The transition to the anal stage is marked by the maturation of neuromuscular control over the functioning of sphincters, particularly the anal sphincters, which thus permits a higher degree of voluntary control over the retention or expulsion of feces. This period extends roughly from about the first to the third year of life and is characterized by a recognizable intensification of aggressive drives mixed with the libidinal compounds in anal-sadistic impulses. The acquisition of sphincter control is also connected with an increased shift from a posture of passivity to one of increasing activity and assertiveness. The classical contexts in which these issues are joined are the struggle with the parent over the retaining or expelling of feces in toilet training. The ultimate issue is one of control: who has the final say as to when and how things will be done. These conflicts over anal control and the struggles with the parent over the retaining or expelling of feces increase the degree of ambivalence. The parent in this period becomes the object of both intensely loving and hating impulses, since the child wishes both to comply with the parent’s wishes and thus continue to receive love and affection from the parent as well as to rebel against the parent and withhold the precious fecal gift.
This is also the period of separation and individuation, in which the questions of the extent to which the child can function on his own without continual reliance and support from the nurturing parent are joined. Here again the anal drives are characterized as erotic, referring to the sexual pleasure in anal functioning, both in retaining the precious feces and in presenting them as a precious gift to the parent, and as sadistic, referring to the increased expression of aggressive impulses connected with the discharging of feces as though these were powerful and destructive weapons. These wishes may often be displayed in children’s drawings or in play activity in the form of fantasies of bombing and explosion.
The major issue in the anal period is that it is essentially a period of striving for independence and for the child’s separation from the continuing support of the parents and from his dependence on them. The issue of control is particularly important here, since in one direction the excess of parental control deprives the child of the opportunity to separate adequately and to gain some foothold for his own stirring autonomy, while the opposite extreme, a failure of parental control, would leave the infant too much at risk of failure and too threatened by the anxieties of separation and the intensification of his still powerful dependency wishes. In this arena, then, the objectives of sphincter control without an excessive degree of overcontrol (fecal retention) or the loss of control (messing) can be matched with the child’s attempts to establish and achieve autonomy and independence without an excessive degree of shame or self-doubt arising from the loss of control. Erikson has characterized this developmental crisis as the tension of autonomy versus shame and doubt.
Certain maladaptive character traits, which often seem inconsistent, arise from the failure to resolve these basic developmental issues and reflect the tensions over anal erotism and sadism and the defenses against it. Thus, one often sees such characteristics as orderliness, obstinacy, stubbornness, willfulness, frugality, and parsimony as characteristics of anal personalities. These characteristics derive from the fixation on anal functions and often assume a highly rigid and controlling quality. When the defenses against anal traits are less effective, either because they have been weakened or have undergone some degree of regression, the anal character then often reveals traits of heightened ambivalence, messiness, defiance, rage, and severe degrees of sadomasochistic behavior. Such anal characteristics and their correlative defenses may often be seen most typically in the obsessive compulsive neuroses and obsessive compulsive character structures.
But the conflict and struggle over anal issues and the difficulties of separation and individuation may also have their successful outcome. The successful resolution of the anal phase and its difficulties is a basis for the development of an increasing sense of personal autonomy, the capacity for independence, and for the exercise of personal initiatives without an abiding sense of guilt. There can result a capacity for self-determination without a sense of shame or self-doubt. In such personalities a healthy degree of independence and the exercise of personal initiative and self-determination can be accomplished without any significant degree of ambivalence. Such individuals, having a firmly established and reasonable degree of personal autonomy, can engage in various levels of willing cooperation with others and even submission of themselves in willing ways to the objectives and purposes of others without a sense of excessive willfulness or rebelliousness on the one hand, and without a sense of self-diminution, defeat, or humiliation on the other.
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