PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23331, 25 October 1937, Page 14

PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

"Dealing with Our Complexes” was the subject under consideration last Thursday evening at the Dunedin Practical Psychology Club. A complex, it was stated, had been defined as a system of associated mental elements, the stimulation of any one of which was liable to call the rest into consciousness through the medium of their common effect. Some complexes had a basis in the inherited instincts common to all human beings; others were individual and dependent primarily on education or experiences. The history of the formation and development of complexes formed a large part of the history of the development of the individual mind. They were formed by the interaction of the impressions constantly flowing in from’the external world with the inherited instincts which lay within the mind, and from which the energy of the complexes was derived. Once formed, a complex limited and determined the modes of expression of the instincts, and a very large part of man’s actions and opinions were entirely determined by his complexes.

A special form of complexes occurred when certain fears became prominent, and these were known to the psycho-analyst as phobias. Different types of phobias and the fears which might have led to their development were touched upon. Other types of complexes were discussed, the inferiority complex being dealt with at some length, tests to apply to recognise it in its many varied forms and methods to overcome its undesirable influence in the life being given. During the evening diagrams prepared by members to illustrate points brought forward were shown and the work done by psycho-analysts to eradicate undesirable complexes was discussed. To get rid of harmful complexes, the advice given by Dr Chalmers, in what was called in Scotland “ The Disruption,” was worth considering. When his fellow churchmen gave up church, manse, and stipend for what they believed to be the cause of right and truth, they not unnaturally felt their loss keenly. His advice was to look forward rather than backward, and to build .a new church so much finer than the old that regret would be swallowed up in the new glory. His encouraging phrase was that success must be achieved by “ the expulsive power of a new affection.” And so by the cultivation of higher and better ideas, the power of which was deliberately increased, the harmful ideas were quietly elbowed out of place by the expulsive power of the new.