Many people — clients and therapists alike — idealize psychotherapists, expecting them to transcend normal human needs and limitations; they’re supposed to achieve some level of bounty, emotional and financial, where they can sacrifice their income to the financial needs of their clients.
Category: Detours
Psychological evasions that lead us away from the truth
Good and Bad Reasons to Take an Antidepressant
Many people take antidepressants, not because they’re depressed, but because doing so helps them to avoid confronting important feelings or problem areas in their lives.
The Mostly-Bad Mother
Thoughts about preserving the “good” bits of the mostly-bad mother.
Defense Mechanisms V: Idealization
Idealization reflects a drive to escape from an internal experience felt to be unbearable and to connect with something perfect. This defense mechanism may take aim at another person, an actual experience or one’s own self.
Defense Mechanisms IV: “Thinking”
The precocious development of verbal thought can function as a defense against unbearable emotional chaos; in later life, this kind of “thinking” often takes on a life of its own, can feel persecutory and underlies problems with insomnia.