Show N YOU TOU CANT CAN'T RUN AWAY VAY One of my younger friends a manin man manin manin in whom I always have had considerable considerable considerable con con- confidence did something last week that caused my confidence to be shaken Ill I'll tell you about it When the pressure in a job he has held for two or three years became too great he quit I am going to pull stakes and go to another town he told me I just couldn't take it any more I say that my confidence was shaken What I mean is this that whenever anyone tries to run away from a crisis a situation a condition condition condition condi condi- tion or himself hes he's doomed to fail Yet every day you see someone who is trying to run away from him him- self Psychologists are very much interested in the roads which these runaways take and one of their first considerations in evaluating a personality personality personality per per- which is broken or unhappy is escape You probably know that you live every day with a conflict raging inside inside inside in in- side yourself Sometimes the conflict conflict conflict con con- is subdued by a quiet sort of guerrilla war warfare are of the mind At other times it reaches the battle point Only rarely is there total peace When this conflict becomes too formidable too threatening you do dothe dothe dothe the obvious thing you thing you try to run That seems to be the thing to do but often the escape is worse than the conflict conflict and and more lives are arc damaged by these escape pr fight mechanisms than by any anyone one thing Maybe you'd like to have me tell you very briefly about the various escape routes that the mind follows when things get too hot They are 13 First comes regression regression regression sion which means to go backward do childish things Then comes extroversion ex ex- that that means to turn to excessive activity to cover up the conflict The opposite of that is introversion in in- to to think excessively to dodge real issues Rationalization is to indulge in false thinking while is not to let your right hand know what your left leU hand is doing When you practice repression you forget unpleasant things and when you disassociate you pass the buck Sometimes you resort to conversion that that means to have a breakdown or illness in place of a conflict Dis Dis- placement is isto to to worry over one thing when another is to blame and projection projection projection pro pro- is to attribute your own faults to others Another escape is called identification tion that means to form When you follow compensation you overdo some particular thing in order to overcome your inadequacies The The final final escape route is the only one which is wholeheartedly recommended mended It is called sublimation sublimation- that means to turn the effect of the conflict into some use useful ul channel |