The Mask

The brain is automatically self-protective. When there's any kind of pain, it tends to push it away.  So, rather than facing the pain of truth about one's self, a tendency is to use what psychotherapists call the "mask." Psychiatrists and psychologists call it "defense mechanism" to feel okey with what is not okey.

Once, I was counseling a man who left his wife to continue his repeated affairs and sexual activities. In front of a current single girl friend, he'd engage a married woman to "sex via texting." When told he needed to address his "addiction," he asked one of his partners if there's something wrong with him. His partner said no and he agreed. He quit therapy. Denial just can't see the problem.

Repression is the grand daddy of masks or defense mechanisms of a self-deluded, addicted person. It means that unacceptable feelings, motives, impulses or ideas are banished from consciousness, or unconscious feelings, motives, impulses or ideas are prevented from coming into consciousness. Psychotherapists would cite over 39 offsprings of repression, including denial, projecting faults in the other person, rationalizing, displacing, sexualizing, among others.

It's my hunch that there is a mask of repression in all of us. We all need the truth to heal us.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I rarely leave a response, however after reading through
a ton of responses on this page "The Mask".
I do have a couple of questions for you if you tend not to
mind. Is it only me or do a few of these remarks come across like
they are left by brain dead folks? :-P And, if you are
posting at additional online social sites, I'd like to follow you. Could you post a list of all of all your social community sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
My blog post : cheap car insurance quotes