TA for Learners - 00.03 Passivity, Passive Behaviours, Discounting and Symbiosis

TA for Learners 

00.03 Passivity, Passive Behaviours, Discounting and Symbiosis

(This Blog is a Chapter in 'My Little TA Book')
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Passivity

Passivity means inaction. Passivity is displayed when one does nothing or does something inappropriately, or ineffectively. Jacqui and Aaron Schiff concluded that passivity results from unresolved dependency (symbiosis). Discounting is the mechanism and grandiosity (distortion of reality) provides the justification. Passivity in feeling, thinking, or doing disrupts the balance of social functioning and results in internal distress or behavioural disorders.

Passive Behaviours

Passive behaviours are manifestations of internal distress. They are in the nature of dysfunctional behaviours. They are the result of passivity with discounting being the mechanism. Four types of passive behaviours and two types of thinking disorders result. They prove to be ineffective, because some aspect of self, or of another, or of reality situation is unawarely ignored. Passive behaviours are the behavioural manifestations of redefining. The four passive behaviours are:

Doing Nothing: My husband is late. I am worried. I wait and wait and wait, worrying and becoming anxious. I do not call him up to know that he is well. I also do not call any of his friends or colleagues to learn about his well being. I invest energy in not taking  appropriate action and do not invest energy in resolving the situation. Therefore my behaviour is called 'doing nothing'.

Over Adaptation: In over adapting I assume that others are incapable. I take it to be my duty. I please others in the process. They like my behaviour because I do something for each person in the environment. Some find my behaviour odd, but overlook it. As an example: A hassled wife attends to all chores in the house. She also does a full time job to support the family. Her husband has a light job. As yet he does nothing at home. His wife does not protest nor request. She thinks it her duty as wife and mother. Such behaviour is called ‘Over Adaptation’.

Agitation: Agitation constitutes repetitive, ineffective, purposeless behaviour meant to discharge tension instead of using the energy in problem solving or ending the situation. Children chewing pencil ends, leg wagging, finger tapping, pacing up and down, picking up the mobile phone under stress, surfing applications on mobile devices and smoking are examples of agitation.

Incapacitation and Violence: In this mode the person discharges energy by harming self or another. Self-isolation, banging head and hurting oneself, throwing items at another, substance abuse, addictions of sorts, going crazy, becoming abusive, attacking others, causing personal and material loss, or causing bodily harm are forms of incapacitation and violence. Suicide and homicide are extreme forms of this passive behaviour. Incessant mind talk, ruminating anger, hate, resentment and embarrassment, insult or a put down resulting in mind becoming stunned or numbed are types of incapacitation.

Thinking Disorders

Over-detailing and generalization are two types of thinking disorders.

Over-detailing: In over-detailing the person uses unnecessary details to convey information. In grammar it is called using redundants. An example: "Actually what I want to tell you, and I should have told this to you yesterday, is that I am not coming tomorrow." Instead of "Sir, I am not coming tomorrow".

Generalization: Generalization is displayed when something related to one is viewed or conveyed to be of many. For example: If one person or a few persons do not follow traffic rules I say: "the traffic is chaotic because people do not follow traffic rules."

Thinking disorders also show up as escalations and fantasizing.

Escalation: Escalation is an inappropriate and uncalled response. Racket thinking, feeling and behaviours are escalations. Escalations also manifest as mood shifts or mood swings post events, interactions or occurrences.  

Fantasising: Fantasising is a disorder when aiding redefining, in expecting or anticipating untoward consequences, or when in the form of hallucinations, delusions, untoward imagination and similar.

Popular literature lists many types of dysfunctional thinking. 

Discounting 

We are engaged in many activities. Our perception of reality may match the popular view. If it does, then what we perceive is a consensual reality. If it does not, then our perception is different from the consensual reality. This error in perception occurs because of discounting. In discounting, some aspects of the reality are ignored, overlooked, perceived larger / stronger / more powerful / more difficult than actual or perceived to be smaller / weaker / less powerful / easier than actual. In either case a distortion has occurred. Discounting has taken place. This shift happens beyond conscious awareness. The response is inappropriate to the existing reality situation. Therefore it is ineffective.

Discounting is the mechanism in which passivity operates. Discounting is unawarely minimizing, maximizing or ignoring an aspect of reality, a capacity, an endowment which is relevant to ending a situation or solving a problem safely. Discounting is accompanied by grandiosity. Grandiosity provides justification. Simply put, when I feel grandiose, I either feel elated or powerful; or I feel put down, or ignored. 

Discounting takes place in three areas - I (Self), You (Other/s) and Reality Situation; in each of these areas discounting is of three types - of Stimulus, of Problem and of Options; and in each type it takes place at four levels - of Existence, of Significance, of Change Possibility / Solvability and of Personal Ability. The levels are called modes. A Discounting Matrix is generated.

Asai and Sakata have generated a diagram mapping the process of discounting in a formulation shown here.

 Symbiosis

Symbiosis is a form of co-dependency. There are two types of symbiosis. Healthy and unhealthy. Healthy symbiosis occurs in care giving-taking as in mother-child and nurse-patient scenarios. Unhealthy symbiosis is accompanied by discounting. Each person discounts ego state(s). This is shown in the figure below:

It results in the two persons sharing a set of PAC (three) ego states in common. An enclosing line in figure 2 is used to show this.

Discounted ego states are mostly shown as dotted lines. They are also sometimes shown as boxed as in figures on page 28.

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(This Blog is a Chapter in 'My Little TA Book')

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