Freud, Severance and the multiple personality disorder

Who has never thought about separating personal life from professional life and not thinking about what things to buy for home while carrying out some important task at work? In the striking social entanglement called "system," we are all tied to a double life in which we not only want to disconnect, but also intend and pretend to be something we aren't yet believe we should be. This article's topic may sound kind of complicated and pretentious, but believe me when I tell you it is. Let me explain myself better with my analysis and perspective regarding this amazing series…

The brilliant, complex series I'm referring to is Severance—created by the multifaceted North American actor and director Ben Stiller. It's a clear example of how, in the wide world of movies and series, a simple idea can be drawn and evolved into a brilliant investigation on humanity, or rather, in this case, specifically on our psyche's complex mechanisms. The plot follows the consequences caused by a group of office workers that, after voluntarily undergoing an extreme procedure that separates their personal and professional lives, start to feel terrified of what first resembled a mere fantasy. Identity fragmentation is a topic I'm passionate about since I took my first steps in the academic environment—and also as the cinephile I consider myself to be. This is the exceptional case in which I, unlike the series' protagonists, mix my personal and professional lives with pleasure. Let's say that the singular and extraordinary part is that I'm passionate about what I do.

Freud and the identity fragmentation

The employees of Lumon Industries—a company weirdly dedicated to many things—resemble the high percentage of individuals that work under the capitalist system's fake, inspiring slogan: they take public transport or travel by car complaining about the shortcomings these vehicles can have, cheerlessly greet each other when entering or exiting work, carry out their tasks, and head home. There's nothing more depressing and devastating than this. So, they decide to fragment themselves, creating a utopia in their brains based on the idea that they will be happier this way. This means that the character's ego is fragmented into two completely isolated parts: an ego that lives and experiments work exclusively, unaware of the life beyond the company, and an ego that experiments their personal life, unconscious of what happens in the office. So, in this case, where does the Freudian theory fit in?

This concept, originally and wisely incorporated into the plot, resonates significantly and promptly with some of the most important ideas of one of the most complex minds that was nothing more than the founder of psychoanalysis. The psychoanalytic theory proposed by good old Sigmund is probably the most renowned regarding psychology. In Severance, this fragmentation can be interpreted as a literal reflection of the division of the human personality's different parts he described in his famous book The Ego and the Id: the id, the ego and the superego—luckily, my life partner is a psychologist so I can attest what I'm writing. Thank you, Vero.

According to Freudian theory, the personality is composed of three fundamental structures that work as a network in which they feedback and simultaneously distance from one another: the id, the ego and the superego. Meaning, the three of them interact to regulate human impulses, but also cause internal tensions that, if not handled properly, can result in conflicts and disorders. Now, let's define each one to be able to understand how this comes into play in Severance's captivating, weird premise.

The id: it represents primitive impulses and instinctive desires, working according to the pleasure principle. It's the most unconscious part of the personality, where survival and life's basic urges can be found and morality, let's say, vanishes in some way.

The superego: it's the moral part of the personality, which incorporates internalized social, ethical and cultural rules. Its role is to repress id's unacceptable impulses and guide the individual towards behaviors considered morally correct within the standards set by society.

Finally, the ego: this is the part that's in contact with reality and acts as a mediator between id's desires and superego's restrictions. Its role is to adapt to the demands of the outside world while maintaining an internal balance between instinctive impulses and social rules.

In Severance, the procedure that divides work life and personal life could be interpreted as the trigger of the conflict located between that conscious ego—which appears outside work—and the work ego—that doesn't have access to what happens beyond work. In psychological terms, Lumon Industries employees are witnessing the onset of a multiple personality similar to what Freud described in his theory, in which the different components of the personality—the id, the ego and the superego—don't have complete access to the others, which could cause a disorder of sense in the superego.

Repression and potential breakdown

One of Freudian theory's most important concepts is repression, the defense mechanism by which memories, desires and thoughts that we find threatening are forcefully pushed to the unconscious mind. It's essential to understand this to comprehend how Freud saw the psyche's structure, since repressed experiences don't disappear magically, but rather remain hidden in the unconscious mind, silently affecting our behaviors and thoughts without us being, ironically, aware of it.

In Severance, the closest case to this is Mark's (Adam Scott), the series' absolute protagonist who lost his wife a while ago. Unable to heal the wound, he decides to undergo the surgical procedure to stop thinking about her eight hours per day while he's at work. The division between his memories and the repressed grief could be understood as an extreme way to operate this mechanism which should be natural instead of being structured by outer forces. But that's what happens with practically all employees, who unable to remember what happened—and happens—outside work, they are basically "repressing" their personal lives when typing nonstop in front of a computer screen. But also, in parallel, their work ego is repressed when they leave the company. Who are they truly? And where does this fragmentation give rise to disorder?

The extra seasoning is that this emotional repression is emphasized and highlighted by the context surrounding the characters. Lumon Industries has a highly controlled and rigid work environment, which could be seen as a metaphor of the superego in action. The mysterious company, with its strict rules and strong work focus, acts as an authoritarian figure that strategically forces its employees to artificially separate their identities, creating an internal conflict between the different egos of the people involved.

Even though Freud wasn't who specifically introduced this "multiple personality" concept like it's understood nowadays—that in modern psychology is called dissociative identity disorder, which we witness in James McAvoy's character in Split—he did come up with the idea that people can experience different personality sides in a conflictive way, intensely clashing with the other. In Severance, this idea is reflected through the reality perception the characters have, constantly debating about if what they are living is real or not.

The series presents a really chilling but also reflective vision of what happens when different sides of the human personality are fragmented to the point of total dissociation. It can also be read as a critique to North American corporatocracy, which intends to automate its subordinates looking for an increasingly efficient production no matter the consequences. Who knows? At the end, the interesting part lies in the wide range of interpretations this series offers and how each one of them can be as accurate as the other. Welcome to the vast universe of subjectivity, and remember: always try to find your real ego in your profession.

Posted on FEBRUARY 10, 2024, 15:12 PM | UTC-GMT -3

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