“Lift the weight of the false self crushing you
Lift the curse of the fatalist haunting you
Lift yourself out from the death grip
Lift the burden on your shoulders”
From “Weight of the False Self” by Hatebreed
What’s up Hardcore Humans! This week on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we talked with Jamey Jasta, lead vocalist of the Grammy nominated metalcore band Hatebreed and host of The Jasta Show. Hatebreed — with their blazing combination of extreme metal and hardcore punk — has been churning blazing music for over 25 years and is considered one of the greatest metalcore bands of all time. Their debut album, Satisfaction is the Death of Desire (1997) is typically rated as one of the best metalcore albums of all time, with Loudwire saying, “Jamey Jasta refused to be held down by anyone, his words giving the music an empowering tough love spin.” And they are about to release their highly anticipated eighth studio album, Weight of the False Self.
Which brings us to the topic of the conversation – how we understand the dangers of a false self. The term “False self” was originally developed by David Winnicott and is used to describe a distorted portrayal of one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors – either to oneself or others – that was thought to interfere with a true authentic connection with one’s identity and emotions. In theory this discrepancy between the false self and true self is maladaptive, as the efforts to suppress one’s true self in order to maintain the façade of the false self is stressful and inherently suppresses authentic thoughts and emotions. The concept of the false self has been studied using a range of related constructs, including the concepts of “perceived fraudulence” and “imposter syndrome.”
For example, people who suffer from eating disorders – extreme dieting, binge eating, purging – often hide these behaviors from family and friends. In fact, people with eating disorders often present a façade of being “put together” to others that masks their chaotic and harmful behavior. One study examined the levels of perceived fraudulence in samples of 34 bulimic women, 33 women who scored high on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and 67 matched controls. Bulimic and high EAT score women demonstrated significantly higher levels of perceived fraudulence than matched controls.
Similarly, “imposter syndrome typically refers to people who are high achieving but do not necessarily experience the emotional benefits of their success. In fact, people who struggle with “imposter syndrome” experience more anxiety that they will be exposed as frauds than confident that they are successful in their various endeavors. One meta-analytic review of 62 studies with a total of 14,161 participants examined the link between imposter syndrome and various outcome measures. Results indicated that imposter syndrome is associated with an increased risk for co-morbid anxiety and depression, as well as impaired job performance and lower job satisfaction.
One of the consequences of a false self that Jasta discussed during our conversation is emotional suppression, whereby we feel that we have to avoid our negative feelings to present our false self. This can be a pivotal moment for people that leads them away from being authentic. When we feel anger, sadness, loneliness and emptiness, and feel forced by ourselves or others to hide those emotions it can be harmful emotionally and physically. For example, one study of 625 participants aged 14–19 years who were seeking emergency room services were evaluated on measures of adverse life events, coping strategies, and suicidal ideation and attempts. The results indicated that adverse life events were more likely to engage in emotional suppression, which in turn increased risk for suicidal thoughts and attempts. This suggested that emotional suppression in the face of adversity may be harmful, increasing risk of suicidality.
When we are connected in with our true self, we are much more likely to be motivated to achieve what we want in life. And even if we don’t achieve everything we want in life, it feels good living in an authentic way. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why we may live in a false way. Maybe we are afraid of how others will react if we live our most authentic life. Maybe we’re scared to go for what we want in the world because we’re afraid we won’t achieve it and be disappointed. Or in some cases, we may live out someone else’s plan for us – whether family, friends, teachers – just because we assume that’s what we were supposed to do. And that false self can be devastating because even if we live that false life well, we’re not going to feel connected to the person we’ve become.
