IJ study archive

Rusk's office after hours: Stice's fear of weights, diagnosed as counterphobia

quote

after our work together on your fear of weights, would be that your presenting maladjustment, Ortho, like many males and athletes, is that you’re suffering from counterphobia.

Context

Overheard through Rusk's after-hours door, the one datum here that's ours: Stice's trouble began as a body-in-the-weight-room problem. The whole reason he's in therapy is "your fear of weights," and Rusk generalizes it as the athlete's characteristic maladjustment — "like many males and athletes... counterphobia." The gift-body's presiding coach is a psychologist, and the failing part she's servicing is a young player who has become afraid of the very iron the regimen builds him with. The body-as-machine has a fear of its own maintenance equipment.

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