Anus Anxiety or "Why Do People Buy Toilet Paper Like Maniacs?"

Poll - Total Votes: 25

Helen you are a deep thinker!

Helen you are totally dense.

You can only vote on one answer.

We need another Sigmund Freud to explain the significance of this present toilet paper madness. Really it cannot be understood in terms of rational thinking. There's something deeper behind it, an anxiety which is unknown to the conscious subject that purchases tons of toilet paper. It's a compulsive act. Buy more toilet paper. Still more toilet paper. The walls they build around themselves are not made of bricks, but of toilet paper rolls. They feel safe within. But why?

I believe they squeeze 500 rolls of toilet paper into their SUV's to wash away a perceived guilt. It is a defense response; not against the virus, but against the loss of control.

"I take no responsibility for what is happening. I am innocent. I am not guilty of this loss of control. I can prove it: [i][u]my[/u] anus is clean[/i]." The present crisis is associated with faeces (the archetype of loss of control), and toilet paper is used as a shielding against it, to wash the dirt away, to regain control. Dr. Freud described this personalty type as the "anal-hoarding character". The unconscious "Id" hijacks the "Ego".

helenS, hobby psycho[b]anal[/b]ist.

SW-User

@helenS if you follow Freud I stuck at oral (why I'm alchololic) because my brother nearly died of measles, meningitis and complications in my first year of life. So I was denied satisfaction at the oral stage.

helenS · 36-40, F

@SW-User Yes in fact I think that
(a) Dr. Freud's theories are still relevant today
(b) psychoanalysis needs to be updated.
... and I believe the toilet paper craziness is a perfect example, as outlined in my original post.

SW-User

@helenS one of the problems is to conduct Random Controlled Clinical Trials to provide comparable evidence which is so difficult with talking therapy due to the inconsistencies in application etc.