How Mentally Ill Cope with Anxiety (Reciprocal Inhibition)
Channel: Prof. Sam Vaknin
Date: 2023-04-24

Rather than repress the anxiogenic (anxiety-inducing) content, mentally ill people deal with it in the following dysfunctional ways:

1. Dissociation
2. Conflate external with internal objects (hypereflexivity)
3. Reframe reality (impair reality testing)
4. Attempt to cope with anxiety via reciprocal inhibition (Wolpe) that devolves into obsession (or obsessional neurosis).
5. Externalization: aggression (sharing the anxiety)

DISSOCIATION
The example of BPD
CONFLATION
The examples of narcissism, psychosis
IMPAIRMENT
The example of paranoia
OBSESSION
The example of the obsessive-compulsive
EXTERNALIZING
The example of the psychopath

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