Crossing the Line in Feeling Guilty
Dialogues
There are logical boundaries to normal human behavior, as commonly understood among moderate individuals, intellectually and psychologically. Anyone who transgresses these boundaries in their private life or in their interactions with others will expose themselves to complex life problems, from which they could have emerged had they been committed to moderation and centrality in how they view themselves and relate to their own self in the external world.
Perhaps the worst type of thinking and personal behavior, indicating a psychological imbalance, is exceeding the logical limit in feelings of guilt, especially due to exaggerating the perception of committing an imagined moral error. Regarding its signs, causes, and how to overcome it, we mention the following:
Political Analysis
- Signs: A persistent negative feeling of guilt toward expected human errors in today’s turbulent world; continuous psychological pain over imagined personal sins against others; ruminating on this false feeling until it leads to depression; voluntarily ceasing to protect personal boundaries out of fear of angering others; and constant preoccupation with personal mistakes that occurred many years ago.
- Hesitation in making personal decisions, out of fear that they may not align with others’ opinions and temperaments, along with pessimistic thinking.
- Causes: Severe weakness in self-esteem; poor family upbringing; entrenched excessive fear in the heart; a negative self-perception; lack of reading about common psychological disorders in today’s chaotic world; refusal to follow scientific psychological guidelines aimed at overcoming excessive guilt; hesitation in severing toxic relationships; and intellectual and psychological closure.
- Overvaluing everyone who enters and exits a person’s life, without distinguishing between those who deserve it and those who do not; exaggerating one-sided love; failing to be cautious of psychological manipulators; and patching up personal weakness as a sign of a good heart.
- Overcoming excessive guilt and morbid conscience: Engaging the mind in living in the present, practicing a rewarding hobby, ignoring negative thoughts and feelings, and remembering that mood is merely a temporary chemical interaction occurring in the brain, often having no relation to the surrounding environment. So, do not torture yourself and consume yourself from within!
A Kuwaiti writer
