OVERCOMPENSATION feeble bo in Rome for one Compensation has a characteristic tendency of going too far—that is, it ends in overcompensation. In the attempt to hide defects by various devices of concealment, the individual goes to extremes and outdoes himself. "Youth is the age of extremes: 'if the young commit a fault it is always on the side of excess and exaggeration.' The great difficulty of youth (and of many of youth's elders) is to get out of one extreme without falling into its opposite. For one extreme easily passes into the other, whether through 'overcorrection' or elsewise: insincerity doth protest too much, and humility hovers on the precipice of conceit. Those who are consciously at one extreme will give the name of virtue not to the mean but to the opposite extreme." " So it is in compensation the individual overdoes himself, and finds himself striving to outdo others, to excel them, to be superior, to attain self-maximation. taure, c Crauck.1 not cont He was power. cue to ex Superlative achievement in any field may be the outcome of overcompensation. A case will illustrate this point. Eugene Sandow was a weakling as a child. At the age of ten his father took him to Rome where he saw the statues of perfect men that inspired him to work for the perfection of his own body. Although he had intended to enter the priesthood, upon his return to Germany from Italy he commenced the study of anatomy, determined to build up his muscles by scientific methods. The training was so successful that he became a professional strong man. In one of his stunts he supported thirty-three people on his back. The Will Durant: The Story of Philosophy, p. 87. 1926. feeble boy who had looked with awe upon the statues in Rome was in later life himself to pose as the model for one of the figures of a statue, "Combat du Centaure," chiseled by the noted French sculptor, Gustave Crauck.10 In the reaction against weakness, he was not content with the acquisition of normal strength. He was satisfied with nothing short of superlative power. In this process of overcompensation we have a cue to extraordinary attainments. COMPENSATORY DEVICES In its pursuit of power the mind works through certain channels laid down in its very nature. Compensation may be either negative or positive. On the negative side, compensation is essentially defensive, using either a fiction or an assurance mechanism to protect the ego; on the positive side, compensation is aggressive, achieving its goal through the masculine protest. Negative. Resorting to the aid of a fiction, the person who finds a vigorous physique beyond his reach lives ""as-if" he were strong. The weakling, for example, puts on a bold front of sturdiness to convince his friends that he is "wiry" and surprisingly powerful for one of such slight build. A man enjoys his strength through the impression his capacity makes upon others. If he can lead others to admire his superiority, the fact that he is only bluffing does not detract materially from the satisfaction in prestige. Like the liar who comes to believe his fabricated story is true, the person living under a fiction forgets his weakness while he basks in 10 "How the World Went Mad over Sandow's Muscles." The Literary Digest, October 31, 1925. the sunshine of his make-believe prowess. He not only acts “as-if” he were strong-he actually comes to feel strong. The glory of it all is real enough for him while it lasts. At least it makes life richer. In the assurance mechanism a man discounts the value of the prize he cannot win-the "sour grapes" philosophy. The success of the rationalization depends upon the individual's remaining unconscious of his reasonings. If a homely countenance discourages him as a wooer, he runs down marriage as a drag on a career. Unaware of the fact that he is assuring himself against failure as a suitor, he becomes more and more convinced that marriage is a gamble where the risk is too high and where the loss is likely to exceed the gain. neckties Feminis cap lon play th a real r in its ess THE C Positive. Compensation is more productive where it takes a positive, aggressive form. While the person who is easily discouraged is upset by a failure, the ambitious sort of individual is stimulated to increase his efforts in quest of superiority. Where the halfhearted person is depressed by feelings of inferiority, the "go-getter" is goaded into infuriated exertion by a more consuming itch for success. When defeat irritates the ambitious type of individual with whom we are particularly concerned, we have the masculine protest. Just as in each of us there are the good and evil (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), so there are also the feminine and masculine trends which symbolize, according to Adler, the weak and strong points of our nature, respectively. The masculine protest is the struggle to overcome weakness in the interest of domination. It is "the wish to be a complete man." The woman who feels her sex is downtrodden develops mannerisms of the "mannish" order—she acts like a tomboy, smokes, wears neckties, and insists on freedom of expression (the Feminist type). The man who suffers under a handicap longs to overcome his defect in order that he may play the part of "a complete man." He wants to be a real red-blooded "he-man." The masculine protest, in its essence, is a form of the will to power. THE COMPENSATORY PHASES OF MANIC DEPRESSIVE In the abnormal person we have the opportunity to study the features of the mind in exaggerated distinctness. The psyche functions through the same mechanisms as in the normal personality. An examination of manic depressive insanity will disclose the essential processes by which compensation for inferiority is achieved. All of us know what it means to experience a sudden change of moods. We go from joy to sadness without any apparent occasion. The psychological basis for these transitions is to be found in the emotions. In the manic depressive there are alternating periods of depression and exaltation—the former often due to fear, the latter to anger. During the period of depression the patient is dull, melancholy, pathetic, weak, diffident, sullen; during the phase of excitement he is restless, energetic, elated, overconfiHent. An illustrative case will bring out the facts more clearly. A young man was a Roman Catholic by trainng. He married a girl who was not a Catholic. She mad no use for religion or children. She often scoffed at her husband for adhering to the church and at times e would join her in the derision. Then he would re pent his infidelity. The conflict of loyalties, between wife and church, formed the basis of the psychosis. He suffered from the deepest depression, when he bemoaned his inadequacy before strange and hostile powers with which he could not cope. In the manic phase that alternated with the depressive he was an ambitious law student, seeking contacts with learned persons. Now let us consider the case from the point of view of theory in order to see how the process of compensation for inferiority is involved in the manic depressive disorder. Normally our mental balance depends upon the sentiment of self-regard built up by reflection upon what others think of us. We have to learn a proper estimate of ourselves-not to think too highly of ourselves and yet to think highly enough. There are two instincts which correspond roughly to the attitudes a man takes toward himself. Self-assertion is attended by positive self-feeling or elation; submission, by negative self-feeling or depression. These two instinctive dispositions normally check each other. When coöperative checking fails, there is disorganization and each tendency in turn predominates to excess-at one time the individual overrates himself and at another he underrates himself. The manic depressive suffers primarily from a keen sense of inferiority which brings on the primary phase, the deepest depression. In reaction against this dejection a phase of elation is initiated. during which compensation is effected by the conception of grandiose schemes. As we noticed earlier, the pendulum swings from excessive inferiority feelings to excessive compensation. The manic period is one of overcompensation. The manic depressive psychosis is, normal a than real apply A called no tion is th writes: adequate For t A. 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