An Impromptu Post - Edmund Bergler

Writer's block is better termed "creative inhibition" or "creative block." It is becoming more prominent: it was little known by the early Romantic writers, became more prominent during the epoch of the French Symbolists, and last, was rampant (and became a recognized entity) during the period of the great American novel. Today, in a manner similar to attention-deficit disorder, writer's block is a nearly unique American affliction (though it occasionally happens in other countries, vide infra).
(American Journal of Radiology) 

Edmund Bergler (1899-1962)

In an earlier post, I had been plauged by writer's block and I chose to do something about it. After all, "Writing about writer's block is better than not writing at all."  Following Charles Bukowski's words of wisdom, I wrote about my block but in order to understand what I was writing, I researched.  While sifting through my Google searches on overcoming writer's block, I came across an article that mentioned a psychoanalyst named Edmund Bergler.  Random.  So I asked, who is this Edmund Bergler?  He coined the term writer's block but who was he?  I'm sure you are wondering why in the hell am I writing about him.  Well, I don't know. I just felt the need to research a man whose name popped up in a random internet search and share what I found.  These are the paragraphs that brought forth my curiosity.

Writer's block has probably existed since the invention of writing, but the term itself was first introduced into the academic literature in the nineteen-forties, by a psychiatrist named Edmund Bergler. For two decades, Bergler studied writers who suffered from "neurotic inhibitions of productivity," in an attempt to determine why they were unable to create—and what, if anything, could be done about it. After conducting multiple interviews and spending years with writers suffering from creative problems, he discarded some of the theories that were popular at the time. Blocked writers didn’t "drain themselves dry" by exhausting their supply of inspiration. Nor did they suffer from a lack of external motivation (the "landlord" theory, according to which writing stops the moment the rent is paid). They didn’t lack talent, they weren't "plain lazy," and they weren’t simply bored. So what were they?

Bergler was trained in the Freudian school of psychoanalysis, and that background informed his approach to the problem. In a 1950 paper called "Does Writer’s Block Exist?," published in American Imago, a journal founded by Freud in 1939, Bergler argued that a writer is like a psychoanalyst. He "unconsciously tries to solve his inner problems via the sublimatory medium of writing." A blocked writer is actually blocked psychologically—and the way to "unblock" that writer is through therapy. Solve the personal psychological problem and you remove the blockage. This line of thinking is fine, as far as it goes, but it’s frustratingly vague and full of assumptions. How do you know that writers are using their writing as a means of sublimation? How do you know that all problems stem from a blocked psyche? And what is a blocked psyche, anyway?
(The New Yorker)

Who is he anyway?  

Just some guy.

Uh-huh....

Okay, not really.  Edmund Bergler was an Austrian-born American psychoanalyst whose books covered such topics as childhood development, mid-life crises, loveless marriages, gambling, self-defeating behaviors, and homosexuality. He was the most important psychoanalytic theorist of homosexuality in the 1950s. (Wikipedia)

And according to Wikipedia, Bergler's legacy is one that, I admit, I did not expect, especially with the mindset I had when I started this endeavor:

1. Novelist Louis Auchincloss named his book The Injustice Collectors (1950) after Bergler's description of the unconscious masochist of that type.
2. Bergler's Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (1956) was cited in Irving Bieber et al.'s Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals (1962). Bieber et al. mention Bergler briefly, noting that like Melanie Klein, he regarded the oral phase as the most determining factor in the development of homosexuality.
3. Philosopher Gilles Deleuze cited Bergler's The Basic Neurosis (1949) in his Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), writing that, "Bergler's general thesis is entirely sound: the specific element of masochism is the oral mother, the ideal of coldness, solicitude and death, between the uterine mother and the Oedipal mother."
4. Arnold M. Cooper, former Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College and a past president of the American Psychoanalytic Association, said of Bergler's work: "I have adapted my model for understanding masochism from the work of Bergler, who regarded masochism as the basic neurosis from which all other neurotic behaviors derive. As long ago as 1949 . . . he felt, and I agree, [that the mechanism of orality] is paradigmatic for the masochistic character.
5. Freud critic Max Scharnberg has given Bergler's writings as an example of what he sees as the transparent absurdity of much psychoanalytic work in his The Non-Authentic Nature of Freud's Observations (1993), writing that few present-day psychoanalysts would defend Bergler. Scharnberg disapprovingly notes Bergler's claim that all homosexuals "are subservient when confronted with a stronger person, merciless when in power, unscrupulous about trampling on a weaker person."
6. Bergler's theories, with their assumption that the preservation of infantile megalomania or infantile omnipotence is of prime importance in the reduction of anxiety, have been seen as anticipating Heinz Kohut's self psychology.
7. Psychotherapist Peter Michaelson has written several books with Bergler’s basic neurosis in mind. Among Michaelson’s prominent ideas is the notion of inner passivity; a passive attitude with which he claims people treat inner masochism. Michaelson’s inner passivity premise suggests victims sustain inner masochistic tendencies by assuming such tendencies are “happening to them” rather than the other way around.
8. Psychotherapist Mike Bundrant has based much of his work on Bergler’s early theory of psychic masochism, although Bundrant has distanced himself from Bergler’s views on homosexuality, claiming Bergler was victim to his own prejudice in this area, or simply mistaken. Bundrant discusses inner masochism in the form of “psychological attachments” that fit consistent patterns over time.

Hold on!!  I thought this was supposed to be about writer's block and not sexuality and masochism!?!

I know, which is why I was a bit surprised at first.  Took a little digging but I found an amazing article on writer's block on the American Journal of Radiology website.  However, this was the only mention of Bergler in said article:

Writer's block is a modern notion, and the term was coined in 1947 by Dr Edmund Bergler, a famous Austrian psychiatrist living in New York City. Today, it is well accepted that the notion of writer's block arose in conjunction with the sudden prestige of psychiatry in the United States after World War II. Dr Bergler, a follower of Freud, blamed writer's block on oral masochism and a milk-denying mother (that gives me something to think about because I know that I was bottle-fed!), in addition to other "phallic and anal" explanations along Freudian lines. Stress leads to panic, and some scientists believe that the reticular activating system in the brain stem will shift higher functions associated with writing from the cortex to the limbic system under duress. Others disagree and think that the creative writing process starts at the level of the limbic system, whereas more technical writing is initially fueled by the frontal cortex. If both were true, all writing would stop as functions shift from one location to the other. However, writer's block can be selective, as it is in my case. That is, I continue to write other articles, chapters, and books, but writing this specific series of essays is my problem. Writer's block is commonly seen in college and university students who consistently fail to turn in their written assignments. In them, procrastination (a behavior specifically called "academic trait procrastination") is a major component of writer's block. Procrastination is learned, so education specialists claim that it can be unlearned. Perfectionism is also blamed for the block; it seems to motivate some procrastination, and together these both promote writer's block. In academia, the notion of writer's block is disdained by younger members but seems to gain respect at higher levels where it occurs more commonly.  (American Journal of Radiology)

What did they just say?  

Believe me, if I hadn't majored with a degree that had a lot of psychology classes, I wouldn't be able to understand that either.  What that paragraph basically says is that Bergler blamed writer's block on mothers who did not breastfeed their child.  Later on in life, when that child had grown, stress causes chemicals in the brain to do silly things, including cause writer's block.

Now that I found the where Bergler believed writer's block originated, let's dig a little deeper.  Back to Google!  But, now I'm confused, I have other people telling me what he did, but finding his work is proving a little more difficult.  Why?

Several of Freud's disciples developed their own 'brand' of psychoanalysis, and eventually split off from Freud, but Bergler did not. He followed and extended Freud's work. He immigrated to the United States in 1938, where he worked as an author and psychoanalyst until his death in 1962. During that time, he wrote 24 books and published hundreds of papers in both professional journals and popular magazines.
In spite of these significant achievements, Bergler's work has— vanished! Any references to him have been removed from most, if not all psychoanalytical and psychotherapeutic institutions and associations.
(Edmund Bergler Society of Toronto)

Okay.... so his work vanished?  Is that good or bad?

If the Edmund Bergler Society of Toronto is correct, then yes, I guess his work disappeared.  At least they were kind enough to include his research on their website, laid out in such a format that it could be read as a textbook of sorts.  I'm not sure if the disappearance of his work is good or bad.  

Before you start criticizing me on not looking hard enough, I did find some of Bergler's published works.  However, none of the titles I saw were specifically directed toward writer's block and without the ability to hold those books in my hands and physically go through them, I won't be able tell you specifically what Bergler said.  It makes me wonder if a topic I believe should be researched thoroughly is even considered important.  I mean, don't get me wrong, maybe there is a better source of research out there, but I picked a dead end and the wrong guy to look into.  Bergler's research was revolutionary for his time.  Come on, masochism and homosexuality?  Weren't they frowned upon during Bergler's lifetime?  Perhaps he was one of those men born in the wrong era.  I could imagine that if he were around today, his work, in my opinion, wouldn't be stuffed into a box and shoved into a corner closet considering how much more accepting our culture has become (speaking from an American point-of-view).  

Writing about Writer's Block....

"Writing about writer's block is better than not writing at all."  - Charles Bukowski

Good Monday my friends!  I hope y'all had an interesting weekend like I did!  Okay, maybe not exactly like mine, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Mine involved a wedding, a birthday, and bonding between friends!  It was just the type of weekend I needed.  Why?  Easy.  I was able to have cake for breakfast this morning!  Kidding, not really, but the really reason is because I've been stuck on the dreaded writer's block for a looong time now and, finally, I was able to kick start my mind.  While I may have plenty of sources for inspiration (music, books, Google, etc.) I don't always pull anything useful from them.  But alas!  Inspiration stuck yesterday in church of all places.

Normally, I would prefer a smaller group setting such as some friends gathering for dinner or helping with the young people (junior high and high school students) because that is where I am most comfortable.  But occasionally, I go to church.  Usually I'm all for sleeping in since I'm terrible with mornings, but I felt the strangest need to go yesterday, so I did.  Mid-hymn, I stopped singing, which I'm awful at by the way, and simply stared at the page while images popped into my head.  A few words had crept into my mind and I saw some of my characters start moving.  It started with a possible death scene for the main character of my Lost Gun series, two different versions to be exact.  Then I shook my head and focused on church since we were changing songs and someone asked me what number we were going to.  Cue story number two.  I have a little side project that is more of a toy that future book and a conflict between the two main characters began to take make progress.  There was a glimpse into a third project of mine, but that failed to build into anything useful.  Since, my ideas, however, have mostly slipped through my fingers because of one small thing: I neglected to write them down.  The death scene was ingrained, thankfully, but everything else has become grainy.  Now, if you were to open my purse, the first thing you are likely to see is my notebook.  I always carry it with me in case of writer emergencies.  It's pages are filling with ideas, outlines, quotes, sources of inspiration, and a couple shopping lists.  I believe I'm on my third notebook since I started carrying them around about two years ago.

Writer's block is my curse.  I'm certain I'm not the only one to deal with this, but at the same time, with a burning desire to write and being unable to is perhaps one of the most frustrating feelings for any writer to experience.  Sometimes, in my attempts to break my block, I do the inevitable, turn to Google.  The first five results for "combating writer's block" are: 10 Ways to Combat Writer's Block, 7 Ways to Overcome Writer's Block, How to Overcome Writer's Block: 14 Tricks That Work, Writer's Block: 27 Ways to Crush It Forever, How to Beat Writer's Block.  Okay, those sound helpful, but when I open them what I find is lists.  Lots and lots of lists.  Well, the last one of those had no list, but was an article that tells us of Edmund Bergler, a psychiatrist who not only coined the term "writer's block," but had studied for two decades the "neurotic inhibitions of productivity" that writer's seemed to suffer.  (I'll do some more research and do a more in depth post about Bergler at a later date for those interested.)  I'll catch myself before I fall too far off topic and remain on combating writer's block.  Every writer has their methods to writing freedom, but in order to get there, here are a few from my list that I use frequently:

1. Get out of the house, go for a walk or museum, just get out!  
2. Music, keep listening, change your playlist every other day.  
3. What about that book you've been wanting to start?  Get reading!  
4. Play a game on your phone for a little while.
5. Spend time with friends.
6. Watch some TV, I know there's an anime you've been dying to see. (For some reason, anime helps me more than reality TV)
7. Go somewhere new to write, like a coffee shop!
8. Take five minutes and make another cup of tea, you know you want one!

Now, after reading through the mentioned above articles, I've noticed that these activities were the most recommended:

1. Take a break, go back to it later
2. Write in a new place
3. Write something else
4. Get up ands move
5. Read a book

Hmm.... Personally, I think those sound a lot like mine.  Well, why fix what's not broken?  If they work, they work!  Yes, I know these don't work for everybody, but can they be a stepping stone in order to find something that works for you?  My 6 and 7 are tied together because of that.  I kept going to a Panera or Starbucks then one day I decided to save ten dollars, stayed home, and made my own cup of tea.  That was the start of me making tea as a break.  Sometimes those five minutes of not writing make me write more!  To help me with my point, I did get up to make myself another cup and by the time I sat back down at my computer, I had a couple new ideas for blog posts.  More reading, yay!  What I'm extremely curious about is what other writers do to get over their block.  You have a routine or habit that works?

However, if you prefer to read an article, the one that I found most helpful was How to Overcome Writer's Block: 14 Tricks That Work.  This article had the most information that not only provided ways around writer's block, but common causes and what not to do.  I strongly recommend this article if you want better insight to writer's block.  If reading it is a turn-off, I promise that it is on the shorter side, five minute read at most.

Don't worry, you and I aren't the only ones to have writer's block!  Every writer experiences this dread.  Below, from 8 Quotes to Combat Writer's Block are quotes from a few well-established authors that may help you.

"One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph.  I have spent many months on a first paragraph, and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily."  - Gabriel Gracia Marquez

"The secret to getting ahead is getting started.  The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then staring on the first one."  - Mark Twain

"I've often said that there's no such thing as writer's block; the problem is idea block.  When I find myself frozen - whether I'm working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book - it's usually because I'm trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place."  - Jeffrey Deaver

"If I waited for perfection, I would never write."  - Margaret Atwood

"What I try to do is write.  I may write for two weeks 'the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.' And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff.  But I try.  When I'm writing, I write.  And then it's as if the muse is convinced that I'm serious and says, 'Okay.  Okay.  I'll come.'"  - Maya Angelou

"I think writer's block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible.  But as a writer, I believe that if you sit down at the keys long enough, sooner or later something will come out."  - Roy Blount Jr.

"Close the door.  Write with no one looking over your shoulder.  Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.  It's the one and only thing you have to offer."  - Barbara Kingsolver

"Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.  It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write."  - Paul Rudnick

Poking my Head Out from Under my Rock

Obviously, this is my first post on this blog so why not introduce myself?  My name is Lindsey Elyse and I am a writer/author.  I currently have two published books which are a part of my Lost Gun series and plan on getting more out there.  There are links on this page for you to get a free sample of my first book, Ghost (Lost Gun #1) and a free copy of Bartender (Lost Gun Novella), if you would like to take a look.  While the easily accessible links are for Smashwords, please note that my books are available at your favorite ebook retailer, such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon!  Please, download a copy and leave me a review!

But you didn't come here to have me force my books on you.  You probably came here wanting to know who I am and why I started this blog.  Right?  Well, I am here to not only promote my books, but to help other writers with their writing such as providing an ear to listen (or an eye to read), advice, inspiration, and motivation.  I want you to know that I have been there.  The struggling writer who hid from the world fearing what others thought.  There were moments where my storytelling would come out, but I never told people what I wrote and was always defensive about it.  Somehow, I ended up here so please, let me tell you a little bit of my story.

So what got me into writing?  Well, I think it is a pretty funny story.  To be honest, I never thought I'd enjoy writing.  I was just your typical college student struggling through classes, fighting to get those much needed high grades while trying to get a decent amount of sleep.  My second year, I had a roommate that I remained friends with, Kate.  My third year, I moved out into my own apartment.  Kate and I kept contact and when she decided to start a club on campus, she asked if I would be willing to help "fill the room" as it were.  I agreed on the condition I would be allowed to work on my papers (I had to write a lot). It became a weekly thing for me to go to Graphic Novel Club (not that kind of graphic novel!) and overhear conversations about comic books and heroes.  Then one day, Kate got a small group of us together, myself included, and wanted to come up with something interactive for the members.  After some debating, we settled on a Character Creation Contest.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  That day arrives and we draw three words to inspire our character.  Mine were: evil, light, squirrel.  What was I supposed to do with that?  Oh, bonus points for backstory!  Backstory?  I could do that.  Over the next few days, a character bubbled forward and her story slowly came to light.  Knowing that I would fail at remembering it, I wrote down her origin story.  Night of the reveals, we had a competition for best character, tournament style!  I have no clue how I made it to the finals.  There I was, standing in the middle of the room, trying to embody my character while staring down this other guy who's character had a huge ego.  Well, long story show, my vampire lost to the dude whose stomach ate you and tossed you into a gazebo world.  Eh, no biggie.  Was fun really.  But little did I suspect that my character's story would stick with me and pester me until I wrote.  So I wrote.  And wrote.  And wrote a lot.  I would write when I needed a break, when I was bored, when I was stressed, when I needed to clear my head.  Writing quickly became my escape and the best way for me to spend my weekends.

Eventually, I graduated, did whatever with my life for the next two years, then ended up back in my hometown.  Boredom struck, so I dove head first into writing.  My writing had taken a huge hit after college.  My inspiration was down, I was going through a weird time in my life, it was simply stressful.  At home, where I had plenty of time to myself, stress melted away and I opened my laptop for long, late nights.  Yes, my sleep schedule was totally screwed up from that.  One day at Starbucks, I'm scrolling through a Google community I had joined and saw a post by someone wanting to do a writing exercise, one short story a day.  Sure, why the hell not.  I did it.  In typical me fashion, a story stuck out and wouldn't leave me alone.  More writing ensued which led to my first finished book (I have a hard time ending my stories since I enjoy filling them out, when I don't have writer's block).

I met someone, Chris, and after dating for almost a year, I ignored my fear let him read it.  He knew that I wrote, but never pushed me to have him read my work.  He asked once, but my reaction caused him to laugh and tell me that he would be there should I choose to share.  Well, that day came and when Chris finished reading, he asked why I wasn't published.  Up to this point, I had never considered publishing.  They were just stories.  Stories that I had no interest in sharing with the world.  We spoke about it.  Then after much thinking, I made the decision to bite the bullet and try self-publishing to see what people thought of my writing.  Ghost was published just before New Years.  It took a little while, but after finding some people to read and review, I realized that I didn't have to hide my work.  Months later, I expanded some more and released Bartender.  My boyfriend was proud of me for getting out from under my rock.

The thrill of hearing feedback has become like one of my cups of tea.  Before you ask, yes, I do drink tea a lot.  So why do I say feedback is like a cup of tea?  Easy, tea keeps me calm, relaxed, and focused.  Reviews are much like the same to me.  I see what readers think and then I can improve upon my work.  Working on my writing is oddly relaxing.  If I'm able to take a week and just survive on tea, listening to music while rereading my stories, I would be the happiest person under my roof.  However, this past year and a half has been exceptionally busy.  I got involved with helping a problem child.  Chris and I got engaged and we married (I'm so lucky to have him!), only to have a bunch of other stuff test us.  He and I are fine, by the way.  It's just that I lost my grandfather which caused a ton family drama.  Then some of my family is having health problems and I'm the lucky caretaker.  I feel horrible for my husband but he has been such a trooper.  If you knew about me, there are a few things that would stick out, including that I have the best timing, but the worst luck.  I'm in a weird luck phase apparently.  But this isn't the place to vent my personal frustrations.  All I will say about them is that they are being successful in pushing me back on my goals and failing to meet deadlines (such as having book three published by New Year's).

Phantom (Lost Gun #2) is my current project.  I have a couple people reading through it, though one is going super slow due to work, so I will have an idea of how it'll be.  Should I need to edit, it may take a little while.  I also have the cover for it almost finished.  There's just a stylistic detail that I've been debating on for the past couple months.  With me, since I'm self-publishing, how I'm going about it, I do everything myself.  The writing, editing, cover, conversion to ebook format, everything.  It can be a bit tiring, but I enjoy the work.  Fingers crossed that I can get a bunch of work done soon.