Affective deficiency is at the base of the vast majority of manifestations of emotional, psychological and psychosomatic problems of people throughout their lives. The human being is a sociable being who needs to live fraternally with other people, love and be loved. Cases of emotional deprivation are the result of emotional deprivation of people during their first years of life carried out by their caregivers in a non-conscious way in most cases.
In this Psychology-Online article we will explain in detail the importance of this issue, the different manifestations it presents at different evolutionary moments and the possible treatments. We’ll see now What is emotional deficiency, its consequences and how to cure it.
What are emotional deficiencies according to psychology?
The emotional deficiencies They are the devastating consequence of a emotional deprivation in a child during early childhood, that is, a lack of affection or lack of affection. This period is fundamental for human beings to establish the foundations (of security or insecurity) on which they will develop and build their subsequent life project.
The optimal and healthy development of people requires positive emotional-emotional care and attention during early childhood. In cases in which this does not occur as it should (due to parental incapacity, serious illness, separation, etc.), the feeling of emotional lack or lack of affection can be established within the person, an experience that will condition very negatively in almost all areas of your life, if the situation is not reversed in time. The mother (or substitute maternal figure) and the family are the main figures responsible for the emotional care of children during their early childhood. To a large extent, the establishment of secure, unstable or insufficient emotional foundations in children is in their hands.
Types of emotional deficiency
Emotional deficiency develops during early childhood, as we have already mentioned, but its manifestations can occur throughout life. The sooner they manifest and are perceived and attended to, the better the treatment result will be.
Affective deficiency in children
Many times emotional deficiency manifests itself at an early age in three possible ways:
- With a response from continuous emotional demand: They are dependent children who continually seek to be accompanied and whose self-esteem depends on the evaluation of others; They need, on many occasions, to be the center of attention, to feel valued; They get frustrated and angry when they are not treated as they believe they deserve and need; etc
- With a response from aggression, opposition and rejection: They externalize their internal pain on others (the mother or other people) and on the environment with destructive behavior: antisocial, challenging, unsubmissive, aggressive, authoritarian behavior, etc. In this article we talk about.
- With a response from indifference and lack of interest: In these cases, the boy or girl isolates himself and hides within himself or herself. Somehow, she disconnects from her environment to stop suffering. In these cases, children tend to be passive or inactive; with great development of imagination, very observant and analytical; little communicative and expressive; with great difficulties in social interactions; etc
Affective lack in adolescents
If the person with emotional deficiency has gone through childhood in a more or less “normal” way, it is possible that during adolescence all this internal discomfort explodes. The most frequent behaviors among adolescents who have gone through these experiences are:
- Early, unconscious and risky sexual behaviorwith pregnancies and possible abortions in girls, as a consequence of this immature sexual behavior.
- antisocial behavioraggressive, dominant and, again, risky, with a high probability of committing a crime, as a means of emotional relief.
- Fearful and submissive behaviorwith the consequent social isolation.
- addictive behaviors (alcohol, drugs, risky sports, etc.) as means of physiological and emotional relief.
- Abusive behavior towards one’s own parents, towards one’s partner, towards strangers, etc.
Affective deficiency in adults
Childhood emotional deficiency, if not detected and treated in time, manifests itself in adulthood, limiting the person in many aspects of their life. In this way, and as we have commented so far, the adult with emotional deficiencies will behave with one of these three predominant behavioral styles (or a combination of several):
- Aggressive styleunempathetic, authoritarian and antisocial.
- Dependent stylecontrolling, jealous, hoarder, etc.
- scary stylesubmissive, with little social contact, very imaginative, with peculiar characteristics and interests, etc.
Paternal or maternal emotional lack
Any emotional deficiency comes from insufficient or ineffective emotional care during early childhood. The severity of the consequences and the difficulty in overcoming this deficiency will depend on several factors:
- the moment of beginning of the experience
- the duration time
- the intensity of the negligence
The sooner the experience of non-attention/separation begins, the longer it lasts and the more intense it is, the more negative the consequences will be and the more complicated its healing will be. However, this should never be a reason to stop intervening.
Emotional lack in the couple
The manifestation of emotional lack in the couple can be the result of an emotional lack in one of the two components of the couple, even in both.
- In many cases, people with emotional deficiencies establish relationships but they are unable to show their affection due to the personal limitations that his own childhood experience has brought him.
- In other cases, the emotional lack or lack of affection manifests itself in a obsessive relationshipdependency, control and jealousy with respect to the partner, precisely due to their own childhood emotional deprivation.
- In a third case, the person with emotional deprivation will treat their partner in a way aggressivedisrespectful and unaffected.
It is not strange to see how the combination of these profiles of people constitute couples:
- The aggressive profile with the dependent: In these cases there is a high probability that situations of abuse will occur.
- The passive profile with the dependent: In these cases, the dependent person ends up frustrated with the absence of their partner.
Consequences of emotional lack
Does the lack of family affection have consequences? Yes, people who are victims of emotional deprivation develop an immature profile that gives rise to behavioral alterations and learning difficulties. In general terms, we can name the following as consequences of emotional lack or lack of affection:
- emotional disorders: irritability or aggressiveness, emotional instability, anxiety, depression, suicidal desires, etc.
- Behavioral disorders: antisocial behavior, withdrawal, lack of assertiveness, resentment, disobedience, lack of cooperation, insubordination or submission, dependent, unstable behavior, etc.
- Psychosomatic disorders: deterioration or immaturity in development and growth, regressions; propensity for falls and accidents; alteration of the body scheme; etc
- Cognitive disorders: attention deficit, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, difficulty processing information, etc.
Treatment for affective deprivation syndrome in adults
When a person with emotional deprivation reaches adulthood without having received any type of help, the consequences for them may have generated great damage. However, it is always possible to reverse the situation and to do so it will be necessary for the treatment to allow, among other things:
- Find the origin of your emotional lack (normally, located in the family environment) and become aware of the pain that this has caused. This requires emotional and respectful support from the therapist, which will allow externalize the pain lived and be contained as it was not at the time
- After this first step, it is necessary to go breaking down his entire personality to see how this emotional lack and the pain it generated shaped all his beliefs about himself, others and the world, his emotions and, consequently, his behaviors.
- This awareness Together with the therapist’s affirmation that your real person has great potential that has been limited by the character you accepted and internalized about yourself, it will provide you with the necessary motivation to undertake the necessary changes.
- Start a cognitive restructuring workabandoning all negative and absurd thoughts and awakening your true potential by developing listening to yourself, to your own intuition.
- Re-assert yourself in the being that is really being born and is really him.
- Throughout the process we can also make use of body work, breathing and relaxation, etc. since much of the psychological and emotional remains anchored in the body. Working on it is a basic tool to open part of the emotional blockages and not allow them to re-establish themselves.
To carry out all this work, patience, perseverance and courage are needed on the part of the patient. It is not a simple or quick process, but definitive solutions require complete and elaborate work.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Affective deficiency: what it is, consequences and how to cure itwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Bielsa, A. Emotional lack. Center London 94. Care team for the development and development of the family.
- González, E. Educate in affectivity. Education Faculty. Complutense University of Madrid.