The feeling of guilt is, at first, healthy. While this causes aversion, it is a mechanism associated with self-criticism, it is inevitable that sometimes we will act inappropriately and end up harming others, in these cases guilt alerts us to the need to repair, however, there are circumstances in which failure fails beyond reason, and this is where pathological guilt appears.
Guilt implies a call to conscience. This occurs when a principle has been violated or we have neglected a value in which we believe. Guilt is a feeling strongly associated with ideology and moral conscience.
- “You go from innocent to guilty in a second.
- What’s the weather like.
- Spikes singing in a tired tree?-John Gelman-.
Psychologically speaking, is it practically impossible to define whether a behavior is?Or bad?. Even those who deliberately harm may be motivated by distortions in their thoughts or emotions, the result of an altered, sick or dysfunctional environment.
However, individually, each person makes this kind of valuation in terms of good and bad. When you feel like you’ve gone through your belief or value system, you feel remorse. When does the transition from normal guilt to pathological guilt occur?farther away.
It is not always clear what the difference is between a fault that could be described as “normal” and a pathological guilt. A first clue to distinguishing from each other is to assess its frequency and intensity, if you live regularly and it is a very strong and invasive feeling, you can talk about pathological guilt.
There are psychological disorders in which guilt is very present, one of the most common is depression. In this state it is very common for a person to constantly store to blame himself, in fact, he begins to feel guilty about being depressed and not being able to feel like others.
Pathological guilt is also present in obsessive-compulsive disorders, phobias and addictions, in these cases guilt is part of the problem, it is not a healthy fault that leads to repair or reorient behavior, on the contrary, it functions as a constant factor of emotional punishment, which often aggravates the central problem.
Sometimes the guilt camouflages a little. In these cases, it is not typical remorse after doing or saying something that we consider reprehensible, there is, for example, traumatic guilt, one of the forms that embraces pathological guilt.
The mechanism works as follows: a person is a victim of arbitrariness, abuse or an extremely painful event, in these cases the emotional impact is extremely high. The so-called “Trauma” is then configured. Although the person is a victim, he develops a sense of guilt over the situation. This is precisely one of the effects of trauma. In this case, there’s pathological guilt.
Similarly, there are cases where a person feels guilty simply for imagining harm, although in practice he has never caused it, there should be no repentance, because no harm has been done, but if the morality or super-yo of the person is extremely restrictive. , you will perceive everything as if you have actually done something wrong.
Pathological guilt can be very incisive. Gradually it cracks and filters into the different actions of life, which greatly decreases self-esteem, although it is also the product of low self-esteem, for example, someone with low self-esteem feels that they have to please others all the time. time, and if he fails, he feels guilty.
What is needed in these cases is a process that allows you to open your mind so that you can see everything from another angle, it is important to reflect on the norms and beliefs that we have and, above all, evaluate logic and its logic. The vast majority of cases involve overly strict codes that don’t actually lead to being a better person or a better member of society, just fulfilling the role of tormentor.
In many cases it is necessary to complete this process with the help of a psychotherapist, guilt can have roots so deep that it is difficult to deal with it without support, it is worth making efforts to get rid of pathological guilt, it is a force that sometimes becomes overwhelming and can ruin your whole life.