‘Touching the void’. Mountains as transitional objects: Climbing as a defence against anxiety

Abstract

Occupational science, a relatively new field of study, explores the political, cultural, social and personal meanings of occupations undertaken by people. However, in describing the ‘meaning and purpose’ of the activities, little attention has been paid to the unconscious symbolic function of activities for the individual and/or society. The potential for an analysis of the ‘activity’ (or occupation) as a transitional phenomenon led the author of this paper (an occupational therapist) to think further about the concept of an occupation and its potential for a defensive function, i.e. driven by unconscious anxiety.

By using narratives from mountaineers the paper explores occupations that may be used to defend or deflect the self from anxiety and thus the expression and fulfillment of a need for a relationship with another, in all its complexity, is denied. The author discusses this as a parallel discourse: the ‘against all odds’ adventure/achievement in society alongside a concealed fear of frailty and a difficulty in establishing a trusting attachment to a secure object (i.e. a person). In looking at the account of a climbing accident (in Touching the void, Simpson, 1997a) and its aftermath, the author suggests that Simpson's achievements following his accident, in mountain climbing and the authorship of many books, did not help him to make sense of his experience of vulnerability, as they were activities that reinforced his initial defence, that of a disavowal of his need for others (i.e. his dependency). Mountain climbing, alongside other adventure sports, could be an example of an individual's compulsive repetition of an unconscious defence against the fear of vulnerability, thereby not allowing for the fulfillment of the reparative wishes that could lead to a transformation of the compulsion. This fear of dependency may be echoed in a society that celebrates individualism, independence and self-empowerment.

Keywords:

• psychoanalytic theory
• unconscious defence mechanisms
• repetition compulsion
• leisure
• dependency
• transformation through reparation

Notes

1. A poem inscribed on a plaque, half way up a mountain, Waaihoek, in Western Cape, South Africa.

2. Italics from original quote by Winnicott (1971).

3. A particular type of climbing in which the climber's safety relies on the skilled placement of removable devices, into which the climber/s can clip the rope and falling off the rock can be hazardous if the securing devices are unable to hold the climber's weight or angle of fall. This is differentiated from ‘sports climbing’ in which the climber is secured to permanent bolts (Lewis, 2000).

4. Oedipus, on attempting to enter the gates of Thebes, is asked a question by the Sphinx. If he does not answer the riddle correctly he will be devoured by the Sphinx. The question was; ‘There is on earth a thing two footed and four footed and three footed that has one voice … but when it goes on on most feet then its speed is feeblest’ (Steiner, 1993, p. 118). Oedipus answers correctly – a man, who ‘crawls on four feet as an infant, walks on two as an adult, and hobbles with a stick in old age’ (Steiner, 1993, p. 118).

5. This is an extremely dangerous sport where the jumper launches themselves from a fixed point, often a tall building or cliff edge, with a parachute. The sport carries a high rate of fatalities.