Gestalt psychology protective mechanisms


Forgot about an important meeting or did not come on a date? Do not rush to blame yourself for disorganization - Gestalt psychology suggests that protective mechanisms manifest themselves in this way.

Our psyche lives by its own laws, which do not always obey binary logic. And even more so, it is able to make decisions "bypassing" thinking.

One of the great ones said that it is easier to calculate the motion of an electron than to explain in what way people make decisions. So, it's time to study the defense mechanisms in order to better understand your actions and not blame yourself once again.

Why do we attribute certain qualities to people, we estimate the same situation differently, Gestalt psychology is able to explain - protective mechanisms, although complex, but still lend themselves to description.

How does protection appear?

Gestalt says that any defenses begin where we are forced to interrupt contact. And, apparently, they arise precisely because the contact (direct communication with the interlocutor) is painful for us.

How do you tell your mother that you have already grown up and do not intend to fulfill all of its requirements?

How do you tell the boss that they did not surrender the project because of it (or the inaccuracies that it introduced into the workflow)?

Absolutely healthy person (if he exists at all), apparently, reacts adequately. That is, he realizes that he will have to lie, or switch to another topic. For him it's just a way to solve the problem. Another thing is when a person had something similar situation (and here the ways of the psyche are truly inscrutable).

Having no experience of solving it or receiving a mental trauma (screamed, kicked off in childhood for not doing it, did not pay attention and left to solve the previously unresolved question himself), he is forced to automatically apply the same way of protecting the psyche from the destruction of the world picture, before.

More in Gestalt psychology, defense mechanisms are considered in huge books. Actually, a large three-volume book can be devoted to analyzing one type of protection. Or mini-recipes can be scattered through the book in the form of small sketches.

However, in gestalt as a whole there are no ready-made solutions, original "tablets". And that's why this type of psychotherapy is the most effective.

What kind of protection are formed in childhood, adolescence, adulthood?

There are relatively few types of protective mechanisms in gestalt psychology. This projection, introjection, retroflection, fusion. It sounds scary, but Gestalt psychology of defense mechanisms is actually quite simple.

Merger

Merging is the process that allows a mother to raise a child. Here, most often we hear "we" instead of "I and he." Remember cooing mothers with strollers: "We pokakali" or "We ate yesterday kashka." When a child becomes older, "we are good fellows, got a top five", but "we got married" can not be said anymore.

But parents continue to live life for their child, depriving him of his opinion. And not only is it scary: a fully grown child is forced to constantly take into account the opinion of mom and dad. So it can continue indefinitely, and even after their death. "Virtual", imaginary mom and dad, or uncle major, to whose opinion in childhood was the most trust, remain with us for a long time. But only until the moment when a person does not gain its integrity.

Therefore, contrary to the natural mechanism of merging, do not think over the next "multi-way combination" for your man, when he looks at you with a frown. Maybe it's not in a salted dinner, and not because your hair is bad - it's just that he's tired ...

Projection

Do yourself what you would like to do to others or get from others - that's the real name of "projection." The most banal, albeit somewhat sad example, is a colleague who "receives a gift" a bouquet of flowers from a mysterious stranger-admirer, although everyone knows that she does not meet anyone. And the most terrible is a teenager, so "pressed" by his parents, that he commits suicide.

What is the relationship between them? Very simple. He would like to avenge his parents, but this is taboo. So you can cause maximum pain to yourself and indirect - to them ... Remember this, when you agree that you are uncomfortable - stay working overtime or go to the country where you are bitten by mosquitoes.

Of course, if you clearly imagine your benefits - "the husband will regret and no longer require to go to the parents", and you consciously go to the torment, getting their "bonuses", then there is nothing to worry about. When the fee is incommensurable with the "benefit", you will surely stop ...

Introjection

Introjection is also a "kind" from the rules of child upbringing. The whole world for him is a universe unfamiliar to him, he can only know from the opinions of others. But over time, we more critically assimilate knowledge about the surrounding reality, even if it is not about things, but about ideas, principles.

The grown man already has some personal experience. But it also happens that even an adult is "bought" for advertising "an ultrasonic washing machine that fits anywhere." And even more terrible is the person who habitually "defends" introjection. It's useless to ask, "for whites he or for the reds" - as in that anecdote about a neighbor and salt, he will each time give out, as it seems to him, a more advantageous option.

And when to such a lady comes a friend with a bag of cosmetics and a catalog - I'm even afraid to imagine what a barbaric raid on the purse it will end ...

Norms and rules should be so "own", clearly grounded, so that you do not experience discomfort from your own actions. They did not ask themselves "why should I?". You can change them, how much you want. But how far will the ship sail, from which the sails change continually?

Protective shell becomes cramped ...

So, as Gestalt psychology maintains, defense mechanisms help us grow, change, and know the world. But only so long as they do not become our unrecognizable brakes on the path to success, the enjoyment of oneself and life.