Hair loss: a case study of mourning and melancholia in
the countertransference.
Committed as I am to the significance of the body and
countertransference in my work as a transactional analyst, I simply cannot
avoid the painful subject of hair loss! My column today constitutes a soul-searching
examination and, hopefully, a working through of my issues around hair loss in
the service of my more hirsute male clients, especially those sporting their
newly fashionable beards.
Notice how, from the start, I use the anodyne term ‘hair
loss’ rather than the darker, more shameful ‘balding’ or even the terminal
‘bald’. There I’ve said it, Worden’s
first task of mourning, ie acknowledging the reality of the loss! The trouble with models involving stages
however is that treading on the first
step immediately raises fears of the
following and worse, final steps – ultimately (qua Worden) presumably a wig!
Anyway, we talk about ‘losing’ our hair, but we don’t
simply misplace it, like our keys, or as in ‘bloody hell it was there a moment
ago’, or even ‘well it was on the top of my head when I went to bed last
night’! We don’t actually lose our hair, it simply stops
growing. Perversely it only stops
growing on the tops of our heads – where we want it to be – and grows more in
places we don’t want such as our ears and noses, like some sick weird proof
that either god doesn’t exist, or is a woman!
And then there’s the I’m OK, you’re not OK discrimination
against those of us ‘losing’ our hair, like the plethora of hair ‘care’
products for people with lots of hair – shampoos and conditioners giving it
more body and shine so they can shake their lustrous locks, constantly sweeping
it back from over their faces in faux annoyance – ‘cos they’re worth it! No such ‘care’ for balding people, presumably
‘cos we’re not worth it!
Hairy heads and smooth heads - hairy people and smooth
people. If you think about it hairy
people are more like our evolutionary ancestors, for example the apes and
gorillas, who had hair all over their bodies.
We’ve all seen those depictions of evolutionary development, you know
the ones where the figures gradually change from hairy creatures on all fours
to hairy things gradually standing up, and onto the upright and smoother homo
sapiens. We’ve advanced in becoming
smoother and less hairy. I rest my case….or
maybe not quite yet …..
As a contribution to this ongoing evolutionary progress I
propose a raft of new policies for the next government to consider:
·
the more hair you have the more tax you pay
·
hair-free zones and banning of hairy people in
public places - as with smoking
·
dedicated parking spaces for the sole use of
bald people
·
enhanced evolutionary-friendly child benefits
for families with balding fathers
·
creation of an Axis 2 DSM diagnosis – EHD (Excessive
Hair Disorder)
·
establishment of special centres where hairies
can get free hair removal, therapy and re-education classes about who’s worth
it and who isn’t.
However, persistent hairy ‘extremists’ would be banned
from owning cars, bycicles and belts so they’d have to run for buses and fall
over and everyone would laugh at them. (Let’s face it, I might as well give
full reign to my envious Child ego state here).
By that time the queen will have passed on, William will be
king and called His Royal Hairless-ness, and a whole new generation of bald
therapists will be trained up to work with Excessive Hair Disorder. I will have worked through my
countertransference, and the world will be a better place.
Alterego
