Splitting is a psychological mechanism that simplifies reality into extremes—good or bad, right or wrong—because dealing with complexity feels too overwhelming. It’s a way of avoiding the uncomfortable truth that people and situations are rarely one thing or the other. Christianity operates on a similar dualistic framework, dividing the world into absolutes: God versus Satan, heaven versus hell, sin versus salvation. This black-and-white thinking provides comfort through its clarity but comes at the cost of nuance. By forcing life’s complexities into rigid categories, it discourages critical thinking and emotional maturity, reducing the richness of human experience to a stark moral dichotomy.This rigid, dualistic thinking, whether in psychological splitting or religious frameworks like Christianity, can lead to significant mental distress. When you force everything into categories of absolute good or absolute evil, you trap yourself in a mental echo chamber. It’s like living in a house of mirrors where every reflection only reinforces your fears, guilt, and judgments. There’s no room for growth or understanding, just a constant cycle of self-policing and suspicion of anything outside the binary framework. Over time, this black-and-white worldview fractures the mind, creating anxiety, depression, and a pervasive sense of inadequacy. Like echo chamber dynamics, it isolates people from the broader, complex reality, feeding them a distorted and incomplete version of the world.
>it either follows black/white thinking or it doesn'tI think you need some more self-awareness, OP.
>>39262523The opposite of split thinking is wholeness. The opposite of duality is not duality.
>>39261913I have borderline personality disorder and splitting is often a huge part of that. It also leads to emotional extremes. I really only feel nothing, or emotions at a 10. Honestly, it's how it's always been for me. I appreciate and understand that other people can see and experience emotional nuances, I can understand it intellectually, but I do not understand it experientially unless I deliberately attempt to do so, which is very difficult. But it has some positives. I am no longer completely unhinged or depressed. It takes a lot to make me upset. And I am usually aware that I am there and can remove myself from a situation until I feel calm again. And positive emotions are rather extreme too. As for philosophical or political thinking, I try to be as unbiased as possible, which usually leads to me rambling on the internet constantly weighing the pros and cons of whatever it is I am talking about. Also a lot of the therapeutic treatments for this seem pretty stupid. Last therapist I had when I was in a really dark place gave me a list of activities to do when I am upset. Listen to music, draw a picture, drink a cup of coffee and really feel the warmth and flavor. Blegh, very hard to do when literally everything you look at summons negative thoughts.
