Compulsions and Defenses (sic)

The next two sub-parts of the first major part (The Mechanics of Mood) of Hoover's Non Cognitive Psychotherapy (NCP) are first,

The Compulsions*

The author defines a compulsion as 'the automatic attempt to prevent . . . pain or dissatisfaction, or to preempt that discomfort when it's actually occurring' (p. 48). Compulsions typically try to prevent or reduce the discomfort of pain either being felt or likely to be felt. Compulsions are more than ordinary habits.

To understand compulsions (such as repeated hand-washing for example) they must first be accepted as rational attempts to mitigate pain. However, that said, compulsions are 'unwholesome' by definition just as long as it is also accepted that 'to avert or preempt pain . . . is not a clinical issue' (p. 48) in itself. That is, it is normal to want to avoid pain if possible.

When compulsions are primarily expressed at the intellectual-verbal level they are known as defences; when primarily expressed as an action they become what is called 'acting out'. These protective devices are used for the immediate affect of 'relieving discomfort' (p. 48) and tend to be learned from imitation and observation.

Sometimes adversities do not suggest any method of relieving unease leading to the sufferer getting fixated on methods of getting respite. this situation will often lead to an obsession where intrusive thoughts or ideas predominate. Hoover gives an example of a man's fiancee who throws him over for another man. The abandoned man begins to suffer from depression and anxiety but strives to win back his former fiancee by pleading with her to reconsider. His efforts fail dismally. This result leads him to ruminate tirelessly and painfully on his betrayal; he continually obsesses over ways to woo her back.

The second sub-part of this post are,

The Defenses** (sic)

Adverse emotions like anxiety, anger and depression--remembering that I have already said that (IMO) Hoover wrongly fails to distinguish between emotions and moods--are moods and emotions from which we all seek to escape.

These avoidances 'disconnect all or part of one's awareness of the adversity [from] which the painful emotion is produced' (p. 50). We may deny it will or did happen; shift the blame ('It was them not me!'); minimise its impact ('It's okay.', or 'I can handle this.' ; distract oneself by busyness; or a combination of any of these.

Although we might succeed in controlling our mood we are none the less reducing our effectiveness in being able to audit likely impact of the adversity. Hoover says by way of illustration: it's as if we have turned off our home's smoke-detector alarm and boast that the smoke-detector never annoys us!

Various factors contribute to which defences any one person will choose related to one's history and experience, personality predispositions, level of threat posed, or the physical condition of the person concerned. Hoover instances a man suddenly faced with the news from a doctor that he has prostate cancer who yet shows no emotional reaction; in Hoover's opinion the man must be considered to be using a defence of some sort.

Next time: The Psychotherapies

*This sub-part (and the next one dealt with in this post) appears as in the heading but it is not evident to me why it is not in upper-case as have been the preceding sub-parts. (Compulsions don't appear to be a sub-sub-part of THE EMOTIONS, which we dealt with last time. So I'm confused.)

**I've spelled this according to U.S. usage because that's what is used in the publication. In Australia of course, we follow the British tradition of spelling and would spell this word 'defences'.