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Compartmentalization is a psychological defense mechanism in which thoughts and feelings that seem to conflict are kept separated or isolated from each other in the mind. Those with
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
may use compartmentalization to separate positive and negative self aspects. It may be a form of mild dissociation; example scenarios that suggest compartmentalization include acting in an isolated moment in a way that logically defies one's own moral code, or dividing one's unpleasant work duties from one's desires to relax. Its purpose is to avoid
cognitive dissonance In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some ...
, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves. Compartmentalization allows these conflicting ideas to co-exist by inhibiting direct or explicit acknowledgement and interaction between separate compartmentalized self-states.


Psychoanalytic views

Psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
considers that whereas isolation separates thoughts from feeling, compartmentalization separates different (incompatible) cognitions from each other. As a secondary, intellectual defense, it may be linked to rationalization. It is also related to the phenomenon of neurotic typing, whereby everything must be classified into mutually exclusive and watertight categories. Otto Kernberg has used the term "bridging interventions" for the therapist's attempts to straddle and contain contradictory and compartmentalized components of the patient's mind.


Vulnerability

Compartmentalization can be positive, negative, and integrated depending on the context and person. Compartmentalization may lead to hidden vulnerabilities related to
self-organization Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order and disorder, order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spont ...
and self-esteem in those who use it as a major defense mechanism. When a negative self-aspect is activated, it may cause a drop in self-esteem and mood. This drop in self-esteem and mood is what the observed
vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." The understanding of social and environmental vulnerability, as a methodological approach, involves ...
is attributed to.


Social identity

Conflicting social identities may be dealt with by compartmentalizing them and dealing with each only in a context-dependent way.


Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and compartmentalization

Those who have PTSD often compartmentalize positive and negative self-aspects more than those without PTSD; this helps keep the negative self-aspects from overtaking the positive self-aspects. Positive
self-concept In the psychology of self, one's self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity, self-perspective or self-structure) is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question ''"Who am I? ...
can be kept safe through the use of compartmentalization, specifically for those who have experienced sexual trauma and have, subsequently, been diagnosed with PTSD.


Mindfulness and compartmentalization

Mindfulness meditation may help reduce compartmentalized self-knowledge. Also, those who have greater trait mindfulness may have less negative self-concepts about themselves.


Literary examples

In his novel, '' The Human Factor'', Graham Greene has one of his corrupt officials use the rectangular boxes of
Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...
's art as a guide to avoiding moral responsibility for bureaucratic decision-making—a way to compartmentalize oneself within one's own separately colored box. Doris Lessing considered that the essential theme of '' The Golden Notebook'' was "that we must not divide things off, must not compartmentalise. 'Bound. Free. Good. Bad. Yes. No. Capitalism. Socialism. Sex. Love...'".Doris Lessing, ''The Golden Notebook'' (1973) p. 10


See also

*
Catharsis Catharsis is from the Ancient Greek word , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing", commonly used to refer to the purification and purgation of thoughts and emotions by way of expressing them. The desired result is an emotional state of renewal an ...
*
Confirmation bias Confirmation bias (also confirmatory bias, myside bias, or congeniality bias) is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or Value (ethics and social sciences), val ...
* Doublethink * Idealization and devaluation * Intellectualization *
Psychodynamics Psychodynamics, also known as psychodynamic psychology, in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate t ...
*
Rationalization (psychology) Rationalization is a defense mechanism (ego defense) in which apparent logical reasons are given to justify behavior that is motivated by unconscious instinctual impulses. It is an attempt to find reasons for behaviors, especially one's own. Ra ...
* Sublimation *
Suspension of disbelief Suspension of disbelief is the avoidance—often described as willing—of critical thinking and logic in understanding something that is unreal or impossible in reality, such as something in a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe i ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compartmentalization (Psychology) Cognition Defence mechanisms