Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

enragement

English answer:

provoke rage and resentment

Added to glossary by Yvonne Gallagher
Jul 1 15:17
2 mos ago
50 viewers *
English term

enragement

English Social Sciences Psychology feeling of humiliation in psychotherapy
Dear colleagues,
I was wondering whether in the following context about the feeling of humiliation in psychotherapy, the term “enragement” may be interpreted as the combination between “rage” and “resentment”. I have this doubt because the author says “what one astute patient called ‘enragement’”....If “enragement” had its original meaning of “anger”, why would the author describe the patient as "astute"? Or maybe "enragement" has other nuances of meaning?
Thank you so much for your help!


Here is the passage:

Dorahy (2017) wrote that adherence to shame helps a person to avoid the realization of humiliation experience in that the perpetrator intended to wound and diminish a person. Building on that clarity is that humiliation experience is linked to a call to action, much as with anger, because humiliation holds the knowing of the enormity of the power differential between abuser and victim. If the victim risks feeling powerful, shows their proportional rage and resentment, *** what one astute patient called “enragement,” *** they are at risk of preemptive retaliation from the sadistic abuser for not masochistically accepting the abuser’s dominance. An interesting dynamic arises in this context: The failure to heed the call to action in the moment of humiliation can be experienced as shameful, and a powerful self-hatred can be generated that takes the place of the threat of retaliation.
Change log

Jul 8, 2024 12:43: Yvonne Gallagher Created KOG entry

Discussion

haribert (asker) Jul 2:
Dear Yvonne, thanks for your clarification! In the meanwhile, I've found another occurrence of "enragement" in the text:

There is also forbidden retaliation if the victim knows the vulnerabilities of the perpetrator well, loves them, and knows that to ruthlessly attack the perpetrator is to weaken and potentially destroy the loved person. (...)The call to action is diverted and targets the weak and pathetic self who failed to respond to the provocation of humiliation. Self is attacked, rather than other, as per Nathanson’s compass of shame. Thus, a vicious cycle of humiliation, *** enragement ***, shame, self-hatred, self-disgust, and self-attack (after which humiliation is often also experienced for failing to maintain safety) is entered and may be sustained, at great cost.
@Haribert yes, they have the feeling (of proportional rage and resentment) BUT because they are NOT SHOWING it there is NO "enragement" as such. They are not enraging the abuser, or provoking them to anger.
I may have misled you by putting "rage and resentment" in my answer header? Sorry, it wasn't intentional. Enragement must include an element of provocation.
haribert (asker) Jul 2:
Dear Yvonne, thank you for your explanation! Just to be sure I’ve understood correctly: “enragement” in this case seems to be a feeling the victim has, a feeling consisting of a blend of rage and resentment , not an action...
Thank you so much for your patience!
@Haribert Going around a bit in circles here. But "enragement" doesn't mean "anger" per se as you suggested in your question. (If “enragement” had its original meaning of “anger”) but rather provocation to anger, hence why the patient is astute/clever by NOT provoking/enraging the abuser by SHOWING them just how resentful and angry they are at their mistreatment because that WOULD ENRAGE (be a form of enragement to) the abuser

However, "enragement" as a word is just the verb "enrage" with a suffix to make it a noun, so nothing "witty" about it?
Hope this clarifies it.
haribert (asker) Jul 1:
Yvonne, I think that the author wants to say that the patient was "astute" to use the definition of "enragement" to describe rage and resentment..
I think that in the following sentence "what" refers to "proportional rage and resentment that his patient called enragement" - the patient defined proportional rage and resentment as enragement....

If the victim risks feeling powerful, shows their proportional rage and resentment, *** what one astute patient called “enragement,” ***
@Haribert I don't agree that "astute" means "witty" here. Why? The patient is being clever/shrewd, the usual meaning of the word, as otherwise he could have more trouble from the abuser. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astute#:~:text=: ...

"enragement" is a perfectly OK word. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/enragement_n?tl=true&tab=fact...
haribert (asker) Jul 1:
Dear Emmanuella, I agree with you! I think "astute" may be understood as "arguta".(witty)... in this context
Emmanuella Jul 1:
IMO, in this text, it's an 'ironical' ( astute) combination...This term dates back to the 16th century.
https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/enragement#:~:text=Étymol.&t...
haribert (asker) Jul 1:
Dear Emmanuella, thank you very much for this useful link: I can see that "enragement" has a very low frequency of usage...so maybe it's used here also as a combination of "rage" and "resentment"
haribert (asker) Jul 1:
Oliver, so you, too, think that "enragement" here is intended as a combination of rage and resentment...
haribert From the author's point of view, the patient was "mentally sharp, clever" in defining enragement as the combination of "proportional rage and resentment". Frankly, I don't see any inconsistencies in that assertion.

astute: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astute
haribert (asker) Jul 1:
Hi, Oliver, actually the sentence is: "if the victim risks feeling powerful, shows their proportional rage and resentment, *** what one astute patient called “enragement,”"...
It seems that "enragement" refers back to "rage and resentment"....

Responses

+1
32 mins
Selected

rage and resentment

the pateient is "astute" because they are not going to show how they feel too early
If the victim risks feeling powerful,

and thus "shows their proportional rage and resentment" , *** what one astute

"they [THEN] are at risk of preemptive retaliation from the sadistic abuser for not masochistically accepting the abuser’s dominance".

Hence they are not astute, by not showing how powerful they are feeling and provoking the abuser

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Note added at 33 mins (2024-07-01 15:50:32 GMT)
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don't forget that enrage is a verb too, so feeling powerful can ENRAGE abusers

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Note added at 37 mins (2024-07-01 15:54:20 GMT)
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should read
Hence they ARE astute, by NOT showing how powerful they are feeling and provoking/enraging the abuser

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Note added at 6 days (2024-07-08 12:43:34 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
Note from asker:
Thank you so much, Yvonne, for your contribution!
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard : The answer is in the first half of the sentence.
10 hrs
Thanks:-)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you so much, Yvonne, for your valuable help! Many many thanks also to all other colleagues for their contribution!"

Reference comments

2 mins
Reference:

enragement

enragement: a feeling of intense anger. synonyms: infuriation. type of: anger, bile, choler, ire. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/enragement
Note from asker:
thank you, Oliver, for your contribution. Actually, I was wondering whether in this particular context "enragement" might be a sort of 'pun on words' deriving from the combination of "rage" and "resentment"....
Peer comments on this reference comment:

neutral Andrew Bramhall : Yes, but not really used in English;
1 hr
I beg to disagree. There are TONS of examples with "enragement" in English: https://www.google.com/search?q="enragement"
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