Frustration in psychology: a vaguely understood term

Many foreign words in our language are used to the right and left, although their meaning remains vague for the common people. So it happened with the word "frustration", some psychologists practice it very much, even without giving explanations. So what is frustration?

The definition is "emotional-sensual reaction to unexpected resistance of the environment". Of course, this is a very general definition. Under the resistance can be understood various circumstances - other people's reactions, unpleasant events. That is, if there is a certain discrepancy between expectations and reality and a person gives an emotional reaction to this, this reaction will be called frustration. In Russian, the word "confusion" is closest to this word.

Of course, by definition it is clear that this condition is very unpleasant. Frustration in psychology is a frequently used term, because it accompanies us all our life. It is classified into internal and external frustration by the source of the conflict. Internal may be due to the fact that a person has set goals for himself, and it is impossible to achieve them. Quite often frustration occurs when there is a lack of strong desires and needs, as well as instincts. A person is often lost, if what he usually does, suddenly ceases to work. Also, the source of frustration can be the realized presence of any complexes, for example, the fear of speaking publicly or fear of communication. Then with the situation of failure you have to face more than once and not two. Also, internal frustration in psychology is considered a consequence of an internal conflict of goals, when the realization of one dream interferes with the realization of another, this is called cognitive dissonance.

External frustration in psychology is confusion caused by factors that are beyond the individual. That is, if you are caught in a traffic jam - this is the source of external frustration. Or, suddenly, the boss harshly demands an assignment, in which the worker does not understand at all. The first state that such a person will feel is frustration. Although it can go into aggression, and directed not at the source, which provoked confusion. So there are textbook situations in our life: a man tyrannizes the boss, then this man at home breaks down to his wife, the wife gets to the children, and the last in the chain of aggression become domestic animals. And it all started with the frustration of one person.

This condition can cause different reactions in different people. How are frustration and personal defense mechanisms related ? If the intensity of the first is at least average, the latter are necessarily included. The first mechanism is not known to everyone as the term repression. Unpleasant circumstances are thus forgotten, but continue to live in the unconscious and disturb the person. Regression is the "return" of a person to an earlier stage of development, which also happens to be a reaction to frustration. And the third common protective mechanism - transfer, this is the situation that you saw above - when a person dashes his hopes on relatives (and not only).

Of course, to a certain extent frustration is normal and causes us to improve ourselves, but if it drags on for a long time, the effect of constant stress can undermine health. Especially often, diseases associated with frustration occur among middle-level managers. Their work is sufficiently responsible, in addition, they have to answer to the chiefs of a higher rank. Of course, there are individual characteristics of the response, and the barrier can be overcome, but this requires additional time and effort. If a person learns to solve a problem, the next time there may be no confusion. Frustration in psychology is understood precisely as a reaction to the difficult to overcome, so if a person meets a complex but surmountable task from the point of view of skills, this will not be frustration.