Repression is one of the more commonly used defense mechanisms for adults, and particularly for men. Bottling up emotions can be extremely damaging in both the short and long terms. People can be resentful at first and eventually grow to be more and more distrustful of others. It is important not to repress our feelings of discomfort, and instead engage them in a healthy dialogue with someone else.
Repression: Repression is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and impulses. The key to repression is that people do it unconsciously, so they often have very little control over it. "Repressed Memories" are memories that have been unconsciously blocked from access or view. But because memory is very malleable and ever-changing, it is not playing a DVD back of your life. The DVD has been filtered and even altered by your life experiences, even by what you've read or viewed. (http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/)
Have you ever had a friend that refuses to tell you about their problems, even if you know they just had a serious trauma? Many times, people are not able to address the problems because they feel society will judge them. Yet, other times people can't voice their problems because they simply don't know how, or worse, don't know they have any to voice. Repression activates constantly to protect us from being overly stressed, angry, frustrated, or even tired. Emotions can be draining, and it is impossible for our brains to trigger and understand every situation with regards to how it makes us feel.
Repression can be dangerous. Repression can lead to permanent psychological conditions when not addressing serious traumas effectively. People can develop different personalities to help cope with the issues, self medicate, or worse commit suicide. Childhood traumas are a main source of repression, because our brains haven't fully developed yet. Any time there is a childhood trauma, it is particularly difficult to understand the full spectrum of emotions that are attached to the situation, and it is even harder to verbalize how it made you transition into your later years of life.
Repression in MLM is BAD!!! There are two main issues to address with repression and MLM:
1. Current MLMers are encouraged not to voice concerns or to question their uplines if something seems wrong. Instead, it is taught to repress every emotion other than happiness, because everything else will stop them from their goals of endless wealth and success. It is important to stay positive and focused on the track provided, because that is the only way their system will work. The repression they teach is both unhealthy and a form of brainwashing. They are conditioning MLMers to reject previous teachings, disregard what others say, and not to think for themselves.
2. Former MLMers are taught to repress their feelings about the business. They are conditioned to take full responsibility for their failures, and taught that the system is fool proof. Also former MLMers will repress their feelings, because they don't want to deal with the embarrassment of losing money or being duped. It is hard for people to admit when they made a mistake, and former MLMers realize they have made BIG mistakes. Former MLMers will choose to move forward with their lives rather than dwell on the past and cut their losses, because they are still conditioned to not think of the negatives. Former MLMers will repress their feelings because they fear the company is too big to do anything, and their voice will fall on deaf ears.
Repression surrounds our every day lives, and MLM leaders take advantage of this defense mechanism to help prevent repercussions from their dubious tactics.
Repression: Repression is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and impulses. The key to repression is that people do it unconsciously, so they often have very little control over it. "Repressed Memories" are memories that have been unconsciously blocked from access or view. But because memory is very malleable and ever-changing, it is not playing a DVD back of your life. The DVD has been filtered and even altered by your life experiences, even by what you've read or viewed. (http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/)
Have you ever had a friend that refuses to tell you about their problems, even if you know they just had a serious trauma? Many times, people are not able to address the problems because they feel society will judge them. Yet, other times people can't voice their problems because they simply don't know how, or worse, don't know they have any to voice. Repression activates constantly to protect us from being overly stressed, angry, frustrated, or even tired. Emotions can be draining, and it is impossible for our brains to trigger and understand every situation with regards to how it makes us feel.
Repression can be dangerous. Repression can lead to permanent psychological conditions when not addressing serious traumas effectively. People can develop different personalities to help cope with the issues, self medicate, or worse commit suicide. Childhood traumas are a main source of repression, because our brains haven't fully developed yet. Any time there is a childhood trauma, it is particularly difficult to understand the full spectrum of emotions that are attached to the situation, and it is even harder to verbalize how it made you transition into your later years of life.
Repression in MLM is BAD!!! There are two main issues to address with repression and MLM:
1. Current MLMers are encouraged not to voice concerns or to question their uplines if something seems wrong. Instead, it is taught to repress every emotion other than happiness, because everything else will stop them from their goals of endless wealth and success. It is important to stay positive and focused on the track provided, because that is the only way their system will work. The repression they teach is both unhealthy and a form of brainwashing. They are conditioning MLMers to reject previous teachings, disregard what others say, and not to think for themselves.
2. Former MLMers are taught to repress their feelings about the business. They are conditioned to take full responsibility for their failures, and taught that the system is fool proof. Also former MLMers will repress their feelings, because they don't want to deal with the embarrassment of losing money or being duped. It is hard for people to admit when they made a mistake, and former MLMers realize they have made BIG mistakes. Former MLMers will choose to move forward with their lives rather than dwell on the past and cut their losses, because they are still conditioned to not think of the negatives. Former MLMers will repress their feelings because they fear the company is too big to do anything, and their voice will fall on deaf ears.
Repression surrounds our every day lives, and MLM leaders take advantage of this defense mechanism to help prevent repercussions from their dubious tactics.
Thank you for writing this blog. It's clearly written and will make sense to anyone aghast at someone they know getting devoured by an MLM. Hopefully someone with doubts who is in an MLM group might also find it helpful.
ReplyDeleteThe "dream" is to get people thinking. That will eventually lead to discussions, and hopefully become some form of call to action. I intend to redo my personally story at some point and add it to the blog.
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