Posted by Noa on May 25, 2000, at 18:15:08
In reply to Re: Procrastination as Disease, posted by Mark H. on May 25, 2000, at 11:26:02
Well, one way procrastination serves as a defense---and does a mighty good job of it, I think---is that it protects the person from the personal risk involved in putting forth effort at a task, especially something as ego-involved as writing. By putting it off, the person creates a situation in which he or she can save face if the outcome of the effort is less than stellar in his own or someone else's eyes. I know this because I have done this a lot.
Another thing is that many people have difficulty with "executive functioning", a term I am using loosely here. I am referring to the ability to manage the self in service of completing a goal. It takes a lot of strength to do this, sometimes. It means narrowing the focus of your conscious brain, putting aside all other "business" in there, making a game plan as to what your goal is, how you want to meet the goal, breaking that into steps, focusing on manageable pieces of it one at a time, transitioning from one task to another, organizing your thoughts, etc etc. When this is difficult for a person, that can generate a lot of anxiety. The anxiety can be overwhelming at times, and the "best" defense against overwhelming anxiety is to AVOID the source of the anxiety or anything closely associated with it. Complex tasks require lots of executive functioning skills....this creates anxiety.....complex tasks are avoided.
I think executive functioning can be difficult for some folks because of neurological vulnerabilities that have been there since birth, but they can also develop this difficulty from living with psychiatric disorders......or both, of course.
I am sure there are lots of other ways to understand procrastination....these are just a couple of ideas.
BTW, there was a discussion above of CBT---cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT is a good form of treatment for problems with procrastination.
poster:Noa
thread:34476
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000517/msgs/34658.html