I felt so hilariously called out by this post I actually bothered to make an account after years of lurking. I fit that patient description quite well, or did anyway. This is one aspect of why I always went for CBT and never even considered psychoanalasys.
I’d be highly interested in further thoughts on the matter. In case you care for a patient reflection (I’m no psychologist): I think the social connection between identity (for example job) and social relations can be close. I chose to hold onto my identity because I thought all my relationships would crumble if I gave it up, even after the identity was no longer serving my experience. This is also not entirely unreasonable—many relationships do rely on collective identity, for better or worse. It is about preserving the one life that was aquired through the means of this identity, the job etc., and not building a new life with a new identity. This might be why patients rather stay in a job that makes them want to kill themselfs and don’t see a way out—they might try to save the life connected to this identity by all means.
I felt so hilariously called out by this post I actually bothered to make an account after years of lurking. I fit that patient description quite well, or did anyway. This is one aspect of why I always went for CBT and never even considered psychoanalasys.
I’d be highly interested in further thoughts on the matter. In case you care for a patient reflection (I’m no psychologist): I think the social connection between identity (for example job) and social relations can be close. I chose to hold onto my identity because I thought all my relationships would crumble if I gave it up, even after the identity was no longer serving my experience. This is also not entirely unreasonable—many relationships do rely on collective identity, for better or worse. It is about preserving the one life that was aquired through the means of this identity, the job etc., and not building a new life with a new identity. This might be why patients rather stay in a job that makes them want to kill themselfs and don’t see a way out—they might try to save the life connected to this identity by all means.