The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-03-06
EPY0UR CHILDREN
 By Olive Roberts 6srtoa
l0Ss 67 N[1 sfaVIc9. aEe


 The "inferiority complex" What is 1t? How does it
 develop? The answers are given by Olive Roberts Barr ton in another of her illusni-
 hating articles i'm her Child Training series.
 Probably no word in the lang uage is more overworked and mis- used to-day than complex. It is given to every prejudice and phobia under the sun, be- cause it has introgued the imagin- tion and set the country by the ears.
 Now it is not an easy word to understand Indeed so obscure and bewildering a process is it. that even the most advanced anal ysts of mind mysteries, find many of the real truths eluding them.
 Complex Defined
 The reason for continued search is to find causes, more than re- suits. Results are only too wei! known. The forms of instantly. neurasthenia and abnormal con- duct, to say nothing of sheer men, tai unhappiness are the greatest misfortune of the modern world. And mind specialists all over the world are agreed that the trouble begins in childhood and early youth.
 Complex. What is it? One can only speak, generally.
 The mind is divided into certain emotional areas, let us say. In one is the lego" state, or self interest; in another the society attitude or interest in the world ; another contains sex interest. Oth- CTS may concern passions for hob bies, for possession, or for certain work, etc. Each of these is di- vided and subdivided but all are colored by one thing - deep in- terest or emotion.
 Nature has made it so. Natural lodging in the brain is given them, And the brain provides the means of growth. They are normally fed by certain things - the stimuli of experience. Ego" or self-interest Is fed by hundred things - praise, credit, satisfaction in do- ing, winning a race, condonement any and everything is needed to develop it to it's full growth and satisfaction at maturity.
 All emotional areas develop by the same system, each being per fected through the channels of normal or happy experience.
 If the channel is stopped by something, and both outlet and in- let are shut off, what happens !? Ordinarily we would think that was the end of it. Sometimes it is and We say that normal develop- ment is arrested" But usually it is not the case. The channel merely twists and turns and seeks a new dumping ground in the "subconscious." The process of repression produces a warped at- titude called a "repressed com plex."
 Effect of "ShOck"
 The stoppage is not always sud- oen. Repeated unhappy experi- ences may result in a twist. or it can be caused by a single unhappy one, such as shock.
 The child may forget the experi- ence Cor group of experiences) and so may every one else. Then years iatef, It may make itself known by over-emotional or un- happy conduct, or by more or less serious perversions.
 "lnferiority" is a complex. The right experiences that feed self esteem or lego" have ben inter rupted by criticism, or teasing. or shame, or by so-called faij,,re o1ten repeated; also by not getting pralse' or credit where they are
 Menta' complex is merely the name given by many psychologists to the normal groups of emotional interest. They are natural and "bo,'h "be anhormai. Work complex" terms. ioh it IS the "repressed complex" of any sort that is unfortunate.
 NEXT: Conflict.