What causes psychological problems?
While there are multiple factors that can cause psychological problems, most frequently the culprits are ‘psychological defense mechanisms’. They are strategies that our mind unconsciously uses to protect us from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. Well, while a defense mechanism relieves anxiety, it runs the risk of becoming counterproductive or damaging, thus causing psychological issues and imbalances. Some common defense mechanisms are:
- Displacement: Displacement is “retaining reaction but shifting the target”, i.e. releasing the pent up emotion by directing it elsewhere. Example: In office, you suffer because your boss behaves badly with you. At home, these days, you are getting irritated at your son frequently.
- Rationalization: Rationalization is “coming up with a logical explanation to why a situation played out a certain way, i.e. to justify in order to avoid owning up. Example: In office, you get lower performance rating by your boss. You say to yourself “That had to happen, he was always biased”.
- Denial: Denial is “when a fact is too much to handle, you simply refuse to accept it”. This way, you avoid the unpleasantness and trouble of facing the issue or problem. Example: Of late, when you and your partner spend time together, there is a cold vibe. You say to yourself “Well! It happens in every relation. After all, one can’t be lovey-dovey forever. All is well”.
- Repression: Repression is “when you keep a disturbing ‘memory, emotion or thought’ away from consciousness by pushing it down into unconscious part of mind to avoid discomfort”. Example: You had an authoritarian mother, towards whom, you felt a lot of rage which you neither expressed then nor since then have ever talked about. Today, as an adult, you suffer from a constant unexplained anxiety in your day-to-day life.
- Intellectualization: Intellectualization is “when you use ‘reasoning’ to block confrontation with an inner conflict and avoid the associated emotional stress”. Example: Your venture has been going through a very tough phase and is on the verge of closing down. Rather than addressing it, you are now needlessly making a complex spreadsheet on how it got this bad.
- Reaction Formation: Reaction formation is “when a person goes beyond denial and behaves in the opposite way to overcompensate for anxiety they feel regarding an unacceptable feeling”. Example: You are unusually ‘full of life’, stay optimistically busy and make every day a ‘happening’ one. You literally ‘live it up’! However, in your heart of hearts, you are deeply scared of death and find it hard to bear the truth that ‘it will all end one day’.
- Projection: Projection is “when a person denies the existence of their own unacceptable traits by attributing them to other people”. Example: As HOD, you criticize your teachers for not being ‘prepared and structured’ when they take training sessions. Actually, you yourself never structure your own sessions properly or prepare for them sincerely”.
A psychological counselor helps you spot these defense mechanisms at work and work upon underlying issues in a more conscious and constructive manner.
Dr. Sandeep Atre
Counseling Psychologist (www.dratrecounsels.com) and ‘Emotional Intelligence’ Expert (www.socialigence.net), with experience of 20+ years. Author of ‘Understanding Emotions Logically’ and ‘Observing Nonverbal Behavior’.