Personality types: Jung's model of typology - Inner City Books

42 Extraversion and the Four Functionsless, in extreme cases spurs consciousness to absurd exaggerationaimed at further repression of the unconscious.The eventual blowup may take an objective form, as one'souter activities become thwarted or colored by subjective considerations.Jung tells of a printer who worked his way up until afteryears of struggle he became the owner of a thriving business.As it expanded it tightened his hold on him. Finally it swallowedup all his other interests. Then, in unconscious compensationfor his one-sidedness, childhood memories of hisgreat delight in painting and drawing came to life. But insteadof renewing this activity as a hobby that would nicely complementhis business concerns, he incorporated it into hisbusiness by embellishing his products artistically. Since histaste was primitive and infantile, his business ended in ruins. 44The result can also, or instead, be of a subjective nature—anervous breakdown. This is likely to happen when the influenceof the unconscious finally paralyzes conscious action:The demands of the unconscious then force themselves imperiouslyon consciousness and bring about a disastrous splitwhich shows itself in one of two ways: either the subject nolonger knows what he really wants and nothing interests him,or he wants too much at once and has too many interests, butin impossible things. The suppression' of infantile and primitivedemands for cultural reasons easily leads to a neurosis orto the abuse of narcotics such as alcohol, morphine, cocaine,etc. In more extreme cases the split ends in suicide. 45In general, the compensating attitude of the unconsciousworks to maintain psychic equilibrium. Hence even the individualwho is normally extraverted will at times function in anintroverted way. As long as the extraverted attitude predominates,however, the most developed function will manifest in44 Ibid., par. 572.45 Ibid., par. 573.