As an important concept, security first appeared in Freud's psychoanalytic theory research. Sigmund Freud noticed long ago that individual weakness, boys' castration anxiety and inferiority complex have an important influence on a person's growth and the emergence of mental health and neurosis after * *. Freud assumed that when an individual receives stimulation beyond the limits of his own control, release and energy, he will feel sad and dangerous, and the experience that accompanies this feeling is anxiety. Freud proposed "signal anxiety", "separation anxiety", "castration anxiety" and "superego anxiety". Later psychoanalytic researchers summarized the formation process of neurosis symptoms from the perspective of psychoanalysis, and thought that anxiety was caused by unresolved real conflicts, and then retreated to a certain behavior in childhood in order to get some comfort and balance. In other words, in Freud's psychoanalytic theory, conflict, anxiety, defense mechanism and so on are all caused by a lack of security in controlling and satisfying certain desires in one's childhood and adulthood.
Erich Fromm, a humanistic psychoanalyst, believes that the formation of children's personality reproduces the development process of human psychology. At an early age, children are totally dependent on their parents, and they impose all kinds of boundaries and taboos on them. Although children at this time have no freedom, they have a very stable sense of belonging and security. With the growth of age, children become more and more independent and have less contact with their parents. The direct result of this development process is the loss of a child's sense of belonging and security, because he has to face the society alone and be responsible for his actions. According to Fromm's view, modern society has given people great freedom, but at the same time, due to the increase of freedom, the contact between modern people and society and others is decreasing day by day, and personal responsibility is increasing day by day. Modern people are increasingly lacking a sense of belonging and often experience loneliness and insecurity.
Karen Horney, the representative of social and cultural psychoanalysis, was deeply influenced by Freud's theory, but she especially opposed Freud's instinctive determinism. She believes that children have two basic needs in their early years: the need for safety and the need for satisfaction. The satisfaction of these two needs depends entirely on parents. When parents can't meet these two needs, children will have basic anxiety. "Parents directly or indirectly control their children; Indifferent or eccentric behavior; Lack of respect for children's personal needs; Lack of sincere guidance; A contemptuous attitude; Excessive praise or lack of praise; Lack of trustworthy warmth; Let children choose one side in their parents' quarrel; Take on too much responsibility or irresponsibility; Preference and isolation of other children; Unfair, discriminatory and dishonest; Hostile atmosphere "and other ways to treat children, children will have a basic hostility to their parents. However, due to the smallness and helplessness of children themselves, children must rely on their parents, so hostility to their parents must be suppressed. As a direct result of this repression, children cast hostility towards the whole world and society, making them think that everything in the world is full of danger for them, which leads to insecurity and then turns into basic anxiety.
Sullivan, the representative figure of interpersonal relationship theory in psychiatry, pays special attention to the influence of interpersonal relationship on individual psychological development. According to Sullivan's point of view, the way human beings meet their physiological needs is restricted by society. In the process of growing up, children will realize that some ways to meet their physiological needs are not recognized by their parents. Children must adjust their behavior and adapt to their parents' standards in order to gain a sense of security. As children grow up, not only parents, teachers and other representatives of "police" and other social forces will make children feel insecure, but their pursuit of satisfaction may be rejected by society, which will also make them feel insecure and uncomfortable, or anxious.
1950 Austrian psychoanalyst E.H.Erikson pointed out that in the early stage of individual development, the main body of development is to establish the initial trust of individuals in the world. When a baby is born, if it is taken good care of by parents or other caregivers, especially the mother, if it can adopt a loving attitude towards the baby, and this kind of love is regular, consistent and reliable, the baby will feel comfortable and satisfied, have an initial sense of security, and have trust and expectation for the surrounding world. Eriksson believes that the acquisition of this basic trust is the first social achievement of children, and it is also the basis of self-unity of infants.
From the theory of psychoanalysis, we can see that the individual's sense of security is produced in this way: parents (especially mothers) are important objects in the process of children's growth. When children are young, if they can be given enough love, sustained, stable, persistent, consistent and reasonable love, children will experience a sense of security, extend their trust in others and the world, and feel self-esteem, self-confidence and certainty about reality and the future.
2. Research on the sense of security in humanistic theory.
Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, put forward his famous hierarchy of needs theory. He believes that when most of the physiological needs are met, the second-level needs appear. Individuals are increasingly interested in seeking the safety, stability and security of the environment, which may lead to the need to develop a certain structure, order and certain restrictions. The individual becomes anxious, not because of certain needs such as * *, but because of his fear and anxiety. Maslow pointed out that psychological security refers to "a feeling of self-confidence, security and freedom separated from fear and anxiety, especially the feeling of meeting one's various needs now (and in the future)". Maslow also compiled a sense of security-insecurity questionnaire (also known as S-I questionnaire) according to his clinical practice. Maslow believes that the sense of security is the most important factor to determine mental health and can be regarded as synonymous with mental health.
Maslow compared the people with security and insecurity from many aspects. Among them, insecure people often feel rejected, excluded, left out, or hated and discriminated against; Feeling lonely, forgotten and abandoned; Often feel threatened, dangerous and anxious; Have distrust, jealousy, arrogance, hatred and hostility towards others; Pessimistic tendency; Always inclined to be dissatisfied; Showing compulsive introspective tendency, morbid self-blame and self-allergy; Sin and shyness, self-condemnation tendency, even suicidal tendency; Constantly strive for a greater sense of security, showing various neurotic tendencies, self-defense tendencies, inferiority complex and so on. Selfish and self-centered. People with a sense of security feel liked and accepted, and feel the warmth and enthusiasm from others; Feel a sense of belonging and become a member of the group; Have a trusting, tolerant, friendly and enthusiastic attitude towards others; Optimistic tendency; Tending to be satisfied; Cheerful, showing the tendency of object-centered, problem-centered and world-centered, rather than self-centered, self-acceptance and self-tolerance; Strive for the necessary strength to solve the problem, pay attention to the problem rather than the rule of others; Firm and positive, good self-evaluation; Face the reality with a realistic attitude; Caring for society, cooperation, goodwill and sympathy.
It can be seen that for an insecure person, any influence in the external environment and every stimulus acting on the body are more or less easy to explain in an unsafe way, rather than in a safe way. We can see that people with strong sense of security have higher acceptance and self-identity, while people with strong sense of insecurity often hide strong inferiority and hostility. In the later period of his research, Maslow and Mitrenman put forward ten standards of mental health, the first of which is that individuals should have a "full sense of security".
3. The relationship between security and neurosis
In the process of clinical psychological consultation and treatment, we often see that children don't get enough love from their parents, or parents adopt negative parenting styles such as disrespect, contempt, ridicule and humiliation, which hurt their emotions and hurt their sense of self-worth, and they can't get rid of them until adulthood. The lack of these experiences often leads to their excessive desire to enjoy life, be appreciated and recognized. This desire inspires them to make excessive efforts and achieve results. But it is also dangerous to ask too much of himself. He often ends up depressed and tired. Generally speaking, even if they make greater efforts, they can't satisfy their higher desire for life and love. These people are always experiencing the painful feelings they are familiar with in childhood: unsatisfied, unsatisfied or unlovable-the unsatisfied love in childhood will be persistently and nervously sought in later life.
Asda and Finberg clearly put forward the concept of insecurity, which is closely related to neurosis. Later, K.Schineider( 1958) developed this relationship and put forward the "insecure personality type", thinking that the excessive pursuit of security can explain all kinds of neurotic behaviors. China scholars such as Professor Zhong Youbin and Professor Xu Youxin emphasized that insecurity is closely related to the onset of neurosis. Professor Zhong Youbin pointed out in particular that the core of compulsion is fear and insecurity. For example, for fear of infectious diseases, forcing people to wash their hands and repeatedly checking the locks are all because of fear of life and property safety and insecurity.
We believe that a sense of security is the basis of mental health. With a sense of security, you can have self-confidence and self-esteem, establish a trusting interpersonal relationship with others, that is, basic interpersonal trust, actively explore your own potential, and fully realize your humanity and value. Insecurity is a basic psychological characteristic of human beings. When it is in a relatively general range, it is not a pathological manifestation. Insecurity is the most fundamental personality foundation of many psychogenic mental disorders. Without insecurity, there will be no self-acceptance, no interpersonal trust, and no good interpersonal relationship, which will lead to psychological barriers.
Insecurity is the common personality foundation of all neurosis. When you feel insecure but can't find the object of fear, it shows anxiety; When it shows nervousness, fear and escape in interpersonal communication, it is social anxiety and social phobia; When you are extremely uncertain about your health, you will be hypochondriac. When the control results fail through various methods, they feel extremely unsafe and still don't give up, which shows obsessive-compulsive disorder. When the control object fails to lose its will and leads to despair, it can show depressive neurosis. Usually, people try to alleviate their insecurity through various means, so as to gain a sense of security, even excessive control, including the use of science, religion, superstition, self-created personal superstition, thinking (including understanding and interpretation of meaning) and behavior control in thinking and behavior.
In fact, in our life and work practice, we often see such cases. Due to the lack of enough love and security in early life experience, we are faced with many emotional troubles after * *, and most of these emotional troubles come from their dissatisfied interpersonal relationships, including their parents, companions, and even lovers and spouses after * *. They either retreat, avoid and don't know how to protect themselves; Either tough and stubborn, it is difficult to form close interpersonal relationships with people. On the surface, they have strong self-esteem and are extremely proud of their face. In fact, this kind of self-esteem is false, and it is more manifested in respect for others than in real self-esteem, self-acceptance and thinking that you are valuable. Interpersonal sensitivity is an obvious result, which leads to various emotional problems.