The primary focus of my book, The Conditioned Mind, is overcoming the crippling effects of sin and guilt. By sin, I mean, anything we think or do that falls outside of God's will. Psalm 4:4, Ephesians 5:11, and several other passages in God's Word inform us that He does not want us to live a repressed life. In this post, I continue my address of the means by which we practice repression. It is my prayer this brings some level of revelation to those in need.
Whenever we experience distress, we generally attempt to cope in ways that will inhibit it from continuing. But when our attempts prove unsuccessful, we are then forced to adapt. This is where we attempt elaborative acts of repression. One such attempt is understood to involve the method of reaction formation. In this method, we transpose, i.e., reverse our desires associated with a particular person or thing. For example, let us say Juan really wants to be included with a certain group of kids at school, only this particular group does not seem all that welcoming. In the beginning, he thinks to himself, I really want to be a part of what they’re doing. But as time passes, only a couple of members seem interested in allowing him in; the others are more standoffish. As a means to cope with the distress of rejection, Juan begins to transpose his desires, telling himself, I’m not so sure I want to join now. In reality, his desire has not changed, Juan still wants to be a part of the group; however, if they do not accept him, he can cope with the distress by convincing himself otherwise. So Juan represses his desires, along with the pain of rejection, by working to convince himself that he is the one rejecting the group—not the other way around.
Part of this post was excerpted from chapter five of my book, The Conditioned Mind, to learn more about repression and how to overcome the crippling effects of sin and guilt, click on either of the highlighted links.
Whenever we experience distress, we generally attempt to cope in ways that will inhibit it from continuing. But when our attempts prove unsuccessful, we are then forced to adapt. This is where we attempt elaborative acts of repression. One such attempt is understood to involve the method of reaction formation. In this method, we transpose, i.e., reverse our desires associated with a particular person or thing. For example, let us say Juan really wants to be included with a certain group of kids at school, only this particular group does not seem all that welcoming. In the beginning, he thinks to himself, I really want to be a part of what they’re doing. But as time passes, only a couple of members seem interested in allowing him in; the others are more standoffish. As a means to cope with the distress of rejection, Juan begins to transpose his desires, telling himself, I’m not so sure I want to join now. In reality, his desire has not changed, Juan still wants to be a part of the group; however, if they do not accept him, he can cope with the distress by convincing himself otherwise. So Juan represses his desires, along with the pain of rejection, by working to convince himself that he is the one rejecting the group—not the other way around.
Part of this post was excerpted from chapter five of my book, The Conditioned Mind, to learn more about repression and how to overcome the crippling effects of sin and guilt, click on either of the highlighted links.
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