Reference: Holding: Blank Glossary
.
Glossary
—A—
ACTING OUT
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Acting Out is performing an extreme behavior in order to express thoughts or feelings the person feels incapable of otherwise expressing. Instead of saying, “I’m angry with you,” a person who acts out may instead throw a book at the person, or punch a hole through a wall. When a person acts out, it can act as a pressure release, and often helps the individual feel calmer and peaceful once again. For instance, a child’s temper tantrum is a form of acting out when he or she doesn’t get his or her way with a parent. Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.
ALTERED STATE
Altered state of mind is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state.
ANAL STAGE
The anal stage is one of the stages in Freud’s psychosexual theory of development, which occurs in the second year of life. During this stage, the anus becomes the focus of sexual gratification. This occurs because the child finds sexual pleasure in the sensations that come with having or withholding bowel movements.
ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
See JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY.
ANXIETY
Anxiety is constant computation or worry about a certain problem. Anxiety may be defined as apprehension, tension, or uneasiness that stems from the anticipation of danger, which may be internal or external.
APPERCEPTION
The mental process by which a person makes sense of an idea by assimilating it to the body of ideas he or she already possesses.
ASSERTIVENESS
(Mature Defense Mechanism) Assertiveness is the emphasis of a person’s needs or thoughts in a manner that is respectful, direct and firm. Communication styles exist on a continuum, ranging from passive to aggressive, with assertiveness falling neatly in between. People who are passive and communicate in a passive manner tend to be good listeners, but rarely speak up for themselves or their own needs in a relationship. People who are aggressive and communicate in an aggressive manner tend to be good leaders, but often at the expense of being able to listen empathetically to others and their ideas and needs. People who are assertive strike a balance where they speak up for themselves, express their opinions or needs in a respectful yet firm manner, and listen when they are being spoken to. Becoming more assertive is one of the most desired communication skills and helpful defense mechanisms most people want to learn, and would benefit in doing so.
AUTO-SUGGESTIVE PRACTICE
The nature of the auto-suggestive practice may be, at one extreme, “concentrative”, wherein “all attention is so totally focused on the words of the auto-suggestive formula, e.g. ‘Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,’ and everything else is kept out of awareness” and, at the other, “inclusive”, wherein subjects “allow all kinds of thoughts, emotions, memories, and the like to drift into their consciousness”.
AVERSION THERAPY
Aversion therapy is a form of hypnotherapy that causes the patient to associate the stimulus with unpleasant sensations with the intention of quelling the targeted (sometimes compulsive) behavior. The stimulus is thus traded with unpleasant sensations and not assimilated. Lack of assimilation is a liability.
—B—
BEHAVIOR
See Glossary.
BEHAVIORISM
See Glossary.
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
See Glossary.
BRAIN FUNCTIONING
The brain is involved in the translation of thoughts impulses into physical action of the body.
—C—
COGNITION
See Glossary.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT)
See Glossary.
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
See Glossary.
COMPARTMENTALIZATION
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Compartmentalization is a lesser form of dissociation, wherein parts of oneself are separated from awareness of other parts and behaving as if one had separate sets of values. An example might be an honest person who cheats on their income tax return and keeps their two value systems distinct and un-integrated while remaining unconscious of the cognitive dissonance.
COMPENSATION
(Mature Defense Mechanism) Compensation is a process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived weaknesses by emphasizing strength in other arenas. By emphasizing and focusing on one’s strengths, a person is recognizing they cannot be strong at all things and in all areas in their lives. For instance, when a person says, “I may not know how to cook, but I can sure do the dishes!,” they’re trying to compensate for their lack of cooking skills by emphasizing their cleaning skills instead. When done appropriately and not in an attempt to over-compensate, compensation is defense mechanism that helps reinforce a person’s self-esteem and self-image.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Origin: ‘knowing that one knows’. Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of internal and external existence. In the past, it was one’s “inner life”, the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes any kind of cognition, experience, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness either continuously changing or not. Also see CONSCIOUSNESS in KHTK Glossary: Subject Clearing.
COPING
Coping refers to the human behavioral process for dealing with demands, both internal or external, in situations that are perceived as threats. This can mean doing what is necessary at the time to deal with a situation in the safest or easiest way.
—D—
DEFENSE MECHANISM
In psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism is an unconscious psychological operation that functions to protect a person from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and outer stressors. The 15 commonly used defense mechanisms are: (categorized as primitive) denial, regression, acting out, dissociation, compartmentalization, projection, reaction formation, (characterized as less primitive) repression, displacement, intellectualization, rationalization, undoing, (characterized as mature) sublimation, compensation, assertiveness. Defense mechanisms are most often learned behaviors, most of which we learned during childhood.
DENIAL
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of early childhood development. Many people use denial in their everyday lives to avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas of their life they don’t wish to admit. For instance, a person who is a functioning alcoholic will often simply deny they have a drinking problem, pointing to how well they function in their job and relationships. Also see NOT-IS-NESS in KHTK Glossary: Scientology.
DEPRESSION
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY
Depth psychology refers to psychological studies or methods which focus on the unconscious. This term was coined by Eugen Bleuler, a psychiatry professor at the University of Zurich, in 1914 to pertain to psychoanalytic approaches. It views the psyche as having conscious, semi-conscious, and unconscious parts and that uncovering the underlying motives is intrinsically therapeutic. Depth psychology has been founded on the works of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Otto Rank.
DISPLACEMENT
(Less primitive Defense Mechanism) Displacement is the redirecting of thoughts feelings and impulses directed at one person or object, but taken out upon another person or object. People often use displacement when they cannot express their feelings in a safe manner to the person they are directed at. The classic example is the man who gets angry at his boss, but can’t express his anger to his boss for fear of being fired. He instead comes home and kicks the dog or starts an argument with his wife. The man is redirecting his anger from his boss to his dog or wife. Naturally, this is a pretty ineffective defense mechanism, because while the anger finds a route for expression, it’s misapplication to other harmless people or objects will cause additional problems for most people.
DISSOCIATION
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Dissociation is when a person loses track of time and/or person, and instead finds another representation of their self in order to continue in the moment. A person who dissociates often loses track of time or themselves and their usual thought processes and memories. People who have a history of any kind of childhood abuse often suffer from some form of dissociation. In extreme cases, dissociation can lead to a person believing they have multiple selves (“multiple personality disorder”). People who use dissociation often have a disconnected view of themselves in their world. Time and their own self-image may not flow continuously, as it does for most people. In this manner, a person who dissociates can “disconnect” from the real world for a time, and live in a different world that is not cluttered with thoughts, feelings or memories that are unbearable.
DREAM INTERPRETATION
In very young children, dreams can be easily seen to be the fulfillment of wishes that were aroused in them the previous day. In adults the dream’s real significance is concealed as they have been subjected to distortion. According to Freud, the dreams “manifest content” is a heavily disguised derivative of the preconscious thoughts present in the unconscious.
—E—
EGO
Originally, Freud used the word ego to mean the sense of self, but later defined ego to be the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside world and thus mediates between the primitive drives of the id and the demands of the social and physical environment according to the reality principle. Thus, ego includes psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.
EMOTION
Origin: ‘to stir up’. Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. Emotions are often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, or creativity. Also see EMOTION in Scientology Technical Dictionary.
ERICKSONIAN THERAPY
This approach in hypnotherapy was advanced by Milton Erickson. The therapist works with the person conversationally to resolve his unwanted condition. He uses indirect suggestions and metaphors that assist the patient in assimilating the thought structure of his viewpoint. The patient knows why he is seeking therapy, he is desirous of benefiting from suggestions. The patient’s unconscious mind is listening and understanding much better than is possible for his conscious mind.
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
See Glossary.
—F—
FEELING
Origin: ‘to grope’. A feeling is a self-contained phenomenal experience. Feelings are subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations, thoughts, or images evoking them. The term feeling is closely related to, but not the same as, emotion. Feeling may, for instance, refer to the conscious subjective experience of emotions. Feelings are sometimes held to be characteristic of embodied consciousness. Feelings can strongly influence the character of a person’s subjective reality.
FREE ASSOCIATION
See Glossary.
FREUDIAN SLIP
In psychoanalysis, a Freudian slip is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought. Classical examples involve slips of the tongue, but psychoanalytic theory also embraces misreadings, mishearings, mistypings, temporary forgettings, and the mislaying and losing of objects.
FUNCTIONALISM
See Glossary.
—G—
GENITAL STAGE
The genital stage is the final stage in Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and begins in puberty. During this stage, the teenager has overcome latency, made associations with one gender or the other, and now seeks out pleasure through sexual contact with others. The sexual contact sought has shifted from the opposite sex parent of the phallic stage (and overcoming this), and is now focused on opposite sex people of similar age. The pleasure that they gain is now through actual physical stimulation of the genitals by the opposite sex.
—H—
HYPNOSIS
Hypnosis is a mental state of focused concentration, and diminished peripheral awareness, which makes it possible to access the thought structure that forms a person’s viewpoint. Once the state of hypnosis is induced, suggestions may be given to a person to modify his viewpoint. The person then returns to his normal state of consciousness with a modified viewpoint. It has been found that a person usually had his attention fixed on something. One can, therefore, insert appropriate suggestion through normal conversation.
HYPNOTHERAPY
The use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is referred to as “hypnotherapy.” It is applied to the resolution of anxiety, depression, hysteria and many other disorders by sorting out the anomalies in one’s thought structure underlying the viewpoint. There are many different approaches to hypnotherapy. The most workable approach is Cognitive therapy. There are other hypnotherapies, such as, Ericksonian therapy, Aversion therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, etc.
HYPNOTIC INDUCTION
Hypnotic induction is the process undertaken by a hypnotist to establish the state or conditions required for hypnosis to occur. It is inducing an altered state of mind (or trance) before implanting a suggestion.
James Braid in the nineteenth century saw fixing the eyes on a bright object as the key to hypnotic induction. A century later, Sigmund Freud saw fixing the eyes, or listening to a monotonous sound as indirect methods of induction, as opposed to “the direct methods of influence by way of staring or stroking”—all leading however to the same result, the subject’s unconscious concentration on the hypnotist. In addition, some means of heightening client expectation, defining their role, etc., also lead to this result.
The swinging watch and intense eye gaze—staples of hypnotic induction in film and television—are not used in practice as the rapidly changing movements, and the obvious cliché of their application, would be distracting rather than focusing.
HYSTERIA
Hysteria is a term often used to describe emotionally charged behavior that seems excessive and out of control. When someone responds in a way that seems disproportionately emotional for the situation, they are often described as being “hysterical.”
—I—
ID
Freud conceived the id as the part of the psyche, residing in the unconscious, that is the source of instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in accordance with the pleasure principle. It is present at birth and is the source of bodily needs and wants, emotional impulses and desires, especially aggression and the sexual drive. Its impulses are modified by the ego and the superego before they are given overt expression.
ID, EGO & SUPEREGO
In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego and super-ego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, defined in Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche.
IDENTIFICATION
According to Freud, as children develop, there comes a time in which the child must adopt the characteristics of one of the parents. During this process of identification, the child adopts the characteristics of the same-sex parent and begins to associate themselves with and copy the behavior of significant others. In addition, Freud stated that this process also involves the development of the child’s superego (our moral guide in life – the moral component of personality) which is done by incorporating characteristics of the parents superegos into the child’s own. So, a young male child will begin to take on characteristics of the father (act more like his father than his mother in the sense of being a male) and will develop a superego that has similarities to the moral values and guidelines by which the parents live their lives (e.g., if the parents are honest people, the child may come to realize that honesty is important and that lying is wrong).
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
Individual psychology is a term used to refer to a view of psychology pioneered by Alfred Adler that involves taking a holistic view of a client’s character. This view diverged drastically from the Viennese school of psychoanalysis that Adler had originally been affiliated with and has been a great influence on the schools of psychology that came into existence in the late 20th century. The term, individual psychology, is not used to mean a focus on the individual person, but to refer to the client’s whole environment. The individual referred to means looking at the patient as an indivisible whole, rather than as a group of disparate parts or symptoms.
INDIVIDUATION
Individuation describes the way a thing is formally identified and distinguished from other things. For instance, a goldfish is scientifically described in terms of how it is similar to some other fish species, yet also how it differs from other fish to highlight its uniqueness in the continuum of fish species.
INTELLECTUALIZATION
(Less primitive Defense Mechanism) Intellectualization is the overemphasis on thinking when confronted with an unacceptable impulse, situation or behavior without employing any emotions whatsoever to help mediate and place the thoughts into an emotional, human context. Rather than deal with the painful associated emotions, a person might employ intellectualization to distance themselves from the impulse, event or behavior. For instance, a person who has just been given a terminal medical diagnosis, instead of expressing their sadness and grief, focuses instead on the details of all possible fruitless medical procedures.
INTELLIGENCE
Origin: ‘understanding’. Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information; and to retain it as knowledge to be applied to adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
An interpersonal relationship describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more persons. Relations vary in degrees of intimacy, self-disclosure, duration, reciprocity, and power distribution. Interpersonal relations may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and form the basis of social groups and societies.
INTROSPECTION
See Glossary.
—J—
JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Jungian Psychology (or analytical psychology) was developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung starting in the early 1900s. Jung worked with Sigmund Freud before they split regarding their differing psychological theories. Jung believed that organisms possess a collective unconscious that provides a framework and pattern for how we organize and interpret information. Jung called these patterns archetypes and that by being present in the collective unconscious that were presented as instincts in humans.Some archetypal figures common in all cultures are the devil, god/gods, the hero, and the trickster. Emphasis was placed on the myths and folklore of different cultures. He theorized that everyone seeks a balance between the consciousness and unconsciousness and great importance was placed on dream interpretation. Jung developed theories on introvertism, extrovertism, and synchronicity.
—K—
—L—
LATENCY
Latency is the fourth stage in Freud’s Psychosexual theory of development, and it occurs from about age 5 or 6 to puberty. During the latency stage, a child’s sexual impulses are repressed. The reason for this is that during the stage before latency (phallic stage) the child resolves the Oedipus or Electra Complex which are such traumatic events that the child then repress all of his or her sexual impulses. Interestingly, because this stage contains little or no psychosexual development, Freud was fairly uninterested in it.
LIBIDO
Origin: ‘desire’. The term libido was originally used by Freud to denote sexual desire. Over time it came to signify the psychic energy of the sexual drive, and became a vital concept in psychoanalytic theory. Freud’s later conception was broadened to include the fundamental energy of all expressions of love, pleasure, and self-preservation. In common or colloquial usage, a person’s overall sexual drive is often referred to as that person’s “libido”. In this sense, libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors.
—M—
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental Health refers to a state of mind that is free from mental disorders and possessing a state of psychological well-being. It also indicates that a person is capable of realizing their own abilities, dreams, and goals, and is able to cope productively with the stresses and challenges of life and contribute productively to their society.
MIND
Origin: ‘think’, ‘remember’. The mind is that which thinks, imagines, remembers, wills, and senses, or is the set of faculties responsible for such phenomena. The mind is also associated with experiencing perception, pleasure and pain, belief, desire, intention, and emotion. The mind can include conscious and non-conscious states as well as sensory and non-sensory experiences. Also see MIND in KHTK Glossary: Subject Clearing.
MOTIVATION
Origin: ‘to move’. Motivation is an internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time.
—N—
NERVOUS SYSTEM
See Glossary.
NEUROSIS
This is a general term applied to a variety of mild disorders or conditions that are characterized by anxiety and phobias that don’t involve any altered senses of reality and don’t effect the entire personality. When a person is neurotic, they don’t have any breaks from reality, hallucinations, etc., but they do experience periods of clinical anxiety and/or phobias.
—O—
OEDIPUS COMPLEX
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to a son’s sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father. A daughter’s attitude of desire for her father and hostility toward her mother is referred to as the feminine Oedipus complex.
ORAL STAGE
One of Freud’s five psychosexual stages of development where pleasure is centered in and around the mouth. The oral stage is the initial stage of development. According to Freud, this is when infants will be found putting anything into their mouth including their thumbs.
—P—
PAST LIFE REGRESSION
Past life regression is a method that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations. The practice is widely considered discredited and unscientific by medical practitioners, and experts generally regard claims of recovered memories of past lives as fantasies or delusions or a type of confabulation. Past-life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious traditions that incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of repressed memories of past lives.
NOTE: Past life regression is not important for the memory it may recover. It is important only for the relief it may bring to the present mental condition.
PERCEPTION
Origin: ‘gathering, receiving’. Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system. Vision involves light striking the retina of the eye; smell is mediated by odor molecules; and hearing involves pressure waves. Perception is also shaped by the recipient’s learning, memory, expectation, and attention. Also see PERCEPTION in KHTK Glossary: Subject Clearing.
PERSONALITY
Origin: ‘mask’. Personality is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by an individual that uniquely influences their environment, cognition, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations.
PHALLIC STAGE
One of Freud’s five psychosexual stages of development where pleasure is centered around the genital region. The phallic stage is the third stage of development and usually is between ages 3 and 7. It is this stage where the child learns that there is a difference between males and females.
PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
In Freudian psychoanalysis, the pleasure principle is the instinctive seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain to satisfy biological and psychological needs. Specifically, the pleasure principle is the animating force behind the id.
PROJECTION
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Projection is the misattribution of a person’s undesired thoughts, feelings or impulses onto another person who does not have those thoughts, feelings or impulses. Projection is used especially when the thoughts are considered unacceptable for the person to express, or they feel completely ill at ease with having them. For example, a spouse may be angry at their significant other for not listening, when in fact it is the angry spouse who does not listen. Projection is often the result of a lack of insight and acknowledgement of one’s own motivations and feelings.
PSYCHE
See Glossary.
PSYCHIATRY
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of deleterious mental conditions. These include various matters related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Initial psychiatric assessment of a person begins with a case history and mental status examination. Physical examinations, psychological tests, and laboratory tests may be conducted. On occasion, neuro-imaging or other neurophysiological studies are performed. Mental disorders are diagnosed in accordance with diagnostic manuals such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Treatment may include psychotropics (psychiatric medicines) and psychotherapy, and also other modalities such as substance-abuse treatment. Research within psychiatry is conducted on an interdisciplinary basis with other professionals, such as occupational therapists, and clinical psychologists.
PSYCHIC APPARATUS
In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego and super-ego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, defined in Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed to describe the basic structure of mental life as it was encountered in psychoanalytic practice.
PSYCHOANALYSIS
See Glossary.
PSYCHOANALYTIC SESSION
During psychoanalytic sessions a patient traditionally lies on a couch, and an analyst sits just behind and out of sight. The patient expresses their thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst infers the unconscious conflicts causing the patient’s symptoms and character problems. Through the analysis of these conflicts, the analyst confronts the patient’s pathological defence mechanisms to help patients understand themselves better.
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development relating to the practice of psychoanalysis. First laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work. Freud’s study emphasized the recognition of childhood events that could influence the mental functioning of adults. His examination of the genetic and then the developmental aspects gave the psychoanalytic theory its characteristics.
PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY
Psychoanalytic therapy developed as a means to improve mental health by bringing unconscious material into consciousness. Freud postulated that unconscious material can be found in dreams and unintentional acts, including mannerisms and Freudian slips. Psychoanalysts place a large emphasis on early childhood in an individual’s development. During therapy, a psychoanalyst aims to induce transference, whereby patients relive their infantile conflicts by projecting onto the analyst feelings of love, dependence and anger.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE
Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.
PSYCHOLOGY
See Glossary.
PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
This theory is Freud’s take on the development of the personality. It is a stage theory that believes progress occurs through stages as the libido is directed to different body parts. The different stages, listed in order of progression, are Oral, Anal, Phallic (Oedipus complex), Latency, Genital. The Genital stage is achieved if people meet all their needs throughout the other stages with enough available sexual energy. Individuals who do not have their needs met in a given stage become fixated, or “stuck” in that stage.
PSYCHOSIS
Psychosis is a severe mental disorder in which the person experiences delusions, hallucinations, breaks from reality, and a variety of other extreme behavioral disturbances. This is severe enough that the person typically has to be institutionalized.
PSYCHOTHERAPY
When people talk or think about psychological therapy, they are really referring to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is any type of therapeutic situation between a trained professional and someone seeking help. There are more than 250 different types but the most well known are psychoanalysis, humanistic, behavior therapy, and cognitive therapy.
—Q—
—R—
RATIONALIZATION
Rationalization is a defense mechanism identified by Freud. According to Freud when people are not able to deal with the reasons they behave in particular ways, they protect themselves by creating self-justifying explanations for their behaviors. For example, if I flunk out of school because I didn’t study properly it might be so hard for me to deal with that I rationalize my behaviors by saying that I simply didn’t have enough time to study because I have a full-time job, a baby at home, and so many other demands on my time.
REACTION FORMATION
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Reaction Formation is the converting of unwanted or dangerous thoughts, feelings or impulses into their opposites. For instance, a woman who is very angry with her boss and would like to quit her job may instead be overly kind and generous toward her boss and express a desire to keep working there forever. She is incapable of expressing the negative emotions of anger and unhappiness with her job, and instead becomes overly kind to publicly demonstrate her lack of anger and unhappiness.
REALITY PRINCIPLE
In Freudian psychology and psychoanalysis, the reality principle is the ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting according to the pleasure principle. The reality principle is the governing principle of the actions taken by the ego.
REGRESSION
(Primitive Defense Mechanism) Regression is the reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. For an example an adolescent who is overwhelmed with fear, anger and growing sexual impulses might become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood behaviors he has long since overcome, such as bedwetting. An adult may regress when under a great deal of stress, refusing to leave their bed and engage in normal, everyday activities.
REPRESSION
Freud observed that he could reach painful memories of patients under hypnosis; but they did not remember them upon waking up. It was strikingly difficult to get them to remember the painful past in a conscious state. The intensity of his struggles to get patients to recall past events led him to conclude that there was some force that “prevented them from becoming conscious and compelled them to remain unconscious”, and which actively “pushed the pathogenetic experiences in question out of consciousness.” Freud gave the name of repression to this hypothetical process. Repression plays a major role in many mental illnesses, and in the psyche of the average person.
(Less primitive Defense Mechanism) Repression is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts, feelings and impulses. The key to repression is that people do it unconsciously, so they often have very little control over it. “Repressed memories” are memories that have been unconsciously blocked from access or view. But because memory is very malleable and ever-changing, it is not like playing back a DVD of your life. The DVD has been filtered and even altered by your life experiences, even by what you’ve read or viewed.
RESISTANCE
Freud developed his concept of resistance as he worked with patients who suddenly developed uncooperative behaviors during sessions of talk therapy. He reasoned that an individual who is suffering from a psychological affliction may inadvertently attempt to impede any attempt to confront a subconsciously perceived threat. This would be for the purpose of inhibiting the revelation of any repressed information from within the unconscious mind. He defined resistance as the repression of unconscious drives from integration into conscious awareness.
—S—
SENSATION
See Glossary.
SIGMUND FREUD
See Glossary.
SLEEP
Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and sensory activity is inhibited to a certain extent. During sleep, there is a decrease in muscle activity, and interactions with the surrounding environment. While sleep differs from wakefulness in terms of the ability to react to stimuli, it still involves active brain patterns, making it more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the relationship between mental states and social situations, studying the social conditions under which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors occur, and how these variables influence social interactions.
SOCIAL SKILL
A range of interpersonal skills and relational behaviors, such as, conversation, eye contact, reading social cues, non-verbal communication, problem solving, and self-management.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
See Glossary.
STRUCTURALISM
See Glossary.
SUBCONSCIOUS
The subconscious is the part of our mind that is not in current awareness. It is the part of our consciousness that is not being focused on and is lying dormant. It is impossible to hold the entirety of our knowledge in direct focus in our minds at the same time so we need to store memories and knowledge. This storage is known as the subconscious, the term being coined by Pierre Janet. The subconscious stores all of your memories, beliefs, previous experiences, the people/places you have seen, and the skills you have acquired. Information in the subconscious cannot be recalled easily, they are buried deep within our minds (or repressed).
SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE
The introspection or attentive observation of the rich qualitative experience of the person without any speculation about underlying causes.
SUBLIMATION
Although many people criticize Freud and discount his ideas, he developed many landmark theories and concepts that persist today. One of these concepts is a defense mechanism known as sublimation. According to Freud, sublimation is a way in which people can deal with socially unacceptable impulses, feelings, and ideas in social acceptable ways. For example, a person may have a longing to be a banker but has not been able to achieve this goal. The frustration with not being able to achieve this goal may be very difficult to deal with and lead to hostility and anger toward bankers, to the point where the person wants to physically hurt all bankers. Of course, hurting all bankers is not socially acceptable, so the person transforms this anger with bankers into building his own venture capital business and becoming incredibly successful.
SUGGESTION
Suggestion is the psychological process by which a person guides desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the form of reflexes elicited by presenting stimuli, instead of relying on conscious effort. This can help manage irritable even bowel syndrome and menopause.
SUPER-EGO
The super-ego is the part of the personality representing the conscience. It is formed in early life by internalization of the standards of parents. It reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly as absorbed from parents, but also other authority figures, and the general cultural ethos.
—T—
THERAPY
Therapy refers to a process of receiving professional assistance with physical, mental or emotional problems. In psychology this term refers to psychotherapy or talk therapy that is designed to help the client to deal with emotional and psychological difficulties.
THOUGHT
Origin: ‘consider’. In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and deliberation. But other mental processes, like considering an idea, memory, or imagination, are also often included. These processes can happen internally independent of the sensory organs, unlike perception. Also see THOUGHT in KHTK Glossary: Subject Clearing.
TRANCE
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not fully aware. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden. In this state, the person is capable of pursuing and realizing an aim. He is selectively responsive in following the directions of the person who has induced the trance.
TRANSFERENCE
Transference is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which repetitions of old feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that someone displaces are subconsciously projected onto a here-and-now person, especially the transfer of feelings about a parent to an analyst.
TRAUMA
In psychological use Trauma refers to the mental and psychological after effects of painful events. These types of events can include deeply personal emotional traumas or the results of crime, violence, warfare, etc. Traditional psychiatry views trauma as an antecedent or precursor to psychiatric disorders that can be eliminated or lessened by means of therapy.
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UNCONSCIOUS MIND
The unconscious mind consists of processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection. Although these processes exist beneath the surface of conscious awareness, they are thought to exert an effect on conscious thought processes and behavior. Empirical evidence suggests that unconscious phenomena include repressed feelings and desires, memories, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, and automatic reactions. The emergence of the concept of the Unconscious in psychology and general culture was mainly due to the work of Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Also see UNCONSCIOUS MIND in KHTK Glossary: Subject Clearing.
UNDOING
(Less primitive Defense Mechanism) Undoing is the attempt to take back an unconscious behavior or thought that is unacceptable or hurtful. For instance, after realizing you just insulted your significant other unintentionally, you might spend then next hour praising their beauty, charm and intellect. By “undoing” the previous action, the person is attempting to counteract the damage done by the original comment, hoping the two will balance one another out.
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WILHELM WUNDT
See Glossary.
WILLIAM JAMES
See Glossary.
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