Increase your self-esteem by identifying black and white thinking – Splitting (1 minute read)

This post “Increase your self-esteem by identifying black and white thinking – Splitting” continues with how you can increase your self-esteem by managing your thoughts and feelings.

Increase your self-esteem by identifying black and white thinking – Splitting:

Splitting is the immature defense mechanism used when expressing polarized views of self and others due to intolerable conflicting emotions. Splitting creates instability in relationships since it includes seeing someone as all good at one time and as all bad the next depending on whether the person gratifies the person’s needs or not.

Splitting allows individuals to simultaneously maintain contradictory attitudes towards self and others, but at the same time prevents seeing humans as being both good and bad at the same time.

Splitting of consciousness can result from traumatic experiences. Negative feelings resulting from traumatic memories become hidden from consciousness and instead create negative psychological symtoms.

Splitting is also a developmental phase in early childhood characteristic of primitive thinking.

Splitting prevents us from getting a more complex understanding and evaluations of targets. It includes thinking in extremes. For example seeing a person’s actions and motivations as all good or all bad with no middle ground. Examples are black and white moral thinking found in political and social discussions.

More about how you can increase your self-esteem in the next post. See also the free blog or the course How to develop self-esteem and boost your confidence at https://jennyrappbefree.com