Psychoanalysis
In
Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
ian psychology, externalization (
or externalisation) is a
defense mechanism
In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism (American English: defense mechanism), is an unconscious psychological operation that functions to protect a person from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and o ...
by which an individual
projects their own internal characteristics onto the outside world, particularly onto other people. For example, a patient who is overly argumentative might instead perceive others as argumentative and themselves as
blameless.
Like other defense mechanisms, externalization is a protection against
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
and is, therefore, part of a healthy, normally functioning mind. However, if taken to excess, it can lead to the development of a
neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
.
Narrative therapy
Michael White states that the problem of the client is externalized, to alter the client's
point of view.
See also
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Internalization
Notes
References
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Defence mechanisms
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