In this somewhat ad hoc series of writings, I am devoting space to examining a little more deeply each of the 5 Reichian Character Types - Leaving, Oral, Enduring, Rigid and Aggressive - and fleshing out aspects of them.
My intention is threefold:
to explore how this Type is and how it manifests within our own psyche
to put out my own learnings and further my own understandings
to just write more about Character Structure because I feel like not enough therapists are doing this!
One of the biggest learnings for me, over the time that I’ve really engaged with Reich’s work, has been the revelation that we all have each of these Character Types inside, affecting our behaviour in different ways and in different situations.
I’ve recently written pieces about the other four, and now we come to the final Type - the Aggressive. It’s generally placed last in line because the typical wounding that creates it usually happens when we’re older.
As mentioned in the last piece, we can subdivide the 5 Characters into two categories - pre-egoic and egoic. The Aggressive is placed firmly in the “egoic” category.
This is important. Someone heavily in the Aggressive Type will be out in the world doing stuff, taking risks and moving forwards. They will not be just imagining themselves doing this (Leaving Type). Neither will they be collapsed within themselves and simply struggling to fit in and get needs met (Oral or Enduring Types). Nor will they be just a part of “the system” - reaping the rewards for correct functioning (Rigid Type).
No, the Aggressive is out there, not respecting the rules or other authority, doing their thing. They are hyper-self-reliant, manipulative, highly adaptive to new situations, very capable of turning on the charm and often just downright aggressive!
Contrary to how many people see them, they actually aren’t often found at the CEO level of companies. Such a mechanical role would really not suit them. They might however be the entrepreneur, with a string of successful start-ups to their name. But, chances are, they sold those companies, once they got too big to run them on their own, their way.
America, in particular, has a high percentage of Aggressive Types. And, no matter what judgments you might have about them, they have also moved global culture forwards. They have that “Captain Kirk” spirit, to boldly go into the unknown. They can create havoc in their wake. But they also do leave a wake in their path. They don’t accept the communist ideal of a “steady state,” where all the citizen has to do is eat, sleep, get married, procreate and settle down - repeat ad infinitum. Aggressives break into new terrain and bit by bit, the whole of human culture follows.
But what is it that creates the Aggressive Type? What aspects of their childhood forged this hyper-motivated individual who will stop at nothing? That’s an interesting question.
Therapists and psychologists have traditionally struggled to explain the Aggressive character type through reference to their childhood. They usually can’t find obvious and consistent links. However, this does not necessarily mean that there aren’t formative experiences. In fact, in my opinion, this situation is more likely due to the fact that most Aggressives are utterly uninterested in therapy, or looking inwards. Unless they’re in a total crisis, there’s no way they would attend a therapy session. That’s the place you will least likely find them.
We know a lot more about the three “pre-egoic” character types for a reason. Their lives tend to be so dysfunctional that they’re the guys who seek therapeutic support.
The utter refusal of most Aggressives to examine their inner world of thinking, motivations and behaviour also makes it really not easy to plot causal links to their childhoods. Whereas the average Oral Type will merrily introspect on his or her relationship with their parents for hours on end, Aggressives are the precise opposite!
So, what I’m trying to say is that our difficulty in understanding the formative experiences of the Aggressive Type may be more around gathering data, rather than such links not existing.
The one thing an Aggressive Type typically will not do is to get themselves engaged in a situation where they could end up experiencing vulnerability. Talking about childhood threatens to do just that and so Aggressives will avoid it.
And it is this that, for me, speaks volumes about the Aggressive Type and where their behaviour has its origins. At some point between the ages of 5 and 15, the Aggressive Type likely trusted implicitly a parent, a teacher or another adult in a position of authority. They gave their whole heart to this person. And then it went wrong.
Perhaps they realised that this adult was actually just using them. Mom only wanted the good grades to make herself look good. Dad only wanted them to do Karate so they could brag about their kid to his buddies. The teacher who they admired above all else turns around one day, in a bad mood, and puts them down.
This kind of wounding, when it happens to a ten-year old, can be overwhelming. But, after the inner collapse that comes with that feeling of having been exploited by someone they trusted, eventually they rise again. Only this time it’s for payback. They resolve to never again be reliant on another; to never again allow themselves to be exposed to such a feeling of vulnerability; to never again trust another human being.
The wound itself soon descends deep within them, below the level of their conscious awareness. But the drive to escape the past remains, pushing them forwards each waking moment. They work unbelievably hard to be totally self-reliant. They study unrelentingly whatever they need to study to get the skills and qualifications that will put them in the driving seat.
To face the world, they learn to project their energy up their body to the front, creating a face and a chest that will either overpower or seduce anyone who gets in their way. The world has wounded them. It has let them down when they most trusted. And now the world is going to pay for that. Fuelled by this righteous ire, they set themselves on the path for success, no matter what odds, no matter what cost.
In working so hard, and in being driven so strongly, the expectation in the psyche of the Aggressive Type is that, eventually, they will come to a place of total security where the wounds of the past will be left behind. However, unfortunately for them, psychology doesn’t work this way.
Some years down the line, finding themselves in their expensive apartment, with their high-status partner, paid for through their high-income career, they believe that, surely now, they will experience contentment. Now that they are invulnerable, and no one can mess with them anymore, surely they will feel peace? Nope.
The early wounding that has driven the Aggressive Type forwards through life is still there, in their inner world. Simply becoming powerful and successful in the outer world has not diminished it. They are like the “gym-rat” who has bench-pressed their way to an incredible upper-body physique. But who, on the inside, still feels and behaves like a powerless child. That which dwells in our inner world cannot be dealt with in the outer. All compensation strategies fail. Finally, we have to look inside and engage with that which we have been avoiding for so long.
How then, does the Aggressive Type move forwards to resolving this inner wounding?
Well, for a start, they need to feel their back more. By constantly creating a powerful front, they invariably have no feeling in their back. But our back is where we naturally feel support. Our spine keeps us upright. And when we’re aware of it, our mind can let go of the need to control our environment so much. When we are aware of the sensation of our back, we know we actually are supported. It’s a tangible feeling, an inner knowledge.
The next, and most powerful strategy for the Aggressive is to become more okay with being vulnerable. This is the make-or-break issue for these guys, or for this side of ourselves. When the Aggressive actually becomes interested in their inner world of feelings and can bear to take the risk to share this world with others, a huge step will have been taken. Everything about the Aggressive Type is actually geared around not doing this. So it will be a major task and will take time. But, of course, being Aggressive they do like a challenge!
Thank you for reading
Devaraj