Psychological deprivation refers to the lack of emotional attention between people who are close to each other. Especially children in the first years of life suffer from this impoverishment of feelings primarily on the part of their parents. Such a psychological developmental disorder has a more or less detrimental effect on their later ability to bond with a life partner and also to form friendships.
What is psychological deprivation?
With psychological deprivation, the affected children and adolescents develop the ability to fill personal social roles only with difficulty and with a delay. They usually lack important prerequisites for establishing deeper and sincere relationships with peers. Also clearly evident are negative prerequisites for everyday receptivity to stimuli as well as goal-directed learning. Often these young people show difficulties in their linguistic development, and thus also in reading and writing. The causes of such a mental disorder can essentially be traced back to failures in upbringing. The disturbed emotional ties between father or mother and their own child often arise from depressive states on the part of the parents. Sometimes periods of isolation and seclusion of the child, for example due to a separation, also play a role. Longer stays in hospital or children’s homes also play a decisive role here, during which regular contact with parents or close relatives breaks off.
Causes
The term psychological deprivation goes back to the Czech psychologist and child psychologist Zdenek Matejcek (1922-2004). He defined the disorder as the psychological deficiency of a developing child who has little emotional attachment. Physical deprivation (inadequate nutrition), sensory deprivation (lack of sensory stimulation), linguistic deprivation (limited stimulation), and social deprivation (isolation) are to be distinguished from it. Across the board, there is talk of a lack of education, a serious educational deficit. The sooner the treatment of psychological deprivation begins, the better the chances of fully avoiding, or curing, its many consequences. Therapy is an extremely lengthy process because it is a very complex psychological disorder. Treatment will also only be successful if parents, child and adolescent psychologists, educators, social workers, and possibly neurologists work closely together.
Symptoms, complaints, and signs
Because the emotional needs of an affected child have been so inadequately met, therapy should therefore also first address previous emotional experiences. The child needs new or first-time clues to richer, more reliable relationships with other people. First and foremost, the therapist himself is such a person who can establish a trusting basis with the child. Likewise, in many cases, moving the child to an intact and appropriate foster family may be considered.
Diagnosis and course of the disease
According to some psychologists, the best chance for a complete regression of psychological deprivation results from beginning treatment before the age of eight. In the later school years, there are mostly only favorable starting points for this, but increasingly negative factors also affect successful therapy. The chances of recovery in adulthood are even lower, especially since children may then be faced with recurring psychological dangers. The education of the parents about the prerequisites of a valuable coexistence with their biological children as well as their own behavioral patterns in upbringing is inseparably connected with successful therapy. Zdenek Matejcek, for example, started from the conviction that this education among a generation of parents is a preventive measure to effectively counteract the psychological deprivation of future generations of children.
Complications
Usually, this disease leads to various psychological complaints in the affected individuals. Especially in childhood, it can lead to severe symptoms in adulthood, so that making and maintaining social contacts may not be readily possible.In many cases, this also leads to psychological complaints or severe depression, which can have a very negative impact on the quality of life of the person affected. As a rule, those affected fundamentally distrust other people and are unable to form a firm bond. Furthermore, this mental disorder can also have a negative effect on the relationship with the partner. Thus, this disease can also lead to various phobias or to other mental disorders. For this reason, a general course cannot be given. The treatment usually does not lead to further complications. If the treatment is started in childhood, the prospects of a complete cure in adulthood increase. However, the treatment is not successful in every case. For this reason, attention to physical closeness in an education by parents is very important.
When should you go to the doctor?
Adults and children who show a lowered sense of well-being over several weeks or months, or who show problems processing their experiences because of a fateful event, should be evaluated by a doctor or therapist. If there is a strong withdrawal behavior, a general feeling of illness, apathy, apathy or a decrease in resilience, an investigation of the cause is indicated. In case of tearfulness, pale skin, inner weakness, fatigue or sleep disturbances, a visit to the doctor should be made. A decrease in body weight and irregularities of the digestive tract should also be clarified. If it is a temporary phenomenon due to stress or challenges of life, in many cases no medical consultation is needed. However, if peculiarities of behavior are present over a long period of time, the affected person needs help. A persistent loss of motivation, lack of zest for life or sadness can lead to severe mental disorders. Therefore, a therapist should be consulted if no life-enhancing measures are effective in everyday life and the affected person does not manage to bring about changes on his or her own. If the person can no longer cope with the usual demands, if he or she becomes disinterested, or if all life events are viewed in a fundamentally negative light, there is a need for action. If the usual incentives or suggestions for building up happy and life-affirming moments do not take effect, a control examination should be initiated.
Treatment and therapy
The elementary importance of this can be seen in the difficult attachment behavior of patients with psychological deprivation. They may suffer in adulthood from an oppressive dependency situation on a particular, usually elderly, person. At the same time, they may be attacked by an almost panic fear of relationships, the basis of which is again the acquired lack of feelings. In connection with this, there are typically also exaggerated demands for material possessions, expressions of love, the general lifestyle. These people can deal with setbacks, losses and losses only very badly. In their professional development, they are often patient, and shy away from taking responsibility. On the other hand, they want to compensate for the lack of emotional affection and their social and societal aloofness by conspicuously consuming material goods.
Prevention
In view of these consequences, it becomes clear how crucial a balanced and trusting family life is, even and especially in a modern consumer society. In order to meet the basic life needs of a child in physical, emotional, intellectual and moral terms, each member of the family has a special and multifaceted role in relation to the other. In the beginning, the mother is still the decisive caregiver, but then the father and the siblings become more central. Later, the social environment of the family and its position in the community have a formative effect on a child’s development. This must be nurtured and developed. Basically, any younger child who lacks a caregiver in the family, or who loses one without replacement, is at risk for psychological deprivation. The younger it is, the greater this threat. But by no means is even a mother not replaceable by another family member, if the latter can fill the usual loving attention to the child. In this way, children from fatherless or motherless families can also grow up happily and healthily.
Aftercare
Psychological deprivation in an early phase of life, such as a lack of early attachment to one or more attachment figures, is not reversible in the strict sense and poses a certain challenge for the rest of life. After a successful therapy, which at the same time represents a positive relationship experience, it is also important for affected persons to maintain stable and long-term bonds with other persons. The “traces” of psychological deprivation cannot be completely erased even on a physiological level. However, there is the prospect that an insecure (mostly avoidant) attachment style created by the deprivation will change over time and secure attachments will become possible. However, this is only possible if at least a lasting, trusting relationship develops – in the case of children, this can be a foster family, for example. Even after successful therapy, patterns of complaints related to the experience of psychological deprivation may reappear later in the biography. This can happen when memories are updated again by external influences, for example when affected persons become parents themselves. Depending on personal resilience, secondary disorders such as depression or anxiety disorders may also occur. In such cases and those mentioned above, renewed psychotherapeutic care may be useful.
What you can do yourself
People who suffer from a lack of satisfaction of their own needs can get help and support themselves via participation in behavioral therapy. There, they learn how to perceive and fulfill their own needs in a structured way that is adapted to their individual specifications. In addition, they learn how to build emotional bonds. Contact with fellow human beings should be consciously encouraged in everyday life, even without a therapist. Cooperation in change is essential for an improvement in well-being. The use of leisure activities in the immediate vicinity can help to get to know people and thus build bonds. Contact exchanges, social media portals or other forums on the Internet are also a way to expand one’s circle of acquaintances. Contact can be maintained via chats or the exchange of voice messages with other people. At the same time, emotional ties can be forged. In addition, each day can be worked on, for example, by making a list of needs. The list should contain simple as well as challenging items. Then the person can objectively check which need can realistically be satisfied during the day. If this is successful, the focus of attention should be consciously directed for a moment to the process from the perception of the need to its fulfillment.
