Have you heard about Experiential Avoidance Disorder (EED)? It is absolutely related to psychological suffering and Acceptance and Commitment therapies, as we will see later.
Suffering is part of life. Often, certain experiences, feelings or thoughts make us feel uncomfortable, due to the internal verbal reaction that we develop about them.
What is Experiential Avoidance Disorder?
He Experiential Avoidance Disorder It is defined as that disorder in which the person does not accept that certain thoughts or experiences cause suffering, they are unbearable. Consequently, he does everything possible to avoid them, he tries to modify the form, frequency or context that originates these experiences.
It is logical to want to avoid unpleasant experiences or memories, we all do it. But, sometimes, avoidance is no longer healthy, especially when it occurs constantly in certain situations.
In these cases, the person is not willing to experience certain private events (which is what Psychology calls the repertoire of emotions, thoughts or memories that appear in the individual’s consciousness over a period of time) and concentrates all its efforts on avoiding them.
So what happens is that the escape from suffering It makes the person think and focus more and more on it, which in turn causes more and more suffering.
Consequently, the person’s life ends up being limited because of this flight. He may stop doing what he really wants, just to avoid pain.
There is such a struggle to avoid the aversive experience that, deep down, is increasingly present, which causes deep discomfort. In the end, the result is just the opposite of what was intended.
Symptoms of experiential avoidance
- Continuous feelings focused on discomfort
- Obsession to combat discomfort
- Make excessive efforts to control negative thoughts, sensations and emotions.
- There is a great rigidity, a belief that it is impossible to enjoy things without first eliminating all the discomfort.
- The idea that only when the discomfort is eliminated will you be able to develop as a person one hundred percent.
What causes can this disorder have?
Theory has linked certain personality characteristics to this type of disorder. The cause would be found in a trait of psychological inflexibility to manage discomfort, so that this rigidity is evident when it comes to escape and avoidance behaviors.
The person is not capable of assuming and managing the suffering, which will always be there. With the rigid approach that to enjoy you must first eliminate all feelings of discomfort, the person’s life will end up revolving around avoidance.
Consequences
Experiential Avoidance Disorder involves two avoidant behaviors:
- The person hopes to resume his life when he eliminates all discomfort, but by constantly trying to control it, it increases.
- Life only makes sense to fight against that discomfort, which leaves no room to enjoy other situations or more pleasant sensations that life can bring.
This loop ends up interfering with the person’s daily tasks, studies or work, which can be seriously impaired. Or you may end up abandoning your hobbies, friends, family, isolating yourself, etc.
If this disorder coexists in the subject with others, such as anxiety or depression, the whole situation can be quite serious.
Treatment
One of the treatments that have proven to be most useful for treating this disorder is , whose characteristics you can consult at this link.
This therapy seeks to ensure that the person accepts this discomfort and does not try to escape from it repeatedly. Make him aware that certain sufferings are impossible to eradicate from our lives, and that trying to escape from them or waiting for them to be resolved before resuming his usual life can only cause him more pain.
.