1/ "Certain defenses receive considerable external reinforcement. From time to time, a depressed patient will tell me their difficulties are due to a 'chemical imbalance.' This often means they don't want to consider the possibility that their perceptions,
jonathanshedler.com
jonathanshedler.com
2/ expectations, choices, conflicts, relationship patterns, or anything else within their power to understand & change might be causing, maintaining, or exacerbating their suffering. In insisting their difficulties are due to 'chemical imbalance,' such patients are often letting
3/ us know they do not wish to examine themselves.
This is a particularly pernicious defense because it is bolstered by messages from pharmaceutical companies (which have financial incentives to portray emotional suffering as biological illness) and often by trusted doctors
This is a particularly pernicious defense because it is bolstered by messages from pharmaceutical companies (which have financial incentives to portray emotional suffering as biological illness) and often by trusted doctors
4/ (who may get their information from those same pharmaceutical companies). Such patients may regard any acknowledgment of a psychological component to their suffering as an intolerable admission of weakness or personal failure.
The harsh self-judgment & self-condemnation that
The harsh self-judgment & self-condemnation that
5/ lies just beneath the surface of this attitude may be precisely what is perpetuating the depression, but their reluctance to examine themselves may preclude the kind of therapy that would lead to change."
Loading suggestions...