ABSTRACT
Successful socialization contains the spontaneous expression of energy so that it can be harnessed in the service of both the individual and society. However, learning how to contain spontaneity is inevitably frustrating. Requiring children to manage their energy before they are developmentally ready results not in containment but in inhibition and constriction of their energy through tension. Tension is like constricting spontaneity inside a muscular straightjacket. In the course of SCT therapy, it nearly always follows that the energy released when cognitive distortions are undone will be constricted once more in a straightjacket of tension. Until there is enough containment for spontaneity, reducing one defense will call into play the next one in line. Thus, when the defenses against tension are modified, there will first be a shift in the person's experience toward tension and irritability and then toward greater irritability until, ultimately, he or she feels more irritable than either anxious or tense.
