A teenager compensates for learning difficulties by excelling in sports.Ĭompensation has healthy applications. The socially inadequate becomes an actor or musician. CompensationĬompensation is when we excel in one area of our lives to counteract real or perceived deficits in another. Without coping mechanisms, healthy or otherwise, we can experience decompensation – the inability or unwillingness to generate effective psychological alternatives to stress – resulting in personality disturbance or disintegration. Some defense mechanisms, when used appropriately, can be beneficial. Most, like compensation, substance abuse, and projection, are methods of avoidance – unhealthy resolutions to our fears and anxieties that offer temporary respite but do little to alleviate them in the long term. They allow us to twist reality to conform to our irrational and unhealthy conduct.ĭefense mechanisms are short-term safeguards against the thoughts and emotions that are difficult for our conscious minds to manage. They temporarily appease our sense of helplessness, hopelessness, undesirability, and worthlessness. “It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I willĬontinue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.ĭefense mechanisms are psychological responses that protect us from our unrelenting anxieties. Any mental process that protects us from our fears, anxieties, and threats to our emotional well-being can be considered a defense mechanism. These difficulties challenge our psychological health, compelling us to use defense mechanisms. Our consternation of negative judgment and criticism limits creativity and interactivity. Persons experiencing social anxiety crave interconnectedness, but fears of intimacy and rejection challenge the wherewithal to establish and maintain healthy relationships. Living with persistent negative self-beliefs for years on end is emotionally destabilizing. Or we cognitively distort our toxic behaviors to justify or validate them. Often, we hide these indiscretions from ourselves by engaging in defense mechanisms such as denial and projection. We all conceal things about ourselves that make us appear defective or inadequate. Perfectionism causes us to set unreasonable expectations. Negative self-analysis compels us to overcompensate. A byproduct of overcompensation is perfectionism. Perfectionism and Unreasonable Expectations
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |