Avoidance in psychology. What is it, examples from life, how to get rid of it, pros, cons

Avoidance is one of the forms of human behavior that is observed in a certain situation or life circumstances. Sigmund Freud is considered the first psychologist to study this phenomenon.

The Austrian psychologist and psychotherapist identified the avoidance reaction as a separate strategy of a person’s mental activity, which is a mechanism for escaping from conflict situations and the harsh reality of life.

Based on the results of his research, Sigmund Freud formulated the term “escapism”, which in simple psychology means “escape”, “salvation from unpleasant events” or “avoidance” of something.

Definition of the term escapism. What it is

In psychology, avoidance is a mechanism of a defensive reaction of the psyche aimed at maintaining the usual comfort zone. With the help of a series of specific actions or deliberate inaction, a person avoids the influence of one or a whole complex of negative factors and life circumstances.

The avoidance reaction is triggered in response to a paralyzing feeling of fear of the possible occurrence of feelings of pain, psychological discomfort or strong emotional experiences. Quite often, the mechanism of evading the influence of negative factors is formed as a protective barrier in response to a previously experienced stressful situation or demoralization.

The concept of avoidance in psychology has a deep meaning when it comes to the general strategy of human behavior. In this case, avoidance of negative environmental factors becomes permanent and also affects all areas of an individual’s life.

For example, a person builds his behavior model according to the principle of least resistance, showing passivity in response to any events in the outside world. Such mental reactions may be associated with a low level of intellectual development, the presence of latent or indolent psychoneurological diseases, and a sluggish and weak-willed temperament.

The most common manifestation of avoidance is observed in people with an active life position, who have all the necessary set of volitional qualities, normal intellectual development, but at the same time always strive to get away from a conflict situation.

In this case, the instinct of self-preservation is activated, avoiding potentially dangerous or unpleasant actions with minimal energy and physical costs.

In psychology, avoidance is one of the results of a person making an internal decision in response to negative environmental factors.

After understanding the current situation, there is a refusal to display any form of aggression, enter into a fight and implement volitional efforts. In general, it is believed that avoidance is a pattern of behavior that is unconstructive and also limits the personality in further development.

Confrontation

Confrontation in its focus is aimed at, acting actively and independently, achieving one’s own interests, regardless of the other parties directly involved in the conflict, or even to the detriment of them. Those who use this style of behavior seek to impose their solution to the problem on others, rely only on their own strength, and do not accept joint actions. At the same time, elements of maximalism, strong-willed pressure, and the desire to force the opponent to accept the point of view he disputes, by any means, including force pressure, administrative sanctions, intimidation, blackmail, etc., are manifested, to gain the upper hand over him at any cost, to win. in conflict. As a rule, confrontation is chosen in situations where:

the problem is of vital importance for the participant in the conflict, who believes that he has sufficient power to quickly resolve it in his favor;
the conflicting party occupies a very advantageous, essentially win-win position for itself and has the opportunity to use it to achieve its own goal;
the subject of the conflict is confident that his proposed solution to the problem in this situation, and at the same time, having a higher rank, insists on making this decision, is currently deprived of another choice and practically does not risk losing anything, acting decisively in defense of his interests and dooming opponents to lose.

We must not forget, however, that any pressure, in whatever form it occurs, can result in an explosion of unbridled emotions, the destruction of respectful and trusting relationships, and an excessively negative reaction from those who find themselves defeated and will not give up trying to achieve revenge. Therefore, this style is of little use in most interpersonal conflicts; it is not the best option for maintaining a healthy moral and psychological atmosphere in the team, or creating conditions that allow employees to get along with each other.

Classification

Avoidance in psychology is a defensive reaction of the psyche in response to the influence of negative environmental factors. The table below lists the main types of this behavior strategy, which can be observed in children of a younger age group, adolescents and adults of all age groups.

Schematic of avoidant behavior in psychology.

Classification types of psychological strategy of avoidance	Features of defensive reactions of the psyche
Passive avoidance	A distinctive feature of passive avoidance is that at the moment of the next tests of the external world, the individual does not show any volitional efforts to overcome them. People with this behavior pattern spontaneously develop a strategy for protecting themselves from the effects of negative environmental factors, which is based on saving the emotional component, intellectual and energy resources. An individual with a psychological model of behavior in the form of passive avoidance bypasses all potential areas of tension and conflict situations as soon as his personality is exposed to aggressive influence from other persons, or difficult life circumstances are present. The reasons for the formation of a behavioral strategy of passive avoidance always have a psychogenic nature of origin. Most people who profess this model of behavior are weak-willed, withdrawn people with a soft character. Quite often there are cases when the protective mechanism of the psyche in the form of a strategy of passive avoidance began to form after experiencing psychological trauma.
Active avoidance	Active avoidance is a unique model of individual behavior, which is more conscious and is also based on acquired life experience and high intellectual abilities. In this case, a person tries to protect himself from the influence of negative factors in the surrounding world, smooth out rough edges and avoid conflict situations. Unlike those who profess passive avoidance, people with active avoidance from life's difficulties mobilize their mental abilities, use social connections and acquaintances to maintain their comfort zone. In this case, in order to achieve a positive result, you need to maintain a high level of self-control, have an accommodating character and a good intellect. Most people who adhere to an active avoidance position have a very stable nervous system, as well as innate or acquired skills for opportunism.

Avoidance in psychology is a destructive pattern of behavior that limits a person’s further development.

The passive and active form of protecting the inner “I” from negative environmental factors leads to the fact that a person runs away from his own problems, most of which remain unresolved, accumulate, becoming an unbearable burden. People with similar behavioral personality traits need qualified help from a psychotherapist.

Pros of poutine

One of the main advantages of doing a routine task is the minimal amount of energy spent on it. A task that is constantly repeated becomes commonplace and ceases to require significant effort. And often people even begin to feel uncomfortable because, for example, they overslept during a run or did not have time to make their bed in the morning.

This feature can be explained quite simply - learning a new skill is always accompanied by increased energy expenditure, but performing familiar, everyday work occurs in energy saving mode. Consequently, turning any task into an everyday routine can bring unexpected practical benefits: in addition to the fact that performing this work will require minimal effort from you, it will be difficult for you to abandon an activity that has become a habitual ritual.

Mechanisms

There are 2 main mechanisms for constructing a model of personal behavior in the form of avoidance. This is complete protection from aggressive factors of the outside world, or avoidance of conflict situations through a system of peacefulness.

Through the fence from the outside world

This mechanism for the development of a psychological model of human behavior is that in response to all life situations that require emotional, physical or moral stress, the individual takes a passive wait-and-see position and does not make contact with external stimuli or the people around him.

The basis of this strategy comes down to waiting out an unfavorable period, letting the current situation take its course until life circumstances change.

Such a mechanism for implementing a defensive reaction of the psyche has a destructive effect not only on the personality of the individual himself, but also negatively affects the lives of his loved ones, who become hostage to the psychological problems of a loved one.

Through the manifestation of peacefulness

Individuals who adhere to this strategy of protecting their comfort zone are distinguished by their ability to adapt, as well as the ability to make compromises in the most difficult situations.

In psychology, avoidance through peacefulness involves building partnerships with a person who may be a potential provocateur of conflict situations, a source of danger. People who profess this model of behavior are always ready to make concessions even to the detriment of their own interests.

The mechanism for implementing the psychological strategy of avoidance through peacefulness requires a person to have the following personal qualities:

high level of mental development;
communication skills;
the ability to quickly find a common language and common ground with other people;
pliability and amenability;
the presence of moral values and good upbringing.

Most people who pursue the goal of expressing avoidance through peacefulness experience internal fears that their sense of self-worth will be suppressed during a conflict situation. Individuals with this type of behavior withdraw from difficult life situations due to fear of responsibility.

Compromise

Compromise occupies a middle place in the grid of conflict behavior. It means the disposition of the conflict participant(s) to resolve disagreements on the basis of mutual concessions and achieve partial satisfaction of their interests. This style equally involves active and passive actions, the application of individual and collective efforts. This style is preferable in that it usually blocks the path to ill will and allows, albeit partially, to satisfy the claims of each of the parties involved in the conflict. It is addressed in situations where:

the subjects of the conflict are well aware of its causes and development in order to judge the actual circumstances, all the pros and cons of their own interests;
conflicting parties of equal rank, having mutually exclusive interests, are aware of the need to come to terms with this state of affairs and balance of power, to be content with a temporary but suitable option for resolving contradictions;
participants in the conflict of different ranks are inclined to reach an agreement in order to gain time and save energy, not to break off relations, and to avoid unnecessary losses;
opponents, having assessed the current situation, adjust their goals taking into account the changes that have occurred during the conflict;
all other styles of behavior in this conflict do not bring any effect.

The ability to compromise is a sign of realism and a high culture of communication, i.e.
a quality that is especially valued in management practice. However, one should not resort to it unnecessarily, rush to make compromise decisions, thereby interrupting a thorough discussion of a complex problem, and artificially reduce the time for a creative search for reasonable alternatives, optimal options. Each time you need to check whether a compromise is effective in a given case compared to, for example, cooperation, evasion or accommodation.

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Reasons for avoidance

Avoidance in psychology is a whole series of specific actions or absolute inaction aimed at protecting one’s inner world from the negative factors of the surrounding world. Such a model of individual behavior can be formed under the influence of various life circumstances.

The following main reasons are identified that influence the development of a defensive mental reaction in the form of passive or active avoidance:

hereditary characteristics of an individual’s character, when a similar pattern of behavior can be traced in one of the close relatives on the father’s or mother’s side;
concomitant psychoneurological diseases that are in a latent state, and the pathology itself proceeds without signs of exacerbations;
hormonal imbalances associated with a deficiency of male sex hormones (for example, spinelessness, lack of an adequate response to external challenges may be the result of too low testosterone levels);
rigidity of the emotional component of character;

a difficult situation in the family that persisted throughout the child’s childhood and adolescence (for example, if the formation of the individual’s personality took place under conditions of authoritarian pressure from the father or mother, limiting the volitional qualities of his character);
mediocre intellectual development, when a person is unable to form a clear life position and develop mechanisms of interaction in response to the challenges of the outside world;
soft character and pronounced lethargy of temperament;
the consequences of previously suffered psychological trauma, severe mental shock, which forced a person to withdraw into himself and avoid any danger factors;
experience of physical or sexual violence;
complications arising after traumatic brain injury or infectious diseases affecting the structure of the central nervous system;
a negative example in the family, when the father took a similar position of inaction in difficult life situations.

Avoidance in psychology is a special model of individual behavior that is aimed at ensuring one’s own comfort, regardless of the needs of people from the immediate environment.

The reason that formed the basis for the formation of this mental reaction in response to difficult life circumstances is established during communication with a psychotherapist or psychoanalyst. If you contact a specialist in a timely manner, it is possible to correct your behavior pattern, overcome internal complexes and previously suffered injuries.

Types of routine

If we consider routine from the perspective of planning things, then it can be divided into two types:

The first type includes matters that are not related to a person’s achievement of fundamental life goals , but are designed to provide him with the required and satisfactory quality of life.
The second type includes obligations designed to help a person achieve both global and smaller external goals , for example, pay for utilities, insurance, etc. Timely fulfillment of such duties brings a person a feeling of satisfaction, a natural feeling when performing any obligatory task.

Routine chores also include housework, including washing, cooking, cleaning the apartment, etc. Completing these tasks does not in any way affect a person’s achievement of his priority life goals, but has a positive effect on his quality of life (after all, living in a clean apartment is much more pleasant than living in an uncleaned, untidy room).

Positive sides

Any behavior model contains positive and negative aspects. There are several advantages of the psychological strategy of avoiding irritating factors.

Resolving Anxiety

Internal protection from the effects of external pestilence allows you to maintain a stable psycho-emotional state, prevent the occurrence of anxiety, panic, attacks of fear and self-doubt.

Lack of re-experience of emotional excitement

Most people who adhere to the strategy of psychological avoidance have previously experienced negative emotions and have been in a stressful situation for a long period of time.

Avoiding life's trials and conflict situations preserves their nervous system from repeated shocks that can provoke the development of concomitant diseases of the body.

Achieving psychological maturity

It is believed that a certain number of people who adhere to a behavioral model of avoiding life's difficulties require time to cope with internal problems on their own. As an individual grows older, gains experience, and gains new knowledge, a change in their worldview may occur.

conclusions

Thus, only overcoming one’s inner fear of the new and unknown helps a person overcome the monotony of his own routine everyday life. The concept of routine is very complex and individual, and what depresses one person can have an extremely positive effect on the morale of another. For this reason, for some people, routine tasks bring boredom, and often provoke depression, while for others they seem to be a stronghold of reliability and stability in life. Any person is capable of coping with the routine, and therefore, if you find signs of the negative impact of this phenomenon, resort to the tips listed just above.

Negative sides

The psychological strategy of avoidance has many more negative aspects than the positive aspects that were described above.

Limitations in decision making

A person who professes this model of behavior never considers alternative decision-making options. In any life situation that involves life trials, overcoming difficulties, a defensive reaction is triggered, aimed at protecting oneself from these challenges of the outside world.

Lack of personal development

Personal development is possible only under conditions of active interaction with the world around us and the people who fill it.

Constantly being in one’s comfort zone limits a person’s ability to gain new knowledge, skills, and life experience. Under conditions of passive avoidance, the occurrence of a process of degradation of an individual’s personal qualities cannot be ruled out at all.

Decreased quality of life

Constant avoidance of certain circumstances, the challenges of fate, leads to the fact that a person withdraws into himself and is deprived of the opportunity to live a full life. All the actions of an individual are aimed at maintaining his usual comfort zone, being in which does not allow him to open new horizons and prospects.

Feelings of self-doubt appear

Individuals who build their lives on the basis of a pattern of constant avoidance acquire accompanying character flaws in the form of:

indecision;
constant feeling of doubt;
fear of making the wrong decision;
anxiety before new life events, unfamiliar situations.

All this leads to the fact that a person becomes even more insecure in his abilities. Such a psychological state can cause the development of neuroses.

Control from the outside and control from the inside

There is a difference between controlling things outside of our brains and inside our heads. What does it mean? We can control many things in our immediate environment. If the room is too dark, you can open the curtains or turn on the lights. If there is dirt on the floor, you can sweep it up. In short, we can easily control our hands, feet and voice. If you need to go somewhere, just do it.

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However, things within us are not always directly controllable. If you were asked not to think about a polar bear for a minute, what do you think would happen? You will only think about him! A number of studies have been conducted to confirm such phenomena.

Consequences

The psychological model of behavior in the form of constant passive or active avoidance leads to negative changes in the individual’s personality.

In this case, the following consequences may occur:

gradual decline in the level of intellectual development;
lack of sufficient life experience that would correspond to a person’s age;
acquisition of accompanying psychological complexes and borderline mental states;
the inability to acquire the skills to build strong social connections that are necessary to lead a fulfilling life;
dependency and complete dependence on close relatives who do not adhere to the strategy of avoiding life’s difficulties, but are forced to wage a daily struggle for a “place in the sun”;
lack of vocational education, which provides employment opportunities (most people living according to the principle of avoidance have difficulty finishing school, do not enter educational institutions to obtain a specialty, or drop out of education in the first 1-2 years);

the inability to start a family, since building strong relationships requires overcoming the fear of life’s difficulties and upcoming responsibilities;
the development of concomitant psychoneurological diseases that arise due to the impact of constant life restrictions, maintaining a closed and uncommunicative lifestyle.

Most people who take a position of passive avoidance are inconspicuous individuals who do not like publicity.

A person with a similar psychological type of character spends most of his time within the walls of his house or room, goes out very rarely, and leads an ascetic lifestyle. People with this model of behavior very rarely create families and are not able to adapt and quickly adapt to changing life circumstances.

Individuals with a defensive mental reaction in the form of avoidance through the mechanism of peacefulness cannot achieve success in their personal lives, build a good career, or achieve high wages, since they make constant concessions and compromises, sacrificing their own interests.

Example. Consumer dispute

One day I bought a smartphone. The speaker turned out to be faulty. I demanded that the smartphone be returned and my money returned: 10,000 rubles .

If the seller complied with my request, then this would be normal cooperation within the framework of the consumer protection law.

However, the company took a evasive position: they immediately accepted the smartphone, but did not give me the money within the period established by law.

In this situation, I was forced to resort to suppression: I filed an application with the court demanding to return the money for the smartphone, as well as to pay a fine, penalty and compensation for moral damage - a total of 50,000 rubles .

The store refused to give in, and the company’s lawyer offered me a compromise: they would pay me 25,000 rubles for the smartphone and the inconvenience caused, and I would waive the rest of the demands. I immediately agreed, the court approved the settlement agreement on these terms and a couple of days later the seller transferred the money to me.

How to overcome

In order to overcome the defensive reaction of the psyche in the form of constant avoidance, a person himself must want to change his life, improve its quality and open up new opportunities for himself.

The first step towards correcting social behavior should be a visit to a psychologist or psychoanalyst. It is necessary to determine the reason that became the trigger for the formation of the avoidance strategy.

After this, long-term work begins with a specialist in the field of psychotherapy, who teaches the patient to live in stressful situations, to bear responsibility for the fate of their loved ones, to make difficult decisions without experiencing panic fear of possible consequences.

Throughout the course of psychotherapy, it is recommended to adhere to the following rules that will help level out the avoidance strategy:

There is no need to try to get away from internal doubts before making a decision. You just need to learn to live with these sensations without fear of radical changes in your life.
You should begin to develop your character strengths.
Every day, perform 1 action that should have been done a long time ago, but until now they were put on the back burner due to fear or self-doubt.
You don't need to pay attention to the opinions of people around you.
It must be remembered that the future of each person depends only on himself. Where he ends up at the end of his journey largely depends on the intensity of his actions.
You should not be afraid of the people around you, because they are all not ideal either, they have their own bad habits and character flaws.
There is no need to be too shy and modest, since these character traits only complicate the process of overcoming life's challenges.
When communicating with interlocutors, you must always take a clear and unshakable position.
Always remember that strong people are respected.
Do not sacrifice your life interests for the benefit of other people.

The number of psychotherapy sessions that must be completed to correct the behavioral pattern of constant avoidance is determined by the specialist. It all depends on the general condition of the patient and his life position.

In psychology, avoidance is a specific form of behavior, which consists in the formation of a defensive reaction of the psyche in response to aggressive factors in the surrounding world. People with a similar psychological type of character are not capable of displaying aggression, and their philosophy of life boils down to maintaining their comfort zone, avoiding conflicts and life's trials.

There is passive and active avoidance. In the first case, a person does not show any physical or volitional efforts to counteract certain factors or the current situation. Peaceful avoidance is a form of opportunistic behavior when an individual constantly makes concessions, sacrifices his own well-being in order to protect himself from conflict.

Evasion (escape)

Evasion (withdrawal) as a style of behavior in conflicts is characterized by a clear lack of desire on the part of those involved in a conflict situation to cooperate with anyone and make active efforts to realize their own interests, as well as to meet opponents halfway;
the desire to get out of the conflict field, to escape the conflict. This style of behavior is usually chosen in cases where:

the problem that caused the conflict does not seem significant to the subject of the conflict, the subject of disagreement, in his opinion, is petty, based on differences in taste, and does not deserve the waste of time and effort;
an opportunity is discovered to achieve one’s own goals in a different, non-conflict way;
the clash occurs between subjects who are equal or close in strength (rank), consciously avoiding complications in their relationships;
the participant in the conflict feels that he is wrong or has an opponent with a person of higher rank and assertive volitional energy;
it is necessary to postpone an acute clash in order to gain time, analyze the current situation in more detail, gather strength, and enlist the support of supporters;
It is advisable to avoid further contacts with a person with a difficult mental state or an extremely tendentious, overly biased opponent who is deliberately looking for reasons to aggravate relations.

Avoidance can be completely justified in conditions of interpersonal conflict that arises for reasons of a subjective, emotional nature.
This style is most often used by realists by nature. People of this type, as a rule, soberly assess the advantages and weaknesses of the positions of the conflicting parties. Even when touched to the quick, they are wary of recklessly getting involved in a “fight”, they are in no hurry to accept calls to escalate the clash, realizing that often the only means of winning in an interpersonal dispute is to avoid participating in it. It is a different matter if the conflict arose on an objective basis. In such a situation, evasion and neutrality may be ineffective, since the controversial problem retains its significance, the reasons that gave rise to it do not disappear by themselves, but become even more aggravated.

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