&gt; and that it engages the anti-stall systems automatically, which provide a force feedback on the controls to make it harder to pull the nose up.

Not quite.

Some planes do have stick pushers, which do work like this. The 737 doesn't, it just has a motor which shakes the control column to alert the pilot.

The forces that the pilots are feeling on the control column are just the regular aerodynamic forces on the control surfaces. 

A correctly trimmed aircraft will fly level when the pilots aren't touching the control column. MCAS is designed to deliberately miss-trim the aircraft down, so the neutral position now results in the plane pitching down. In the intended scenario, this reduces the pilot force required to push the nose down, but it also increases the force needed to pull in the opposite direction.