Anal expulsiveness

Not to be confused with Anal retentive.

Anal expulsiveness is a theorized state of a person who exhibits cruelty, emotional outbursts, disorganization, self-confidence, artistic ability, generosity, rebelliousness and general carelessness.^[1][2]

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis theory claims the anal stage follows the oral stage of infant/early-childhood development. This is a time when an infant's attention moves from oral stimulation to anal stimulation (usually the bowels but occasionally the bladder), usually synchronous with learning to control their excretory functions, a time of toilet training. For children in this stage of development, control of bowel movements is the stage at which they can express autonomy by withholding, refusing to comply, or soiling themselves.^[3] Conflicts with bullying parents regarding toilet training can produce a fixation in this stage, which can manifest itself in adulthood by a continuation of erotic pleasure in defecation.^[1]

Anal-expulsive refers to a personality trait present in people fixated in the anal stage of psychosexual development. The anal stage is the second of five stages of psychosexual development.

In modern times, psychosexual stages are considered to have limited value in understanding the more severe psychopathology.^[4]

References

1. Sharan, A.K. (2000). Encyclopaedia of Abnormal Psychology. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. p. 407. ISBN 81-261-0475-9.^{[permanent dead link]}
2. Kosslyn, S. (2004). Psychology: The brain, the person, the world. Rosenberg, R. (2nd ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-205-37609-4.
3. Magnavita, Jeffrey J. (2002). Theories of Personality: Contemporary Approaches to the Science of Personality. John Wiley and Sons. p. 90. ISBN 0-471-37890-9.
4. Livesley, W. John (2001). Handbook of personality disorders. The Guilford Press. pp. 49–50. ISBN 0-471-37890-9.

External links

• Gerard Keegan's discussion of the anal stage of psychosexual development