Changing the Self-Sabotaging Impulse

Did you know there are at least 8 ways that even normal people sabotage our best intentions?

Self-sabotage can affect any area of life, and even masquerade as a smart way to be. It could be a possible diagnostic sign of generalized anxiety or neurosis, a particular kind of mood or personality or dissociative disorder, or some other condition classified as a mental illness.

Or, in an otherwise healthy individual, self-sabotage can be viewed as a tension between explicit goals and implicit beliefs. That is, it’s seen as a repeated and ineffective action sourced in the discrepancy between what we say we want, and what we unconsciously believe we can have.

This article gives a brief explanation of 8 typical types of self-sabotage and shows how they involve hidden beliefs and the seduction of fast payoffs that keep us from getting what we really want. A holistic process for shifting self-sabotage into sustainable change is provided.