The single most troublesome aspect of the human mind and the target of a great deal of psychotherapy is actually a design flaw left by evolution. It’s the main reason why humans are more irrational than other mammals.
For most mammals, the survival function of the brain uses a shortcut. Instead of continuous re-evaluations of threats, it uses its internal alarm signal or “proto-emotion” as a proxy for danger. For survival, it then calculates a response that will quiet the proto-emotion. Then the choices are relatively simple, flight, fight, freeze. And that works well for species survival against predators.
We humans inherited the same subconscious, subcortical brain structures dedicated to survival, but now our survival depends on social cohesion, which is a lot more complicated. The design flaw is that our brains use the same shortcut, but we have more options for quieting the alarm signal, and not all of them are good! We have the remarkable ability to play games with reality in order to shut off painful inner emotions. Here are a few examples:
We deny or distort painful information and avoid taking needed actions.
We conjure up hope and wait indefinitely for someone to fix the unfixable.
We shape our lives to be living opposites of characteristics we are ashamed of.
We talk ourselves into believing in ineffective solutions to problems.
We blind ourselves to painful consequences of actions we take.
We use worry as a substitute for useful action.
We hate others and make them enemies as if eliminating them will help us.
What makes this yet more prevalent and problematic is another evolutionary quirk. Humans have exceptionally slow development, which means that coping strategies are often formed long before maturity and reflect the limitations of a child’s mind. Furthermore, since these are responses to life-and-death problems, the solutions are held tightly and change is resisted as if they were precious assets. That’s why we don’t automatically outgrow the worst of the distortions listed earlier. It takes thoughtful psychotherapy to lead the inner mind to acceptance of reality on its terms instead of distorting it for greater comfort.
In the next video, #10, we’ll begin to look at three change mechanisms that are at the heart of all psychotherapies.
