The Pain of Avoidance


	The Pain of Avoidance

vienova4

7-21-2009 11:46 AM

52 views

tags:

mindfulness, meditation, mental health, depression, anxiety, therapy

vienova4 says:

Why do we run from unpleasant thoughts and feelings? We willingly bear with the pain of an immunization shot because we "know" it's good for us and the pain will pass. Can we similarly deal with emotional pain the way we would the pain of a needle?

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a18dee18-d466-4fab-bdd6-b5414899ce34/E2F1B5B3-E61D-491C-B23F-EE9F4F7AA977/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html" href="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html" style="font-size: 11px;">thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><DIV>Classic Psychology 101 exercise: for the next 30 seconds, think of anything but a white bear.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><DIV>Chances are, you couldn't think of anything else <SPAN>but</SPAN> the white bear. One strategy to "succeed" in this exercise is to substitute the thought of the white bear with, say, that of a pink elephant. In real life, however, substitutions are not always healthy and adaptive. Just look that how many people you know who abuse drugs and alcohol to avoid dealing with their pain or grief. Or those who immerse themselves in work to avoid having to deal with the emptiness they would otherwise feel in their lives.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><DIV>The fact is, the more we try to avoid a thought or feeling, the more we inadvertently become slaves to it, giving it more power while we continue to run and hide from it in fear.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><DIV>Notice that these are thoughts and feelings inside of you, not reality itself.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><DIV>Notice the urge to want to push these unpleasant feelings away, but just let it be. You don't have to act on this urge.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://thoughtsontherapy.blogspot.com/2009/07/pain-of-avoidance.html"><H2>Therapy in Bellevue, WA</H2></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/E2F1B5B3-E61D-491C-B23F-EE9F4F7AA977/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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