Regulating emotion via the body

my self-grooming cat

Self-directed behaviours are all about regulating what is going on inside us by manipulating our external physical body.  It happens when normal channels for handling our relationship to our environment are blocked, frustrated or unavailable. 

All animals - and this certainly includes humans too - learn to survive by interacting in a purposeful way with their surroundings.  Take an insect and put it in an empty glass jar and you can soon see how when taken out of its environment it has no way of using its innate abilities to serve its own needs.

People can live in glass jars too.  They can find themselves in sterile surroundings that offer them little or no chance to express themselves, obtain loving responses from others,  finding security or comfort and feeling the way they need to feel to be content in their own skins.

I have written about this topic before.  It is called homeostatis - the way an organism controls its internal state by interacting with its environment.  Animals demonstrate it very clearly.  For example, if not fed at the appointed hour my cat will yelp and cry.  If perhaps I am busy for some reason and it does not get the response it requires (i.e. to be fed) it will eventually quite meowing and start grooming itself e.g. licking its fur.  Unable to successfully manipulate its environment (me) through attachment evoking sounds and unable to stop the feeling of being hungry it is between something of a rock and a hard place.  It can only endure this state of tension for as long as it feels able to exercise some control over its personal destiny.  When its efforts at attracting attention go unheeded for a time the grooming behaviour offers a way of switching off or self-calming until either the situation changes and it is able to try again, or its hunger increases and prompts a renewed attempt to elicit the response it seeks (to be fed).

I should add, I love my cat and do not go out of my way to make it sing for its supper.  But its grooming behaviour is regular enough for this observation to be made.  Humans are similar too.  Observations of people playing with their hair whilst waiting or bored, rubbing their skin or scratching are signs of being in an inbetween state - of aiming to attain an internal state whilst in a environment over which control is limited so that manipulation of the situation in a desirable way is not immediately possible.

This sort of predicament is so common that one might say it reflects the human condition of being in the world.  What interests me is when this situation is prolonged unnaturally and what happens when it is. 

But don't worry, I won't be experimenting on the cat!