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Intolerance of responsibility for internal conflict.
1Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center.
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Patients often avoid internal conflicts due to overwhelming fear of responsibility. This study explores defensive patterns in relationships that protect against confronting inner turmoil and destructiveness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Psychoanalytic Theory
Background:
- Examines patients with significant difficulty accepting responsibility for internal conflicts.
- Focuses on defensive repetition within pathological object relations.
Observation:
- Patients engage in defensive repetition to avoid internal distress.
- Externalizing internal conflicts onto others serves as a protective mechanism.
Findings:
- The inability to confront, analyze, and change internal conflicts is a key characteristic.
- Taking responsibility for oneself and one's internal world is perceived as overwhelmingly terrifying.
- Destructiveness, both internal and external, is a central element in this dynamic.
Implications:
- Understanding these defensive patterns is crucial for therapeutic interventions.
- Addresses the profound fear associated with self-responsibility and internal conflict.
- Offers insights into the origins and persistence of terrifying destructiveness.