Is Trolling a Cry for Attachment?

"What do we make of trolling from a psychological point of view? Is it a new, unrestrained form of sadism unleashed by the internet? Is it a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, externalized via memes? Or is it a cry for attachment? A perverse form of inviting community and fellowship? This latter claim is advanced by Alfie Bown in his book Post-Comedy."

"For Freud, early adolescent development was characterized, particularly for boys, by an emergent castration anxiety-the fear of losing one's penis. Now Freud meant this more symbolically in terms of the fear of losing one's independence, and perhaps one's core physiological trait, by the threat of others. "Castration," in other words, means the symbolic act of saying No, being put in one's place, in having to follow rules and restrain one's own impulses and desires."

Psychological perspectives on trolling span interpretations from sadistic or obsessive-compulsive impulses to a distorted call for attachment and belonging. One account conceptualizes trolling as an enactment of a castration complex, where explicit provocation masks a suppressed wish to be symbolically 'castrated'—to be told No—as a conduit to social inclusion. The castration complex captures a symbolic fear of losing core independence and being compelled to obey rules and curb impulses. Resistance to such symbolic restraint appears in childhood tantrums and can persist into adulthood as opposition to rules, authorities, or policies.

Read at Psychology Today