Poll Is Your Thinking Compartmentalized?

[becvan]

Nope I don't. I either have the memories or I don't. I don't have any control over any of them. Good bad or ugly. They come and go as they please. Most of my memories are gone due to amnesia but what I do have is all over the place. If I could organize it and file it away, I wouldn't be half as sick as I am.

Processing your memories IS organizing and filing them.

I could only wish for this ability.

bec

 

[lrs]

Compartmentalization (psychology)
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Compartmentalizing is the act of splitting an idea or concept up into (sometimes more or less arbitrary) parts, and trying to enforce thought processes which are inhibiting attempts to allow these parts to mix together again in an attempt to simplify things.

The reason for this attempt of thought control is often to make it easier to single out certain individuals, or to inhibit certain ideas.

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Is this along the lines of what you are asking about? Maybe this has more than one definition. I thought your question was very relevant to pt's with PTSD.
I once had a psychiatrist tell me I had used compartmentalization as a defense mechanism all of my life.
His description went something like: Whenever something bad has happened to you in the past, you put it in a box, and close it up. Now you do not have any more boxes left. The next time something happens you will kill yourself.
This was at a drug rehab and he was going over the results of extensive psychological evaluations that took place over a week or two.
Everything he read seemed to fall right into place. This was not the only thing we discussed, there was a lot. But this, naturally, sticks out in my mind the most.
That would have been in Feb or early March of 2002.

 

[Cindy]

file box or onion?

I look at this two ways. YES I compartmentalize. If I couldn't do that I wouldn't be here today. Compartmentalizing to me is like putting things into categories; 'what I can control' or 'what I can't control'. Another way I compartmentalize is my storage system of boxes (files) - don't think just stuff it, good stuff, work to think about, personal to think about.

If I couldn't separate my thoughts and store them I think I would freeze up or disassociate much more than I do. It helps me to both stay rational and more focused without anxiety.

Sometimes I feel like an onion with many layers. Some stuff buried real deep and some on the surface. Some of my boxes even have cobwebs.

Cindy

 

[Steph]

Yes very much so

Dylan, I experience this excactly as you discribe. Not just with my thoughts but very much too with my feelings, even with my opinions and perceptions about things, my life, experiences ect. I am very much in a confusion about who I am and what I am sopposed to be thinking, like I am asking questions of myself ie, "is this the real me and my real thoughts and feelings", because they can change quickly seeminglt,without any reason except the passing of time. Its confusing, I just wish someone would explain it to me.

 

[sallysellsseashells]

The book: 'The Brain That Changes Itself' by Norman Doidge, M.D. is about neuroplasticity - a relatively new term/concept, I don't think it's even in the dictionary yet. But I think it is a revolution, or the start of a revolution! I think some people may bennefit from being able to compartmentalise better, where others may bennefit from being able to recall things together, rather than separately, so this may be interesting to read. It is not about compartmentalisation, the book is about adapting a "damaged mind" to function as one that is not damaged, by a sort of "re-wiring" process, in which the actual structure of the brain is changed, by itself in effect. Interesting...

 

[Lisa]

Absolutely!

I call it fragmented thinking... I think in different 'streams'. And it's as if I forget the rest when I'm on that stream. It contributes to my memory problems in a large way, I am sure.

I regularly don't remember conversations I've had, unless someone recounts it to me and reminds me that way. It annoys those around me who don't realise I have PTSD, or that it's PTSD related and that's why I've got the 'ditzy' name attached to me... even though I am a bordering 1st class standard student at the moment. I often ask the same questions without realising I've asked them a couple of days ago etc.

 

[Shamstalat]

Yes my thinking is very much compartmentalized. I'm only aware of it to a certain extent. My sister pointed it out to me over the weekend though. She asked me why I keep all my friends relationships so separate, and why I never spend time with more than one person at a time. It's because like many of you described I have a box set aside in my mind for each person and I can't handle having two boxes open at once. That for me feels like information overload which immediately leads me to dissociating and therefore shutting all boxes closed.

I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this thinking.

 

[fin]

I have to say that bits of my life are kind of compartmentalized but not because I have done that with them. It is just the way they seem to be...and it wasnt until I was trying to do a timeline that I realised how badly and how much it seems to be sectioned off from me.
Not so much "from me"...as I can if I try put them into some kind of a timeline ....it is just it is a monumental effort. And what I mean byt that is that I cant do it without spending time and a pen and a lot of post-its. having to rearrange things all the time. Oh and I can actually remember each bit seperatly....I can recount things...it just becomes somewhat a problem putting things into relation to each other.

These "compartments" have clues as to when they took place also...where I was living, or working, or other things like my childhood is sectioned into chunks and to get them in order it could be anything from clothing I remember wearing at the time or well you get the idea.

I have at no time compartmentailsed the events in my life consciously though.

If I were to try to do this myself....I would have no chance....I am no longer able to organise anything very well at all....too disorganised for words now.

 

[Mahtalat]

Oh man I struggle with something like this but I have always associated with face blindness. With me, I can meet you one second but won't recognize you once you walk away and come back. I can't remember what people look like, and for a lot of famous movie stars, if they change their hair I can't recognize who they are. Which is really hard watching a movie when the 'character' changes, or he/she shaves her hair or curls it or changes something dramatically about herself. I struggle with recognition, there are very few people who I do recognize and can even blurrily make out 2 seconds after walking away. But still.

Also when a very emotional event happens I struggle recalling it or I get bits and pieces. I don't know if this is due to dissociation or compartmentalization for this last part. But sometimes I can't remember anything at all, not even how I felt, but I don't think thats compartmentalization.

Maybe you mean generalizing people? (In which case) I don't confuse the person I'm talking with, with experiences, but I do confuse what they do with past experiences. (But if that's the case I think most people do that!)

In which case I don't think I fully understand compartmentalization >,< (I wonder if I still should have answered o_O) But yeah :).

 

[Lisa]

Not so much "from me"...as I can if I try put them into some kind of a timeline ....it is just it is a monumental effort. And what I mean byt that is that I cant do it without spending time and a pen and a lot of post-its. having to rearrange things all the time. Oh and I can actually remember each bit seperatly....I can recount things...it just becomes somewhat a problem putting things into relation to each other.

These "compartments" have clues as to when they took place also...where I was living, or working, or other things like my childhood is sectioned into chunks and to get them in order it could be anything from clothing I remember wearing at the time or well you get the idea.

This is totally me!

 

[fin]

Lisa I know I shouldnt be (relieved-wrong word but I hope you know what I mean) that someone else has the same problem...But I was starting to think;- is it just me?
So while I am not relieved as such....thank God I understand and that you understand.

 

[elle]

Hi Dylan, I totally get that.
I used to loose so much time with my therapist because I would work on an issue and come to a real point I wanted to continue working on but by the next week, no matter how much I wanted to continue that work, I couldn't remember anything. The compartmentalism was a survival mechanism that kept me safe when I needed it in the past (ie: when I was helpless as a child) but it was no longer working for me in the present. What I ended up doing was going to the therapist and then when I would get home writing her an email about what I got out of the last session and outlining where I wanted to go with the next session. When I would arrive one week later I would only have to read what I had sent to the therapist to recall where we were and where we wanted to go. I felt very vulnerable at first since I guess forgetting was an integral part of my survival in my childhood but I wanted to heal as an adult and this small technique helped me move ahead in my therapy. Keep going I hope this can help.