I think I will bypass the topics of my aging canine companions and the political hellscape we find ourselves in and post something a little closer to my heart–Jungian Psychology and treating patients. This post/blurb/essay/whatever started out as a response to a question I received by a contact on LinkedIn. I don’t know that he blogs around these parts but I do know that he has a website which I enjoyed reading through and suggest you do the same.

I haven’t really cleared this post with him and it is usually not my style to mention someone by name without consulting with them first but I really think the work being done by Curtis is important, not only because the more people talk about the psychological concepts that affect our lives the more people will learn about them but also another reason. While I would never use the same terminology Curtis does, I really like that he is using it.

Why you may ask?

Well that is simple and again a matter of bringing these ideas to the largest possible audience. By discussing the inner psychological experience inner and unique ways, even though at heart we are all talking about the same things, I think it increases the possibility that not only more people will get the message but will also increase the likelihood of more people understanding the message.

In the end we are much more alike than we are different and these concepts are not all that complicated to understand, especially when they are translated into as many different languages as possible.

Curtis is Curtis Morley and his website is https://www.counterfeitemotions.com/blog/What%20is%20a%20Counterfeit%20Emotion

Check him out and pick up a copy of his book when it becomes available.

Interesting concept Curtis and if I am understanding you correctly this is something I (maybe all Jungian Psychologists) deal with on a daily basis with my patients though I don’t share your verbiage.

What you are describing as a “counterfeit emotion” I would refer to as a projection of shadow materials. The process works something like this:

• A person realizes they have a personality trait which is intolerable to the ego or consciousness.  I will follow your example above and for nice/kind, in this case it would be meanness.
• As this is a characteristic which cannot be tolerated the ego pushes the trait into the unconscious into a reservoir (of sorts) called the shadow.
• The psyche will not allow this trait to penetrate lower into the unconscious as the characteristic needs to be integrated into the self as part of individuation, however as the ego will not tolerate the idea that this characteristic is actually part of the personality it fights off awareness of the characteristic through the ego defenses.
• The psyche (or unconscious) will not accept defeat (so to speak) and as a way of working around the ego defenses will project the characteristic into the environment so that it can be recognized.  This projection causes two types of events to transpire: the person projecting will adapt a highly “nice” persona which as it is only the thinnest of veneers, can be easily seen though by others and on some levels the self (this is the process you are calling counterfeit, right?) and second when this person is confronted by someone who is displaying the projected characteristic the psyche recognizes it (in a way saying “oh I have meanness too,” or “look there I am”), but the ego also recognizes the trait.  The result is what Jung called rageful anger from the consciousness in attempt to overrule the psyche’s recognition of self in the other.

This last part is what I do with my patients when these emotions come up.  Help them to understand the reason they are so vehemently rejecting this characteristic in the other is because they are recognizing it in themselves.  

The cure, if you will, is to accept the meanness within and thereby integrate it into the personality, which will shut down the projection (as there is no longer a need) and give the person the opportunity to recognize themselves in the behavior of others and thereby also shut down the need for the anger, or more technically, the rejection of other.

I am actually in the process of editing a book I wrote on identity formation which discusses this process a bit as it plays a significant role in the formation of personal identity.

I hope this is information you find helpful in your writing endeavor.