المجلس العالمي للتسامح والسلام

The characteristics of a miser

Dr. Antoine Chartouni

Dr. Antoine Chartouni

Miserliness is considered as a defect in a human being. What differs a from the rest of the people who spend their money for their personal well-being is this “hobby” he has of collecting the money he earns, which makes him spend his life assembling without benefiting. But what are the characteristics of a person who is a miser? What are the consequences of the husband’s behavior, if he’s a miser, on his family?

Linguistically, miserliness is act of collecting money and not spending it under the pretext of the fear of the future. It is a bad trait that prevents the individual from giving and exerting either money and things on a materialistic level or emotions, support and encouragement to others on a moral level. Psychoanalysis explains miserliness as a “trait” that rises within the human to reduce his anxiety. This means that the behavior of a miser is the result of mental illness, sourced from early childhood, especially in the “Anal Stage” which is one of the psychological development stages of the child.

Reasons for miserliness:

Many studies concerning miserliness where made but none of them reached accurate results except for two main reason that can be discussed:

First, psychological reasons. According to Sigmund Freud this reason goes back to the stages of growth in the early childhood, specifically the anal stage, which is when the child has been subjected to a strict education in the cleaning and toilet training, and has a reaction is the retention of waste in his body, which gives him pleasure in the anal region. This is why he sticks to this stage and transfers the pleasure to material things and emotions later and becomes often hostile to society and sadistic and insecure.

Second, the formation within a miser family or fear of the future or the lack of respect for the other and the belief that he does not deserve the tender, could be another reason for the appearance of miserliness.

The solution of miserliness within the opposite sex:

Miserliness appears in both sexes, but some studies resulted that it is more common in mankind then in women, because men usually supports the family while women are characterized by tenderness and emotion. However, there are always exceptions of course. Therefore, these studies did not confirm that the miserliness exists in men more than in women.

Psychological analysis and treatments persisted to find a treatment for miserliness, but there is no magic recipe to get rid of it, especially with advanced age. Therefore, it is recommended to detect the case in early childhood and work on it through encouraging children to give and exchange while playing.

If one of the couple is suffering from miserliness, people surrounding him need to know the reasons for his issue and work on it through consulting a therapist or psychologist to train him on new behaviors, also by encouraging the miser person to give and highlighting the importance of splitting with others and sharing with them.

Finally, the consequences of miserliness are very serious and lead to separation of the family and aversion of one of the couple of the person who is miserly because it is based on rejecting the other and not caring about him and his need. Often a miserly person, also neglects to show his love for his companion and that also leads to great problems in the family.

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