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Roland, A. (1980). Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Personality Development in India. Int. R. Psycho-Anal., 7:73-87.

(1980). International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 7:73-87

Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Personality Development in India

Alan Roland
'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread' may be a rather appropriate warning for a psychoanalyst from a completely different culture trying to comment on personality development in India. This may be especially true for an analyst staying for a very limited period of time in India. Then of course there is the complex problem of trying to impose any psychological generalization where there is such an enormous heterogeneity of social backgrounds, including castes, classes, religious communities, regional differences, and the increasingly enormous split between urban and rural living. It is all too easy to become one of those proverbial blind men, who each persistently mistook part of the elephant for the whole. On the other hand, some advantages may accrue to the foreign analyst in his possibly asking some new questions, or at the very least approaching Indian culture and personality from fresh perspectives. In making these initial formulations, I am drawing upon observations from short-term psychoanalytic therapy with twelve Indian patients, both women and men, from five different religious communities in Bombay and New Delhiall middle or upper middleclass, English-speaking, and upper caste when Hindu; counselling three groups of female college students from different colleges in Bombay, occasionally seeing them and some boys from still another college in individual sessionsthe students ranging from mainly traditional to some sophisticated, modern families; supervising two psychoanalysts and several social workers on their own patients from a variety of communities; attending a number of case conferences at a variety of institutions; and having extensive discussions with psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, sociologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists. The basic social anthropological assumption of this paper is that child-rearing and personality development in a given culture and society is generally congruent with the basic social patterns and cultural values. Stated from a more psychoanalytic standpoint, the intrapsychic structures, often of an unconscious nature, are consonant with the social roles, structures, and attitudes; and when studied in depth may be found to be an important mirror of ongoing social processes. In times of rapid social change, however, important incongruities and conflicts may result; or at least, there is a challenge to new integrations. Then there is the spectre of national character, which I would like to lay to rest before the issue is raised. It is obvious that in such an enormously heterogeneous society and culture as India, there can be nothing even approaching national character. There would be instead numerous kinds of group character. However, the thrust of my own approach will be to delineate similar psychological structures, many of them unconscious, which underlie the prolific variety of group character in India. I would like to use two basic psychoanalytic perspectives in approaching the development of the self in Indian personality: (a) that of symbiosis, and separation and individuation in early maternal object-relationsi.e. within the matrix of the early childhood relationship with the mothering person(s); and (b) the central role of narcissism. From these are generated further issues involving important distinctions between individuality, individuation, and individualism. Then, ironically but not altogether unexpectedly, observations on Indian relationships and psychological

This paper is a result of a psychoanalytic research project investigating 'Identity Conflicts and Resolutions in Urban India' as part of a Senior Research Fellowship of the American Institute of Indian Studies, 197778. The sponsoring American institution was the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, and the official affiliating institution in India which graciously gave enormous assistance was the Indian Council of Mental Health in Bombay. An earlier version of this paper was given as the 7th Girindrasekhar Memorial Lecture to the Indian Psychoanalytical Society on the 7th January, 1978, in Calcutta and published in Samiksa 32, 4765. Other versions were presented at the Southern Asian Institute, Columbia University, New York City on 30 March 1978, and at the Austen Riggs Foundation, Stockbridge, Massachusetts on 26 January 1979. Copyright Alan Roland
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development seem to necessitate some revision of these two basic psychoanalytic conceptions as being too culture-bound in their current formulations, or at least in the description of their configurations. When I speak of symbiosis and separation-individuation, I am referring to the important work of Mahler et al.(1975) which now constitutes a major contribution to psychoanalysis around the early development of the self. Mahler, paralleling Freud's concepts of the psychosexual stages of developmentas Erikson, Klein, and others have previously donehas posited corresponding developmental stages, much more closely associated with early maternal relationships. Initially, in the first four to five months, there is the symbiotic phase in which the mother or mothering person initiates close empathic communication and emotional relatedness with the infant, but where the infant's image of self and other is supposed to remain fused. The major emphasis in Mahler's work is much more on the developmental stage from ages 3 to 5 months to 3 years where gradual separation and individuation from the mothering person takes place, and where intrapsychically the young child can begin to differentiate sufficiently the image of the self from the other, as well as

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to develop autonomous ego skills. It is important to note that both Mahler and Jacobson (1964) have emphasized that too much maternal symbiotic gratification is considered to result in severe borderline or psychotic psychopathology, as it supposedly prevents the infant from making sufficiently clear distinctions between mentalemotional images of the self and other ('self' and 'object-representations' in contemporary psychoanalysis). 'An omnipresent infantalizing mother who interferes with the child's innate striving for individuation may retard the development of the child's full awareness of self-other differentiation ' (Mahler et al., 1975, p. 4). Symbiosis thus acquires something of a pejorative ring to it, and the successful negotiations of the stages of separation and individuation are considered crucial to later adolescent and adult functioningat least in Western societies. Even more recently, Mahler's concepts of symbiosis and separation-individuation have been extended from stages of development to basic modalities of relationship: the former standing for emotionally close, dependent, affective, empathic relationships; the latter stressing the psychological achievement of autonomy, self-reliance, self-expression and initiative in a variety of relationships and activitiescharacteristic of the individual functioning among numerous available social options in contemporary American society. Again, the focus has been more on separation and individuation, with more symbiotic modes of relationship being considered psychopathological until quite recently. I would further add that different cultures, both in the developmental stages of childhood and in their basic modes of relationship, seem to lay far different stresses on either symbiosis or separation and individuation. My distinct impression is that traditional Indian child-rearing and social relationships not only clearly emphasize more symbiotic modes of relating, but also tend to inhibit separation and individuation. Let us take child-rearing first. As any number of writers have noted, the mothering personsand these often include the infant's grandmother, aunts, older siblings, cousins, and servants besides the motherare tremendously physically and emotionally gratifying and indulgent to the infant and young child when they can be. There is a great deal of sensuous, physical closeness, including sleeping arrangementseven where there is enough room, which there often isn'twhere the infant and toddler is in the mother's or parental bed until being displaced by the next sibling, or until being several years of age. The child will then usually sleep with another child or adult. The youngest child may sleep with the mother over a number of years, and especially if a girl, well into her teens and even until marriage. To the extent the mothering person canand various responsibilities at times prevent her from doing soshe will handle the infant's and young child's frustrations, anxieties, and unhappiness by instant gratification. We are faced with a profound paradox that it is just this kind of highly symbiotic mothering that Mahler and Jacobson so decry, that is the ideal of the Indian motheryet without the inevitable deleterious effects. On the other hand, infants and young children, especially boys, are not generally encouraged to do things for themselves or to explore the environment apart from the mothering person.
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Varied aspects of early separation and individuation are not encouraged in traditional Indian child-rearing, and may even be said to be discouragedthough this is changing somewhat in the more modern, middle and upper middle-class, urbanized sectors. Both Hoch (a Swiss psychiatrist who is currently Superintendent of Mental Health Services in Kashmir) and Bhutta (principal of a progressive nursery school in Bombay and director of the Indian section of the film, Mothers of Six Cultures) have commented that while the mothering person(s) are generally physically and emotionally gratifying to the infant, they may not be empathically oriented towards the individualized needs of a particular child. Mrs Bissel, director of a progressive nursery school and kindergarten in New Dehli consisting of both Indian and Western children, observed that the latter even at ages 2 and 3 were found to be more autonomous, approached tasks with greater initiative and independence than the Indian children, who on their own part were far more sensitive to the relationships within the group. Consider the comments by girl college students at Jai Hind College in Bombay upon seeing a Canadian film of 2- and 3-year-olds in a nursery school and at home. These students found these children far more exploratory of their environment and involved with toys than corresponding Indian children, while the nursery school teacher and mother seemed far less involved and protective than the typical Indian mothering personat least from their middle-and upper middle-class families. That individualized needs of the child seem not to be overly attended to is institutionalized in typical Indian urban schools, even the ones where parents pay for tuition, where there seems to be relatively little consideration for individualizing work for the particular child, Thus, all children are generally given the same task to do at the same time, regardless of developed skill or potential; the overemphasis on rote-memory has been frequently noted. What has also been almost universally noted is an extraordinarily close tie of the developing child, male and female, to the mothering person(s). This has certainly been the case with the various patients I have worked with, including three from the highly Westernized Parsee community of Bombay. I should also refer in this regard to the work of Nandy (1976) and Kakar (1978) in which both emphasize how much the creativity of the Indian man derives from the maternal matrix, with tremendous struggles for individuation and autonomy from the maternal symbiosis as well. This struggle may sometimes result in considerable aggression in the male according to Kakar, manifesting itself in a profound splitting of good and bad maternal images, and culturally, in the ambivalently powerful goddesses. In my own experience with Indian patients, the strong pull to the maternal symbiosis seems to stem from intense sensuous gratification, indulgenceespecially with the male child, feelings of an omnipotent alliance with the all-powerful mother, and vulnerability to either the mothering person's intrusiveness or narcissistic use of the child. According to comments made at a seminar at the B.M. Institute of Mental Health in Ahmedabad by Ramanujam (1978), Director of Clinical Services there and a leading Indian psychoanalytic psychiatrist, trained in the United States, separation and individuation of the self simply do not take place in the Indian child and later adult personality as it does in the West. The self of the Indian child seems to remain in a much closer

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relationship with objects or family members, encompassing others within less sharply defined ego boundaries between self and others. Not to be overlooked in the separation-individuation process is the role of the father. This has always struck a major note in Jungian psychology and is now receiving increasing attention in contemporary Freudian thinking. The father, or male authority-figure, plays a central role in rescuing the child from an overly close attachment to the mother. In traditional Indian society, the father is distant and acts as an authority to enforce discipline, respect and obedience. From psychoanalytic work with Indian men, it is apparent that one effect of this is to preserve and perpetuate emotionally the mother-son symbiosis, which is further supported throughout life by sociocultural roles and values of the son remaining strongly attached to his mother. For contemporary urban Indian men who are striving for greater separation and individuation from the mother, the father becomes a crucial person not only to enable the son to separate from the mother, but also the mother
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from the son. An important part of this mother-son symbiosis are feelings of an omnipotent alliance on both sides. Two Bombay psychoanalysts reported that in certain bania or business communities in Bombay where there are extremely sharp business practices, no guilt is experienced by the man as long as he remains in an omnipotent symbiotic alliance with his mother. In other words, as long as this inner alliance is maintained, anything goes. In terms of social relationships and modes of communication, Indians often display enormous sensitivity to what others are feeling, to the mood of a group, to the effects of what one does or says on the other, to possibly hurting another, with often considerable emotional warmth, affection, love, and consideration of the other's feelings and needswith equally strong expectations of reciprocity. Thus, inclinations to give and to ask become highly accentuated, sometimes with a relative disregard of either one's own needs or those of the other. Sometimes, the asking is not even done directly, but rather through subtle manoeuvres that induce the other to do something he or she would have refused if asked directly. The other to a certain extent seems to be experienced partially as some extension of oneself. Favours may at times be freely asked of another, even a stranger, who may find it difficult to refuse if it plays on unconscious identifications with the selfless mother. Profound identifications with the all-sacrificing mother seem to be present even in men, where there seems to be a much stronger incorporation of the feminine-maternal principle than in most Western menas a kind of polarity to the overt social structure where male authority is so stressed. A family member, or even those working in some organization, who find it difficult to assert their own wishes or needs may pick on someone else to voice their wishes. The other, even while realizing that the full weight of displeasure will fall on himself, will nevertheless do what is asked so as not to appear selfish. I would like to give a couple of examples of this. In a large social service department in a highly regarded institution, many of the women were apparently afraid of asserting their own strong dissatisfactions with certain practices and rules. In a subtle way, they then settled on one of the strongest of them to fight with the authority figures to win their points. This particular woman could not say no and fought the battle successfully, even though knowing it would cost her her well-regarded position therewhich it did. Another interesting example was told to me by Udayan Patel, a Bombay psychoanalytic student, about a patient who received a phone call from the former employer of this man's servant, strongly requesting that he send the girl servant back to the former employer since the latter's wife was having a breakdown and missed this servant. The patient's strong initial reaction was that of compliance, regardless of any inconvenience to his own family, or of any wishes or feelings of the girl. How could he be so selfish as to keep the girl? It was only with the reflection of analysis that he decided to ask his servant how she felt about it. He then learned she had left the former employer because of his proximity to her frequently drunken father who had been rather brutal to her. She obviously didn't want to return. The man then had to deal with his own unconscious identification with the selfless mother in finally refusing the other's demand. Communication is very often subtle, nonverbal, and on different levels, but others seem acutely perceptive of these cuesif not always able to resolve the ambiguities. Not eating while stating that you are feeling perfectly well can be a subtle but powerful non-verbal communication that you have been hurt or feel aggrieved by another person, and may further communicate that by denying oneself you expect the other person to change. This, incidentally, also expresses a major theme in Indian culture: self-sacrifice and austerity are equated with strength. In a close family, the child becomes astutely sensitive to the complex relationships, and develops an ability to observe etiquette and manoeuvre among them for what he wants. he becomes something of a minor politician and carries over this ability to other groups later in life. Affectional ties are extremely strong, and become extended from the family into the outside world, so that work situations at times may attain the flavour of a new family, or outside relationships start to resemble extended family relationships. On the other hand, in certain organizational situations where promotions are competitive rather than going by seniority, there can be extrmely intense jealousy over who is the favoured malea carry-over of the early symbiotic ties.
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What I have been emphasizing of course is what I would term more symbiotic modes of relating. An important question must now be raised whether this tremendous gratification of symbiotic needs in infancy and even later, and the relative suppression of impulses of the self towards separation and individuation, result in the severe borderline or psychotic psychopathology that Mahler and

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Jacobson posittheir position being representative of much of the thinking of contemporary psychoanalytic ego psychology (G. & R. Blanck, 1974). Obviously not. This severe psychopathology might well result in the case of a Western mother, who to be this gratifying to the infant and this suppressing of impulses to separation and individuation, would imply in her culture an emotionally disturbed woman who related to her child primarily as a narcissistic extension of herself. In India, what this early stress on symbiotic nurturance, with the relative discouragement of separation and individuation, seem to result in psychologically is a self far more closely identified with others of the family, with ego boundaries that are more inclusive of others rather than being relatively self-contained. As Ramanujam (1978) has commented, the distinction between 'I' and 'you, ' and the emphasis on 'me' and 'my'as in Western culture, becomes transformed to a self more attuned to 'we, ' 'us, ' and 'our.' The early development of the self along these lines becomes totally consonant with a social structure and roles in which the individual remains far more involved and embedded within close, well-defined, hierarchical family relationships and roles throughout life than in the modern, industrialized, urban West. Even in the changing urbanized, unitary families, extended family relationships seem to be extremely strong. Through this child-rearing process, intense, profound identifications with the family and thus with caste or jati customs, traditions, and norms are greatly enhancedthus continuing them as a major thrust of Indian society and culture. Identification processes are further intensified by the paradoxical situation that although family and other relationships are very hierarchical and authority-oriented, there is no separation of age groupsso that the child and adolescent are constantly with their parents and other parental figures (Anandalakshmi, 1977). I have the impression from psychoanalytic work that girls in particular have profoundly internalized attitudes of carrying on jati traditions, not wanting to hurt or let their family down. These extremely strong identifications often lead to feelings that others of another community may be tremendously differentwhich indeed they may be in terms of customs, ethos, traditions, and normswhile the psychological structures and modes of relationship may actually be quite similar. Thus, the close identifications with one's own family and community enhances the perception of enormous differences in othersso that an individual coming from a very different tradition may become considerably jarring within extended or joint family relationships. Marriages are always considered to be far less risky between persons of the same communityso that conflict is minimized through husband and wife and their respective families having similar customs, traditions, and even languages. The point of view I have been developing on child-rearing leads me to hypothesize that for the Indian child, transitional objects assume less importance than for a Western child, as a mothering person is usually sufficiently close by to alleviate any anxiety over separation. The current psychoanalytic emphasis on transitional objects in childhood, brilliantly elaborated by Winnicott (1953), is on the whole more related to issues of separation and individuationhow children internalize and symbolize nurturing others within their psyche and in their play as they become increasingly separate and individuated from the mothering person(s). On reflection, this also seems true of Kohut's (1971), (1977) seminal work on narcissism where internalized structures built up through identification and mirroring processes enable the individual to be more autonomous and able to relate to the other as more separaterather than as an extension of the self. The self-object (other) would seem on the whole to be much closer to the self in Indian personality than Western: that is, the other person in India is often more related to in terms of one's self and needs; and conversely, one's self is often closely related to fulfilling others' needs. Even Erikson's (1968) work on identity crises and syntheses can be understood from this perspective: it presupposes sociocultural contexts emphasizing considerable individual
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autonomy, initiative, and a wide variety of available social options. One could generalize that the major developments over the last 30 years in psychoanalysis in the West have to do with the internal psychic structures that are necessary for the individual to cope well in a sociocultural context where a high degree of individual autonomy, individuation, and individualized independent functioning are required. I would now like to move to another vantage point that will yield a rather different perspective on the Indian psyche and relationships, that of narcissism, which Spratt (1966) and Anjali Dhumale (personal communication) consider to be the central psychological issue. It is not that narcissism is an unimportant issue in other cultures. In fact, much of contemporary psychoanalysis in the United States deals with problems of narcissism, particularly of narcissistic deprivation in terms of mirroring and loss of the object for idealization and identification, with resultant defensive compensationsas well as of mothers' unconscious intrusive narcissistic use of their children. However, the emphasis on narcissism in Indian personality strikes a particular chord, and forms a particular gestalt with the rest of the culture that is quite different and needs to be discussed in a number of its varied facets. The significant emotional investment that mothers have in their children can be posited as being central to the development of an infant's basic narcissistic well-being. Indian mothers in particular would seem to have an extraordinarily great emotional investment, especially with a boy. Traditionally, of course, an Indian woman's basic status and identity within the family primarily resides in her being a mother, further supported by the traditional de-emphasis on the close, conjugal marital relationship. Her status is particularly enhanced as being a mother of sons to carry on the family continuity; but daughters are also highly important, as the female perhaps more than the male is expected to be the carrier and preserver of traditions, customs and norms, as well as of the family honour. Social status and cultural values in India seem highly congruent on the central importance of motherhood within familial and social structures. Culturally, as many writers have noted, the goddesses under a variety of forms and names are extremely powerful and fully as important as the gods, and are usually depicted in an active form. With this tremendous emphasis on intense maternal involvement with the infant, gratification and closeness, and adoration of the infant as being closer to God, the development of a central core of heightened narcissistic well-being in the infant and very young child would seem to be greatly enhanced.

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A large number of implications follow upon this. For one, it would tend to give an intrapsychic basis for a culture which strongly emphasizes ego-ideal formation and content through the traditional elaboration of a large number of mythical models suitable to a variety of temperaments, inclinations, and cognitive stylesthese models still seeming to figure significantly in the preconscious of the Indian psyche. Enhanced narcissistic well-being would also seem to be the emotional correlate of the basic Hindu Vedantic spiritual formulation of Atman equals Brahmanthat the individual soul is at one with the Godhead (Spratt, 1966). A heightened sense of self and self-worth would seem psychologically rather central and congruent to the basic premise of realizing the God within oneself. This early gratification and strong narcissistic core probably also creates a profound sense of protection and well-being in later life, inuring the person against great struggles and deprivation. Various commentators on Indian childhood all testify to a severe and often sudden crackdown on the child, usually starting between the ages of 3 to 5 or 6 and lasting through the latency years well into adolescencecontrasting strongly with the enormous narcissistic gratification of the previous years. The child is expected to conform to family expectations and obligations, and to curb childhood assertions of the willusually strongly associated with separation processes. Overly aggressive or demanding responses, particularly to parents and elders, but even to siblings, are often strongly dealt with. Obedient and respectful behaviour is expected, as well as conformity to the well-defined hierarchical role-expectations and relationships of Indian family life. This crackdown seems first and foremost to be instituted by the mothering person(s), and only later by the father or other males of the family. It apparently often suddenly occurs at the birth of a younger sibling, and may also concur simultaneously with
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having to give up the mother's bed and her security. This loss of an initial state of heightened narcissistic well-being with a corresponding increase in anxiety over meeting the new demands is what Bassa (1978) terms 'The cardinal crisis of Indian childhood', and what Ramanujam (1978) calls, 'The main and only developmental conflict of Indian children'. All Indian children apparently have to negotiate this developmental stage of narcissistic loss, with the corresponding anxiety of having to live up to familial expectations. This crackdown, lasting well through the latency years, results in what Udayan Patel terms (in a personal communication) a severe latency superegocontrasting it with an earlier superego oriented around being gratified and bribed out of forbidden behaviour, and attuned to unverbalized disapproving moods and emotions of the mothering person(s). This later superego may at times result in the Indian person being somewhat out of touch with very strong underlying feelings and fantasies that if experienced, would be felt to be unacceptable. According to comments made by Ramanujam, the anxiety from the period of the crackdown may result in considerable obsessive-compulsive rituals, which are often culturally sanctioned and channelled. The traditional sociocultural emphasis on pollution and purity for social differentiation and status also implies a close psychological connexion with narcissistic well-being or default. The early childhood experience of heightened narcissistic well-being together with later narcissistic blows, would seem quite consonant with social patterns of shaming for control of the child. Often enough, the ego-ideal of the child is appealed to: e.g. 'how can you do this?' or 'we wouldn't expect this of you'. An older child is told to be protective of a younger one, or siblings are told not to fight because members of the same family love each other. The status, honour, and well-being of the familywith which the child is very closely identifiedis appealed to for the child to mind his or her behaviour, especially in public. Shaming would seem to be particularly effective in Indian culture because (a) the child wants to regain the original state of heightened narcissistic well-being, either individually or in close identification with the family, and often through internalized structures of strong ego-ideals; and (b) the child is closely identified with and highly sensitive to what others are feeling toothat is, how the child's behaviour can affect their narcissism. What also apparently makes shaming particularly effective is that the parental figure conveys a tone of real concern for the child when the criticism is being made. In any case, there seems to be a heightened sensitivity throughout life as to how others view oneself in a wide variety of situations. This of course often leads to circumspection and caution in a variety of situations and relationships. I find that most Indian persons are extraordinarily sensitive to what might hurt another, particularly the other's narcissism or their pride, status, etc. and are also very sensitive to being hurt themselves. Sensitivity to the other's status and mutual consideration of each other's narcissistic well-being becomes a major force within hierarchically structured social relationships. Sons and daughters seem acutely sensitive to their parents' feelings, and may sacrifice all kinds of wishes feeling it might hurt their parents. Conversely, one may try to get ahead by constantly gratifying the narcissism of one's superior. According to comments by Hoch (a psychiatrist who has practised in India for many years), it is not only a question of not wanting to hurt the other, but especially of not spoiling the atmosphere within which one has to live. I have found in conferences that what is conveyed, or even more importantly, what is not said is more often governed on how it will affect the other person than on the issue at hand; extremely sharp disagreements may be kept to oneself. The issues thus often become less crucial than the other's feelings. Therefore, a conference in India can be a much smoother, friendlier affair than a corresponding one in the Westat least on the surface. Still another aspect of narcissism involves the person's observance of various well-defined sociocultural expectations and roles, especially within the family but in other hierarchical social structures as well, while having inner feelings of a very different nature. What is said and what is meant are often two different things, as is commonly noted, so that communication is often multi-levelled. There is a strong narcissistic component in this, inasmuch as the person will sometimes observe the role expectations partly not to hurt the other's feelings; or perhaps even to
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observe what is correct in itself for a heightened feeling of narcissistic well-beingwhile of course conveying non-verbally or through some other action quite different feelings. Of course, there are other important components to observing social form, such as mitigating conflicts, or avoiding disapproval or being disciplined, but the narcissistic element should probably not be underestimated. The reverse side of the coin comes from someone usually in a high status position, who will become defensively aggressive when he experiences his status as being threatened. This reaction tends to maintain his own narcissistic position by putting the other on the defensive. Patel has made the interesting comment that there can be a significant discrepancy between high ego ideals and inhibitions in instituting these ideals through competent, individualized action. In other words, problems in individuation may interfere with the instituting of high ideals in practice, probably particularly in certain urban situations that allow for more individualized self-assertion. Or another subtle aspect of this problem may be an overly strong assertion of one's thinking, particularly if at all originalboth as an expression of a grandiose self-image and as a compensation for anxiety over being different. I would now like to make still another observation of narcissism in Indian personality, particularly its relationship to life space. To illustrate my point, Bassa (1978) observes that in the slums of a suburb of Bombay even in the most squalid and abject of conditions, personal grooming is relatively good and the inside of the small huts is invariably neat and clean. Oddly enough, the same observation can be made about persons of the middle and upper middle-classes and their living conditions. Personal grooming is fastidious; in the expensive buildings the flats are usually well taken care ofin some cases luxuriously sobut the hallways and other public spaces are almost invariably in a poor to very poor conditionoften reminiscent of a New York City slum tenement building. Almost the worst of these I frequented is interestingly enough a high rental building in an excellent location filled with a variety of medical practitioners. The public areas are thus a striking contrast to the flat and to personal grooming! I would suggest that the individual's narcissistic investment extends both to the individual body-ego, and clearly also to the 'we' of the extended family; but outside the family, it is a no-man's land. This correlates with another observation, that from the earliest age there seems to be considerable narcissistic identification with the reputation and honour of one's family. It seemed rather remarkable to my wife and myself how very young children would sit for hours well-behaved in a restaurantthough we knew they were capable at times of being hellions at home. Sarabhai, a psychoanalyst, suggests in a personal communication that the space outside the family is not so much a no-man's land as an area for conflicts which cannot be expressed within the family. The point she is making is that anger and hostility have to be controlled and contained within close, extended or joint family relationships, and therefore these feelings often become split off and displaced outside of the family. Sibling rivalry and fighting for instance are not socially acceptable, or even supposed to exist; but it is much in evidence according to clinical reports. The splitting of feelings, particularly negative ones, from family to outside relationships may account for Carstair's (1957) observation of a strong distrust among the men of the Rajasthani village he studied. A further type of splitting that I have observed from a number of case presentations seems to occur, which has been confirmed by some of my own patients as well as reports of analysts on their patients: a family sometimes unconsciously dumps its hostilities on one particular child, who then becomes quite disturbed, while several others seem to grow up perfectly well. Thus, a kind of unconscious conspiracy in the family takes place to take out their ambivalences on one child only. This has generally not been my experience with American patients; with some exceptions, when one is disturbed, the siblings are usually as, or more, disturbed. From clinical experience I can write more knowledgeably on how Indian girls handle their anger and hurt feelings. First and foremost, anger is contained and controlled, and only very rarely is openly expressed. From counselling female college students and seeing patients in psychoanalytic therapy, I have found a variety of other ways of controlling angry feelings, ranging from displacing anger to younger siblings or cousins, to frequent unconscious somatization, to temporary depressions. Often, hurt and angry feelings are conveyed non-verbally to the other by
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suddenly stopping talking, or leaving the room, or not eating the next meal while conveying that one is feeling perfectly well, or simply walking around with an unhappy look. All of these non-verbal cues are apparently readily apprehended, and sometimes responded to. But in most cases it is apparently up to the daughter to make up with her mother, and this she will often do by silently helping her around the kitchen or in other household chores. I have found in a few cases that anger and rebellion is only openly expressed by girls who have given up on the possibility of any positive response from their mothersthe mother usually being overly rejecting, in one case overly anxious and withdrawing. Then there is the much noted daughter-in-lawmother-in-law conflict, to a large extent created by a social structure where the bride goes to her husband's family, and must adapt and fit in with her new family. Since the mother-son relationship in Hindu families is intense and life-long, the mother thus experiences the daughter-in-law as a profound threat to her relationship with her son. What apparently has not been written about but has been observed psychoanalytically is that the girl often unconsciously carries over to the new relationship with her mother-in-law an inability to deal with anger or self-assertion because of the culturally venerated role of the mother that is internalized (comments made by Freny Mehta, Chairman of the Indian Council of Mental Health), as well as strong symbiotic dependency needs, and is therefore psychologically more helpless when dealing with the mother-in-law. I found, in addition, from my own psychotherapeutic work with two married women, that many transference reactions were displaced and projected from

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their mothers, and even their fathers, onto their mothers-in-law, as well as from their siblings to their brothers and sisters-in-law. The issues of anger, aggression and their control have been commented upon independently by both Bassa (1978) and Ramanujam (1978). Both indicate from their observations and clinical work that there usually does not seem to be consistent childhood controls on anger and aggression by parental figures, but rather disciplining for the moment. Thus, what tends to develop is not so much internalized controls within the child, as a variety of ways that the child avoids being found out, thus becoming highly sensitized to adult responses. Boys in particular may be overtly very obedient with parental figures, but covertly bullying towards siblings, cousins, and playmates. While Bassa's and Ramanujam's papers drew little distinction between child-rearing with boys and girls, I would suspect that angry reactions are less tolerated among girls. This relative lack of emphasis on developing consistent internalized controls would seem to be consonant with social functioning closely associated with the family and other social groups, rather than on autonomous behaviour. Conversely, from various discussions I have had, it would seem that sexualityin contrast to aggressionis kept within the family, especially with females. Since a girl's marriageability, and the family honour is so dependent on her reputation, she must be scrupulously well-behaved in public so that the arrangement of her marriage and those of the other females of the family are not jeopardized. I cannot emphasize too strongly from my counselling sessions with college girls how deeply internalized are these attitudesin all girls except from the most sophisticated, modern families. On the other hand, while the unmarried girl must usually avoid any kind of relationship with boys outside of the family, she does have considerable close contacts with male cousins and uncles. In a personal communication by Anjali Dhumale and Krishna Kumar, they stated that infatuations or romantic involvements between cousins, sometimes nieces with uncles, and more rarely nephews with aunts, are not so infrequent and are usually responded to by the parents turning their heads the other way. The point is, that what is kept within the family will not hurt its reputation. This is further supported by one anthropological study by a woman1 interviewing

1 I stress the point that this anthropologist is a woman because I am extremely doubtful whether a male anthropologist would have been able to get this kind of data; i.e. Indian women can be extremely circumspect in speech and behaviour when talking to a man. As a result, data gathered by male interviewers on women may assume a quite different shape than other data by women interviewers. This brings up a further important point that the spheres of the sexes seem to be decidedly more separate in India. Male psychoanalysts often did not know much about the psychology of women, while women analysts and social workers somehow found themselves working almost completely with women patients, sometimes feeling rather uncomfortable working with men.

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women of some 50 inter-related families of one jati(Das, 1976). She told me that to her surprise she was told of a surprising number of affairs these women had; but all were with the men of their joint familiesbrothers-in-law, uncles-in-law, fathers-in-law, etc. In Indian personality I find a striking polarity between tremendous sensuality and puritanical sexual codes. The very existence of childhood and even adolescent sexuality is often overtly denied, in spite of, or perhaps more accurately because of, very close sleeping arrangements. In clinical practice, Ramanujam and Kakar report that it very easily surfaces in fantasies or in the transference, which is confirmed in my own work. Carstairs (1957) and others have commented on the considerable anxiety men have over their sexual potency, supported by the cultural notion that a loss of semen is physically and spiritually debilitating. My guess is that this may be more related to unconscious fears over engulfment in the symbiotic relationship with the mother than on oedipal anxieties. I would like to reflect now and theorize on issues involved in individuality, individuation, individualization, and individualism. This can certainly lay one open to criticisms of psychological nit-picking; but Indian relationships and psychology tend to be subtle and complex. Some of these issues have already been commented upon by the Rudolphs (1976), who cite that several psychoanalytically oriented social scientists (e.g. Mannoni, W. J. Goode, and David Guttman, supported by the social-scientifically oriented psychoanalyst, Erikson) have all assumed that collectively organized societies with extended families create personalities that are underdeveloped, immature and incomplete, with strong dependency and passivityin contrast to the individualism of Western personality that functions relatively independent of the family and other collective structures. The Rudolphs take exception to this basic assumption by indicating that in juxtaposition to the collectively defined rules, roles, and obligations are strong inner states of individuality. This highly developed individuality often has considerable scope to express itself in the multiple diffuse affective and authority relationships within the joint family, the individual preserving a strong sense of self, while meeting the various obligations and even advancing the interests of the collectivity along with his own. They then cite the diaries of Amar Singh, a Rajput leader with considerable literary inclinations, as evidence. The Rudolphs' viewpoint is well taken, particularly the distinction between self and social role. There are a number of subtleties involved and complex inter-relationships between self and social role that I have come upon in my own work. I would concur that there is usually a very rich individuality in Indian personality fostered by the early and even later symbiotic and nurturing maternal relationships. Where there are close affectional ties, emotional responsiveness, and strong identification processes at work, richness of individuality usually develops. On the other hand as noted above, early childhood separation and individuation from the maternal matrix tends to be inhibited. In addition, there is a strong incorporation of parental expectations into the conscience over the observance of proper behaviour within the family and other hierarchically-oriented social structures that is usually quite strict, including an expectation and enforcement of obedience to parents and elders. The male head of the familywhether father, uncle, or grandfatheris usually rather strictly consulted with and obeyed on a variety of issues.

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The point I am making is that while there is strong individuality in Indian personality, a combination of factorssuch as the inhibition of early separation and individuation from the mothering person(s), the later crackdown on the child's behaviour, the incorporation of strong parental expectations into the child's conscience, and the still later strict observance of hierarchical status relationships oriented around the authority of the male head of the family and work organization, and for the girl the authority of her mother-in-law tends to inhibit greatly the development of a highly individualized, autonomous self. Individualism, in the sense of a competitive assertion of oneself with little regard for others, is something rather completely and profoundly frowned upon in Indian culture. All of this becomes striking in talking with Indians who have had their training abroad where they developed a somewhat more autonomous, individualized self, while often greatly missing the more symbiotic, affectional ties. Upon returning, a number have voiced considerable adjustment
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reactions to fitting within family and other social relationships, where the autonomous, individualized self is not consonant with Indian social relationships. What seems to occur then is strong individuality and inner emotional and fantasy life, with considerable sensuality, often equally strongly contained by an inner conscience and traditionally defined social roles that may allow for only limited individual expression. This is one more of the rather striking polarities that seem to be present in Indian personality. Self and social role becomes juxtaposed in a continuum ranging from congruency to a variety of complex inter-relationships and often conflict. While there is a strong identification with group norms and the well-being of the family, individual wishes versus group norms and needs is another ever present polarity, according to Sarabhai, Director of the B.M. Institute of Mental Health. Since separation and individuation of the self has only partially occurredthe individual self being far more encompassing of the group 'we'the assertion of individual needs and wishes vis--vis group norms and expectations becomes at times highly problematic, but not at all impossible. Though there may be much less of an autonomous self, there still seems to be a strong sense of self and what one wishes and wants. If there is then a sense of hurting the feelings of another in this self-assertion, it becomes even more difficult. It is usually extremely difficult for the individual to oppose the family openly, for instance; but indirect and subtle means are frequently found for getting what one wants. Women may be overtly subservient to their husbands or superiors at work, but seem to manage to get what they want quite wellsomething I have heard over and over again. Ramanujam has characterized Indian women as being exploited and subservient, but extremely strong again highlighting the juxtaposition of self with social role. Still another profound juxtaposition takes place with the bride going to her husband's family, where the role relationships are initially distant and strict, in contrast to the inner self. Since separation-individuation and the autonomous self are usually relatively underdeveloped in traditional Indian personality, the assertion of individuality within the group situation often requires a very subtle ability to manoeuvre. This is especially true when one is in a lower status position. Occasionally, individuals are able to withstand the pressure of family demands and assert themselves in marital or occupational choices; and then sooner or later they are almost inevitably accepted back within the family. But then there are many other examples of capitulation to family demands, or even suicide when family approval of something crucial is withdrawn. Singer's (1972) concept of compartmentalization is also relevant here. Singer cites an important observation, particularly of Indian urban men, who are able to hold to practices at work widely divergent from those at home, apparently without experiencing any inner conflict. For instance, at work a man may dress in Western clothes, associate with others from different castes, disregard pollution rules, eat nonvegetarian food etc.; then upon returning home, dress in traditional clothes and observe all the traditional sub-caste codes. Singer concludes that these men have the psychological ability for successful compartmentalization, keeping their two worlds separate without conflict. What I believe is overlooked in this process of compartmentalization is that these men have a similar internal emotional structure in each of these situations. Both with their families and work group, they make profound identifications with the group norms, customs, and attitudes, with an equally strong deference to authority in both. They thus act appropriately in each situationthough the situations may be enormously different from each otherthus compartmentalizing content, while relating to both groups with an identical, inner psychological structure. I might speculate further why no conflict is experienced. I would suspect that it is because the unconscious conscience or superego functions more on the rule of identifying with group norms and relationships so as not to create conflict or hurt the feelings of those in the groupin a more positive sense showing consideration of othersthen having some abstract norm of behaviour that is more consonant with an individualized self. Thus, in both groups these men would be acting appropriately according to their inner conscience. Counterbalancing the relative suppression of separation-individuation, restraint of expressions
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of individuality, and the general inhibition of the autonomous, individualized self is a remarkable degree of freedom of expression and action in Hinduism for what one might term the spiritual or Transcendent Self. In this arena, not only is greater separation and privacy from others allowed, but the various approaches to the development or realization of the Transcendent Self are often highly individualized, thus allowing for considerable individuation. Thus temperament, inclinations, cognitive style, stages of development,

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and individual instruction are taken into account in a way that rarely appears, for instance, in the educational system. Moreover, although family and caste religious traditions are generally followed, the family and other groups seem to grant a degree of individual freedom of practice that is rarely present in other areas of life, including the freedom to choose one's deity or not, as well as one's own guru. Such individualization of the realization of the Transcendent Self undoubtedly enhances individuality in Indian personality, as I believe the individualized self enhances individuality in Western societies. In referring to the Transcendent Self, I must also mention an unmistakably profound orientation to the psychic and the cosmic. I found repeatedly with patients, college students and others, frequent reference to clairvoyant dreams, the important role and use of astrology and palmistry, and the effort to contact the spirit worldthis last particularly among girls in collegeto mention only the more frequent allusions to the psychic and the cosmic. It is apparent that the Indian personality lives in a highly peopled world, both socially and inwardly. It is frequently stated in the literature on Indiae.g. Carstairs (1957) and more recently Shils (1961) that the Indian personality is much more predisposed to becoming involved with the Transcendent Self because of strong tendencies towards merger or fusion in the more symbiotic modes of child-rearing and relationships. This of course harks back to Freud's basic postulate that spiritual experience is related to the oceanic feeling of the early mother-child relationshipupgraded in the more sophisticated language of contemporary psychoanalysis to symbiotic union with the mother. I believe this is an all too easy trap to fall into, simply equating Indian religious aspiration with symbiosis. In some ways from what I have described above, the opposite is more valid: that realization of the Transcendent Self tends to enhance individuation and even separation in Indian personality. However, there is a more complex interrelationship between symbiotic modes of relating and the aspiration to the Transcendent Self and even the orientation to the psychic. I sense, for instance, a symbiotic carry-over in the sharing of the power of the guru; or a frequent lack of questioning any decisions of the guru as traditional attitudes towards authority in the hierarchy. Or the approach to the psychic may be full of strong symbiotic wish-fulfilment, or simply to find out what the fates have in store for you. In reflecting upon the differences in the Indian and Western psyches, I would like to advance the following concepts; the familial self, the individualized self, and the Transcendent Self. I think it apparent that traditional Indian culture and social structures encourage the development of the familial self, where symbiotic modes of relationship are encouraged, where a sense of 'we' and 'us' is enhanced, where separation and individuation from the maternal matrix is inhibited, self and object representations are less differentiated, the self-object is closer to the self, ego boundaries are not as firmly established, and the individual develops a strong conscience to function responsibly in relatively non-individualized, well-defined, hierarchical role relationships. On the other hand, Western cultures now tend to encourage the development of an individualized self, often with competitive individualism as one component of it, to function in a more autonomous way in societies with a relatively high degree of social mobility and available social options to choose among, where there is greater differentiation of self and object representations and the development of a variety of internal psychological structures that enable more autonomous functioning outside of familial relationships in peer groups and other social structures and relationships. Finally, there is the Transcendent Self, a major theme of Brahminic Hindu culture, to some extent present in other religious cultues in India. It is my impression that the goal of the inner realization of the Transcendent Self is in many ways still deeply embedded within the
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preconscious of the Indian mind. As one social science colleague put it, 'no matter what situation in life a person may be in, it sooner or later tugs at your coat-tails'.

SUMMARY
This paper investigates the inner psychological development of personality in urban India primarily from two current psychoanalytic perspectives: symbiosis and separation-individuation, and narcissism. Basic underlying assumptions of this psychoanalytic research are that the formation and particular gestalts of psychological structures will differ considerably in different sociocultural contexts; and that child-rearing in a given society unconsciously prepares a person for its major adult social roles. Traditional Indian child-rearing and social relationships not only clearly emphasize more symbiotic modes of development and relating, but also tend to inhibit separation and individuation. There is an extraordinarily close tie of the developing child to the mothering person(s), based on tremendous gratification in the first few years of life. The self becomes profoundly identified with the 'we' of the family, enormous sensitivity and consideration are developed for the feelings of others, and ego boundaries are less sharply delineated. The tremendous maternal involvement with the infant develops a central core of heightened narcissistic well-being, which is discussed as it relates to a variety of aspects of Indian personality. The narcissistic crackdown on the child from ages 3 to 5 lasting well into adolescence is also discussed. Aggression tends to be strongly contained or very indirectly expressed within the extended family, and often unconsciously split off outside the family; while sexuality tends to be kept more within the family. This development of what is termed a 'familial self, ' is totally congruent with social roles in which the individual remains deeply involved in close familial relationships throughout life. This is contrasted to the individualized self of the Westerner, where major psychoanalytic contributions of recent decades delineate the intra-psychic structures necessary for the highly autonomous functioning of the contemporary Westerner. Counterpointing the familial self in Indians is the Transcendent Self, a major chord in Indian culture and personality, where more privacy, separation, and individuation is encouraged than in most of the rest of the culture.

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REFERENCES
ANANDALAKSHMI 1977 Socialization for Competence New Delhi: Indian Council of Social Science Research. BASSA, D. M. 1978 From the traditional to the modern: some observations on changes in Indian child-rearing and parental attitudes, with special reference to identity formation In E. J. Anthony & C. Chiland. (eds.), The Child and His Family in a Changing World New York: John Wiley. BLANCK, G. & R. 1974 Ego Psychology, Theory and Practice New York: Columbia Univ. Press. CARSTAIRS, M. 1975 The Twice-Born; A Study of a Community of High-Caste Hindus London: Hogarth Press. DAS, V. 1976 Masks and faces: an essay on Punjabi kinship In Contributions to Indian Society 10 1-30 ERIKSON, E. 1968 Identity, Youth and Crisis New York: W. W. Norton. JACOBSON, B. 1964 The Self and Object World New York: Int. Univ. Press.
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KAKAR, S. 1978 The Inner World: A Psychoanalytic Study of Indian Childhood and Society New Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press. KOHUT, H. 1971 Analysis of the Self New York: Int. Univ. Press. KOHUT, H. 1977 Restoration of the Self New York: Int. Univ. Press. MAHLER, M., PINE, F. & BERGMAN, A. 1975 The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant New York: Basic Books. NANDY, A. 1976 Woman versus womanliness in India: an essay in social and political psychology Psychoanal. Rev. 63 301-315 [] RAMANUJAM, B. K. 1978 Studies of change at the B.M. Institute of Mental Health Unpublished manuscript. RUDOLPH, S. & L. 1976 Rajput adulthood: reflections on the Amar Singh Diary In Adulthood, Daedalus Spring. SHILS, E. 1961 The Intellectual Between Tradition and Modernity: The Indian Situation. Comparative Studies in Sociology and History, Supplement I. Hague: Mouton & Co. SINGER, M. 1972 A Great Tradition Modernizes New York: Praeger. SPRATT, P. 1966 Hindu Culture and Personality: a Psychoanalytic Study Bombay: Manaklalas. WINNICOTT, D. W. 1953 Transitional objects and transitional phenomena. A study of the first not-me possession Int. J. Psychoanal. 34:89-97 []
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Article Citation [Who Cited This?]

Roland, A. (1980). Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Personality Development in India. Int. R. Psycho-Anal., 7:73-87
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