☞「心の丸窓」は心の杜の医師・心理師による心の診療に関するコラムです。

Round window of the mind is the column about mental therapy written by doctors of Kokoronomori Shinjuku Clinic.

When we are faced with a thread, and if it is too strong, we would lose the control of our reason and the capacity to deal with it. And we would regress to the immature state of mind, in which we can easily become paranoiac. We call such state as paranoid – schizoid position.

However, we are able to recover our adulthood capacity to think rationally, in usual conditions. When one cannot recover from the paranoid-schizoid position, one would feel anxious, sceptical, alert, and paranoic.

The reaction with such state may also vary. Someone may try to deal with it by becoming omnipotent, which may lead to a hypomanic state. Another one may believe that enemy is out there trying to attack him. For example, he may believe that an enemy country is attacking his country. It may also cause what is called scapegoating, or make people believe demagogues. This is because we have the paranoid-schizoid mind in ourselves and there always be a pull to be possessed by it. It may not be easy, I think, but very important to try maintaining the objective view on ourselves and to “Stay calm and carry on”.

Gugan