Internal Conflicts and Psychological Harm
I've been reading some stuff about internal conflicts. Basically,
there are three kinds of internal conflicts - approach-approach,
approach-avoid and avoid-avoid conflicts. All cause some stress,
although approach-approach is much less stressful than the other two.
An example of an approach-approach conflict is being forced to choose
between either one highly preferred treat or another highly preferred
treat. Obviously, the result is pleasant no matter what.
An avoid-avoid conflict is the opposite - a forced choice between two
unpleasant alternatives. This is quite stressful because either way,
the result is bad.
Approach-avoid is a choice between either having or not having
something which is both desired and unwanted. An example might be a
hungry person who will get a severe punishment for stealing food
choosing whether or not to steal the food.
Both avoid-avoid and approach-avoid involve something unpleasant
regardless of what you choose, since approach-avoid results in
deprivation if you choose not to take the option and something
unpleasant if you take it. As a result, both are psychologically
harmful. The effects are greater with greater frequency and severity
of such choices.
Often, it seems like people assume an approach-avoid conflict is
generally with the desire to approach being internal (as in the
example of the hungry person). They seem to recognize that the avoid
can be internal or external, but not so much the approach. This may be
why people assume a behavioral treatment using only positive measures
cannot be harmful. However, it can, because it is possible to have an
external approach and internal avoid in such a program.
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