Herbert Takhmazyan, LMFT

The Collective Shadow

There appears to be an aggression and anger bubbling to the surface societally. I've been noticing for several years an increasing agitation in the clientele I serve. As a psychotherapist educated from a depth psychological perspective, I naturally gravitate towards understanding the unconscious forces and motivations that lead to symptomatic expression. And, in my efforts to better understand what was happening to my clients I jumped back into exploring the manifestations of the "collective shadow."

The psyche consists of various psycho-anatomic functions much like the human body. The body contains different organs with distinct tasks to maintain homeostasis and survival of the individual. Similarly, the psyche consists of psycho-anatomic functions for self-preservation. The psyche, as defined through the Jungian lens, contains both the conscious and unconscious aspects of one's totality. Consciousness appears to be much smaller in size and power than the unconscious.

Within consciousness resides the Ego function, which people identify as the "I am". The ego can only operate within consciousness since that is where light has been shed. Ego cannot see what is unseeable or know what is unknowable within the unconscious realm. Ego is absolutely necessary to play this game of society. Over inflated egos and wounded egos tend to create issues within relationships and within the individual. The ego wears personas so that it is able to interact with people and situations contextually. Each persona allows for a certain set of beliefs, ideas, and expressions to be encapsulated within its conceptual framework, effectively rejecting the diametrically opposing forces. For example, a soccer player must maintain a stern and, at times, aggressive or angry persona in order to play the game effectively. He cannot allow for kind and empathic elements of his existence to manifest during the match. However, after the game he is able to enter that state of happiness, calmness, and kindness. Throughout the lifespan of an individual, many personas can be cultivated and utilized functionally. It starts to become a problem when a person identifies with a persona. When an individual identifies with a persona at the exclusion of the remaining elements of their totality, it inevitably leads to conscious lopsidedness and psychopathology. The diametrically opposing energies to the identified persona are excluded and psychic tension builds up leading to potentially an outburst, an "episode" of illness, or substance use to numb the tension.

When we shed light onto an object it inevitably creates a shadow behind it. The stronger the light the deeper the shadow. Similarly, when we shed conscious light (aka, in this case, awareness, acknowledgement, etc.) on personality traits that a persona embodies we create a shadow of the opposing features. When something occurs to an individual and an appropriate response would have been to become agitated or annoyed yet they only display happiness and calmness, the negative psychological energy does not disappear. Instead, it creates a shadow filled with anger, agitation, annoyance, and resentment. When a person is at work and the boss pushes boundaries and asks the individual aggressively or inappropriately to complete tasks, and that employee responds with a smile and a "yes sir," it creates an imbalance internally. The human being is capable of handling the imbalance for certain periods of time. And one of the most important aspects of growing up is to develop the capacity to handle a breath of emotions for an extended period of time so that we can become functional in society. We see that in certain youth that avoid emotion regulation by using drugs or by having overprotective parents, they struggle to contain themselves when these sorts of situations arise with an employer for example. When we have pent up tension after a long day of holding it together for the sake of honoring the responsibilities of the task at hand, there needs to be an outlet of this tension. Otherwise, there can be a possessive outburst or dissociation with that psychic energy. There are many stories where the father comes home and at the slightest thing someone in the family says or does he becomes enraged. This emotional displacement is due to the buildup of shadow content from his long and difficult day at work. Placating to the asks of others, smiling and politely agreeing to what is demanded of him, and not having an outlet to release the pressure.

The human shadow refers to any personality trait, any feeling, or any idea, that we reject as being a part of our personality. When the shadow energy is repressed in certain situations or for extended periods of time, it can be dissociated and lodged into the unconscious. This can become very dangerous for the individual and for society at large. The Judeo-Christian approach to life, for example, created a dichotomy of the human experience by defining the "good" versus the "evil." For benevolent reasons people often identify with the good and the expression of only the good. The evil within does not disappear and if the individual does not have a proper protocol for acknowledging and in certain cases expressing the perceived "evil" within appropriate limits, then it becomes dissociated and inaccessible to consciousness. This perceptive "evil" becomes a force that resides within the unconscious. When energy in the unconscious becomes powerful enough and if the conditions are just right, it can become possessive and take control of one's ego identity. Most people can acknowledge that at times they've been possessed by an emotion that they cannot fully understand and only once they've been released from the grips of it can they view it more objectively and realize that something occurred to them. This is in reference to your average human being that suddenly experiences a rageful fit, or a panic, or a love spell, or a crying episode, etc.

When human beings go to sleep and dream of a different landscape at night, these are expressions of the unconscious that are fully autonomous. It is absolutely imperative that each individual is able to acknowledge the plurality and multidimensionality within themselves of the good versus evil, and also to effectively work with that content otherwise it's expressions are automatic and possessive.

To complicate things with increased severity, we add the "collective" element of this shadow experience. When an individual consistently disregards and dislodges shadow content into the unconscious, he becomes vulnerable to possessions. The psychology of a person can then become hijacked by external cues. If an individual is unaware of Shadow content buildup then it is easy to become manipulated and hijacked emotionally. It's dangerous because malevolent or incompetent actors can activate the individual and effectively activate an entire society to do things that are beyond them. There are countless examples throughout history in which major populations have become activated and committed horrendous atrocities. And, when evaluating these societies one can find the buildup of Shadow content through the narratives, stories, actions, policies, cultural norms, etc. One can observe and identify the writings on the wall and how sooner or later something would activate this content and possess each individual's sense of autonomy. Once this occurs even the most horrendous actions such as murder become justified in the eyes of the beholder. It is absolutely imperative that each individual is able to develop a protocol for acknowledging, and when necessary, expressing their Shadow content otherwise it will sink into the unconscious and when the conditions are ripe, they will take over.

Herbert Takhmazyan, LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with an M.A. from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Counseling Psychology with the Emphasis in Depth Psychology. Mr. Takhmazyan can be reached herb@nhtfamily.com.