8: The Manic Defense

The manic defense is the practice of physically or mentally distracting oneself from unwanted emotions. This may be seen periodically, or it may be constant: there are individuals who seem to spend all their time rushing from one task to the next, unable to tolerate even short periods of inactivity.

This defense is particularly evident in instances where the tasks with which an individual constantly busies himself are not pleasant and their outcomes are not meaningful.

He strays for a moment into the expression of "manic laughter" in which people laugh a little too long, a little to hard, or a little to readily at the mention of uncomfortable topics. Such laughter is meant to disguise or deny feelings of anxiety or inadequacy.

Back to manic behavior, the author considers people who go all-out to celebrate minor holidays (such as Halloween), or plan for months in advance for an event, or fill their spare time with reading, or even to seek constant social engagement to be attempting to fill spare moments with activity to avoid thinking about things that distress them.

He makes reference to the protestant work ethic as a cultural institution of manic defense - people are instilled with the notion that every minute of every day must be spent in productive pursuits and that idle time is to be avoided. In other cultures, value is placed on leisure time, and the ability to do nothing at all is considered an affordable luxury. Consider that the Swahili word for westerners is "Mzungu" - which means "one who moves around in circles."