By Sue Siebens
Fear-Based Behaviors show up in our lives in many and varied ways. Our emotions go silent when they are ignored or suppressed for long enough. They become behaviors driven by our subconscious. Often they feel normal and natural. They may feel appropriate for the given situation. We often associate them with our personalities. But it’s often our fears coming out.
This is the third installment on Fear-Based Behaviors. (Read from the first post in the series here.)
Our third topic in this series is Inhibition: Being Stopped by the Fear.
In psychology, Inhibition is the conscious or unconscious constraint or curtailment of a process or behavior, especially of impulses or desires.[1] We need some inhibitions to live in a community with other beings. A person’s moral equilibrium, what is appropriate or not, and our self-esteem is maintained by unconscious prohibitions of a person’s personality.[2]
Inhibition is also our most common limitation and obstacle, even if we believe we are relatively free of difficulties and live with these behaviors unaware of them. They can keep us from freely expressing our desires and natural abilities. They can diminish our full development and enjoyment of life.[2]
Inhibition develops over a lifetime. Children can be withdrawn and develop avoiding behaviors at a very young age. Often these blocks are carried into adolescence, where withdrawing from unfamiliar people, situations, and objects becomes a more ingrained behavior. Teenagers are more aware of their social conditions and more likely to be intimidated in public, fostering potentially embarrassing issues. By the time individuals achieve adulthood, inhibited individuals are better at predicting uncomfortable social situations and generally have the agency to avoid them.
Inhibitions that hold us back range from shyness to social anxiety and phobias, and all the life events in between. Anyone can be inhibited in daily life, with strangers or even friends. One’s sensitivity levels can depend on social cues throughout the day. [3]
· Absence of any aggressiveness: Conflict avoidance, not being able to defend yourself verbally or otherwise, being taken advantage of at work, or allowing the invasion of personal physical space
· Lack of expression: words, thoughts and gestures are restricted, spontaneity is limited, giving up before failure is even possible, not being able to promote yourself or share your story
· Social withdrawal: making the effort to go to a party, but not being part of it once your there, introducing yourself to the host’s dog instead of new people, sitting silently with other non-joiners
· Lost trust in others: being suspicious as a default, waiting for the betrayal, self-focus, few “true” friends and social contacts
So how do we let go of our collected inhibitions and find more enjoyment in our relationships and activities?
First, we have to recognize that change can be scary. But removing inhibitions doesn’t mean that we change who we are. It’s unlikely that we will become the extrovert “party guy,” the “big, loud talker,” or the “bossy know-it-all.” Don’t worry!
Letting go of inhibitions means being more comfortable in your skin and thoughts in the presence of strangers or current challenges and being willing to engage socially without stress.
The root of Inhibition is unprocessed memories from high-stress events in our life. High-stress events can contribute to leaving the in-flight emotions unfinished in some way. And they will remain in the body as an emotional memory or imprint. These become the triggered emotions we experience later.
Emotional Resolution, EmRes, uses a natural ability to process emotions stuck in our body—the emotional imprints. Using interoception, observing physical sensations connected to emotions, EmRes gives the body time to resolve the unprocessed emotional imprint, removing the trigger.
EmRes process does not explain why we have an emotional imprint. It employs the subconscious’ GPS to the root of the problem and metabolizes the neurotransmitters that got stuck. The triggering emotional memory is gone. It is not necessary to know how, when, where or why it got stuck in the first place.
All emotions are linked to a situation. Emotions don’t just happen without some sort of stimulus, environmental or mental. Inhibition, like many emotional disturbances, may be triggered by many unique situations.
With EmRes, the emotion-situations are addressed as they appear in current-ish life. EmRes is done either in the moment with EmRes-Self or afterward in session with an EmRes Profession.
Just a handful of resolutions can make a big difference in how we feel when we are exposed to social challenges.
So:
· What situations make you lose your ground?
· When do you give in, even if you are right? Even if it’s not the best choice—only a “safer choice”?
· When are you frozen into inaction? Can’t or won’t do it?
References
1. https://www.britannica.com/science/inhibition-psychology
2. Understanding and treating psychological inhibitions, Culsulta Beakeland, https://www.consultabaekeland.com/p/en/psychoanalyst-madrid-blog/understanding-and-treating-psychological-inhibitions.php
3. Social Inhibition, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inhibition
Photo by Russell Ferrer on Unsplash
About Sue
Sue Siebens uses Emotional Resolution, EmRes, to work at a fundamental level, where the roots of the illness, fear, and pain can be accessed and resolved. Sue teaches and writes to raise awareness about this new technology so that as many people as possible can find relief and peace in their life. Sue is based in Dallas, Tx, USA.