The Oral Character

from "The Language of the Body" by Alexander Lowen, M.D.

  • an immobilization of the aggressive drive
    ------ afraid to, or, cannot reach out to take;

  • expects the adult world to recognize their needs and to satisfy them without the necessity for any effort on their part;

  • tiredness, weakness of back;

  • great difficulty in taking a strong opposing stand and the tendency to run rather than face an attack;

  • Impatience and restlessness result from unsatisfied longing;

  • The inability to reach out to the world leads to terrible loneliness;

  • Elation (joy) is NOT a genuine freedom from depression but a denial of dependencies, 'out-of-touch', reaching out for the breast often converts into excessive talking seeking admiration and affection;

  • Speech is well thought out and rational, excepting ego exaggeration;

  • the infant only has the ability to take in and absorb; not give and take;

  • The adult world cannot satisfy the infantile demands (excessive) resulting in rejection leading to disappointment, then depression, which produces a loss of self-esteem;

  • Extreme dependency for acceptance and affection result in extreme sensitivity with unfavorable conditions being met with irritability and with low tolerance of tension and weakly developed sense of reality;

  • Tensions can be released by crying (earlier), or anger (later);

  • Anger functions to remove obstacles between a desire and its object;

  • *** A lack of satisfaction during the first year of the infant's life.
    Any child allowed to cry to the point of exhaustion stops only because the agony and the pain become unbearable -- "I feel as if my heart would break."

  • ** In fighting to maintain his function even in difficult situations, the oral character gains strength and assurance. Drifting prevents development ...;

  • An oral character develops when the longing for the mother is repressed before the oral needs are satisfied. This sets up an unconscious conflict between the need on the one hand and the fear of disappointment on the other;

  • Early memories and dreams ... show feelings of abandonment or helplessness;

  • Extraordinary frustration would be a determinant of an oral trait;

  • A natural separation of the fruit (from the stem) occurs when it is fully ripe. --- It is only the unripe fruit which presents a resistance to its separation from the tree. --- The unripe fruit is bitter as is the immature (child) which loses its vital connection to its mother too soon;

  • The immature (adult) ... has great difficulty in establishing its functional roots in reality (acting, taking part);

  • ... weakness of the lower extremities prevents the development of that independence and aggression which is essential to the mature adult function;

  • What they really wanted, contact with their mother's body, was denied; that desire being repressed, nothing will now make them happy;

  • (For a healthy adult) what is required is an adult pattern of functioning;

  • Their aggression must be mobilized and made available;

  • The fear of rejection, abandonment and physical pain are real;

  • The muscle tensions in the back and shoulders must be released;

  • If the ego is inflated it must be gradually deflated.
    Not until the (adult) hits bedrock does it become possible to build a substantial and improvement in function. ***

  • pages 178 to 189.


The above is a brief outline extracted from this recommended publication:

The Language of the Body
Alexander Lowen, MD
1958, March 1971, 400 pages,
Can $10.95 (Chapters), Can $10.95 (Indigo), US $ "try used" (Amazon),
Howell Book House, Inc., U.S.A.


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