Emotional Detachment Implies Emotional Repression?

[flan2dave]

In a Star Trek episode where a Vulcan ambassador was being transported by the Enterprise to appear at an important conference, the ambassador had developed a disease that afflicts Vulcans in their old age: their characteristic emotional detachment disappears. The reason, as they explain, is because the disease reduces and eventually eliminates a Vulcan's ability to stifle their long supressed emotions.

I found the implication dubious, that emotional detachment inevitabely means emotions are ignored and repressed, and lie there waiting to leak out, causing damage. Is there validity to the idea, or is it just a stereotype? How would you describe the nature of your emotional detachment (if you consider yourself that way)? Or what do you think about the subject?

[Johnny]

I found the implication dubious, that emotional detachment inevitabely means emotions are ignored and repressed, and lie there waiting to leak out, causing damage. Is there validity to the idea, or is it just a stereotype? How would you describe the nature of your emotional detachment (if you consider yourself that way)? Or what do you think about the subject?

I believe that your questions do not really mean to discuss this Star Trek episode alone. In this case, I'd say that it is true that we "normals" possess emotions and we either take care of them or ignore them at our peril. :laser: :unsure:

The best justification I can offer is in how we view mental problems, which I believe are most often defined as a lack or a handicap in one's ability to recognize and/or solve problems in logic, language, feeling, sensing, motor skills, recognizing patterns...you get the idea...

But you are you and I am I. If you're a Vulcan instead of an Earthling, where it has been socially accepted to supress emotions for a very long time and they've gotten quite good at it - so good, in fact, that it takes a disease to erode their ability to continue living that way - then you might want to find out if this disease is communicable... :nerd:

[Crazy]

Yes, I have seen this episode, It is Spocks father and he has to do a mind meld with Captain Picard to become good enough to finish the negotiations. Picard gets all "F-ed" up for a while from it.

Onto the actual meat of this discussion, I do believe that this is valid, some will suppress thier emotions to get through certain situations, and it won't come out for many years. Once it comes out, they go psycho. However, I also believe that there are those that are just detached. They don't repress, they are just not conflicted by the emotion that others are conflicted by. Only the individual knows for sure.

This concept is seen through things such as post traumatic stress disorder.

[CosmicDust]

I think of my detachment as more a matter of not *identifying* with my emotions/reactions, not incorporating them into my ego-sense. This is different from repression, which I often can't manage to do...the tears leak out anyway, even in public as I over-react to failure. If I can hold them back, I can feel them wanting to arrive. I can also notice being anxious, cranky, or enthusiastic/excited. I will sometimes manage to ward off a feeling becoming too strong or sticking too much (many situations where people would expect strong emotional reactions may only move me a little or not at all), but even when I'm in the midst of a strong feeling, I tend to write about it as if a weather report and analyze it as if it's something external. I will often describe memories of affectively charged situations in this same report fashion no matter how strong the emotions might have been in the situations when I felt them.

[Hypnos]

Don't you know that an introvert is just an extrovert waiting to get out! Isn't it great when extroverts implement this theory at your expense!

[Melody]

Definitely.

When I have a strong emotion, it appears almost out of nowhere.

[Google Monster]

I've always felt that physical expressions are just what you want others to see. Even saying ouch aloud seems like a cry for attension to me. The fact that I do not care what others think of me and I hate attension tends to make me seem detached. But around friends its a little different, they bring out the happy me. But when something happens that makes most worry I stay calm.

[Melody]

I blame anime for my calmness. Have you seen those where two characters are fighting and one of them is very sweaty and trying his hardest to defeat the other, while the other dodges attacks like they were nothing? And there are also characters that are so deadly serious that when a big metal block is flying at them, they calculate whether or not they have to move down to about an inch, and if they realize they do not have to move, they don't so the big metal block flies past their head and misses them by about an inch and they do not flinch. And those ones that cook breakfast while driving and even if they are about to crash, they keep cooking breakfast.

Stuff like that got to me. "I wanna be that cool!"

[Avengardh]

I blame anime for my calmness. Have you seen those where two characters are fighting and one of them is very sweaty and trying his hardest to defeat the other, while the other dodges attacks like they were nothing? And there are also characters that are so deadly serious that when a big metal block is flying at them, they calculate whether or not they have to move down to about an inch, and if they realize they do not have to move, they don't so the big metal block flies past their head and misses them by about an inch and they do not flinch. And those ones that cook breakfast while driving and even if they are about to crash, they keep cooking breakfast.

Stuff like that got to me. "I wanna be that cool!"

^-^

I think I can relate, but it all started with a show called "Gundam Wing" and a character named "Heero Yuy" and then later on "Zechs Merquise", and yeah, I think you need to watch the anime show to get it, and I think I attempted to emulate their emotionless faces...and found out it was really not that hard to stay calm, since I was already that way ^^'

~*Aven*~

[antireconciler]

My own mostly-working model says people of any type are always feeling things as a direct responce from the evironment, but it's personality that dictates what is done with different emotions. If you are rejecting toward the feeling you end up suppressing it somehow because it is painful and maybe later on express it (say, to sympathetic company) or it builds until something else lets it be expressed in a storm. If you are accepting toward it, you simply experience the emotion in your conciousness as it arises, not needing to know what caused it. It integrates with you, and dissolves permanently. As a result, you later gain some understanding of it, and are less likely to supress it next time. Some emotions hurt to experience, but that's life. Simply experiencing allows for non-dualistic happiness. Just because you experience an emotion doesn't mean you have to act on it. It just has to be felt and accepted.

It's hardly mature, so I definatly welcome comments.

Edit: It's possible the Star Trek writers identify with their Vulcan creations, as they deal with thier own emotions. Keep in mind what kind of person grows up to be a Star Trek writer.

[Vagabond]

Most of the time, detachment means repression in my case. Not always though. Sometimes I just leave my feelings aside, but I don't bury them. I always recognise my feelings, even when I repress them; the worst that has happened is that I haven't understood their strength at times, but I always know it when they are there.

[nobarcode]

......
I found the implication dubious, that emotional detachment inevitabely means emotions are ignored and repressed, and lie there waiting to leak out, causing damage.

Based on my experience and being an INTP, I would agree with you in questioning. I do not think that I ignore or repress my feelings. I have done this, but it's not my standard or the rule, if you will. It does take me a looooooooooong time to process my emotions. But it's the intent maybe that is in question. Sometimes my lack of "timing" (not fast enough to process and respond) causes damage and I know that to "other" people it appears to be arrogance on my part. Somehow, this corresponds to CD's post, but I'm too lazy to explain it at the moment. My apologies..

Is there validity to the idea, or is it just a stereotype?
It's a stereotype (IMO) that holds validity to me because I see it in other people (types?), and it seems valid, but I take into consideration that INTP's are a small percentage of the general population, therefore making generalizations.....insignificant statistically speaking.

How would you describe the nature of your emotional detachment (if you consider yourself that way)? Or what do you think about the subject?
I am confronted with this constantly in my current relationship. I would have to again, refer to CD's post. And think about that some more.

[Miss Padfoot]

In a Star Trek episode where a Vulcan ambassador was being transported by the Enterprise to appear at an important conference, the ambassador had developed a disease that afflicts Vulcans in their old age: their characteristic emotional detachment disappears. The reason, as they explain, is because the disease reduces and eventually eliminates a Vulcan's ability to stifle their long supressed emotions.

I found the implication dubious, that emotional detachment inevitabely means emotions are ignored and repressed, and lie there waiting to leak out, causing damage. Is there validity to the idea, or is it just a stereotype? How would you describe the nature of your emotional detachment (if you consider yourself that way)? Or what do you think about the subject?
I think --TJ types (especially ENTJ and ESTJ) are more likely than INTPs to suppress their emotions. Those types, as far as I can tell, are very concerned with not showing emotions, because their dominant Te function is very likely to view the display of emotions as weakness.

As an INTP, I actually think I'm more likely to rationalize my emotions when they start getting too strong, and then I let them out a little bit. But really, my emotions rarely do much. They rarely compete with my Ti, and sometimes they sort of latch onto my Ne and get out that way. Sometimes I try to listen to them, and they just don't say anything. For that reason, I'm convinced that the pop-psychobabble about suppressed emotions is a lot of bunk, and that it's possible that people just intellectualize things without feelings getting in the way.

[Jkrs]

Re: initial post.
I think there's a fallacy in the way the vulcan model represents logic & emotion. Though it can get in the way if too intense, emotional responses help logical processing by filtering the incoming data or present set of options. You could take action X, but if you think 'well isn't that stupid' when reaching it on the list, you're not going to waste much time on it. Positive/negative emotional responses being based on experiences, they've got their place - especially where quick decisions are necessary.

For myself, I'm aware that some kind of emotional state is always present, even if it's subtle enough that I can't actually categorise my mood. As a subsystem it appears to operate just fine on its own, passing information back & forth with the other processing areas. 'Detachment', then, is simply paying little attention to that part of the system until it exhibits unusual behaviour (high intensity, or assorted warning signals).