Tag: defence mechanisms
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Why We Sometimes See People as All Good or All Bad
Psychotherapy provides a particularly important setting in which these mechanisms can be observed directly. The patient does not merely describe their relationships outside treatment. Eventually they begin relating to the psychotherapist through the same internal mechanisms. A patient with little previous experience of psychotherapy may initially experience the psychotherapist in an intensely idealised fashion.
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Why People Sometimes Deny Difficult Reality in Psychotherapy
Denial is one of the psychological defence mechanisms that can become particularly visible during psychotherapy. At first, this may appear contradictory. A patient comes to psychotherapy because they already recognise that something is wrong. They may be experiencing difficulties in relationships, at work, within the family or in their general emotional life. They have actively…