), and a creative medium for a subversive female message (Bourke, 1993; Holst-Warhaft, 1995; Raheja & Gold, 1994). Wailing’s subversive aspect is attributed not only to the social demands faced by women but to a female preference for the concretization of death and the fomenting of its terror by turning to the deceased, dealing with the body and the grave, loss of self-control, self-mutilation, trance, and so forth (Bourke, 1993; Briggs, 1993; Holst-Warhaft, 1995).…”

“…Corresponding to the tripartite security system model, collective weeping encourages empathy with those present and the safety of mutual support-feelings that, according to TMT, ward off death anxiety (Hart, Shaver, & Goldenberg, 2005;Kashima, 2010). When such weeping is induced by the story of a mother's absence, it is so intimate that it allows the individual temporarily to reexperience the fantasy bond with significant others (Gamliel, 2014), a prime defense against death anxiety (Firestone, 2015). Given the strong connection between death anxiety and abandonment anxiety in TMT, the effect of MS amplification in a group context is obvious: it turns the group into an object of projection for the individual and molds social cohesion into a therapeutic anchor.…”