How can the meaning? Describe and be able to empathize with a feeling that by its definition indicates something that is not there?!
In fact the meaning It is one of the most complex mental aspects, whose continuum ranges between being a universal human experience, in which everyone comes into contact with himself and from which he can draw the opportunity to get to know each other and grow, up to a feeling (transversal to some psychopathological disorders) of loss in self -perception.
The different ways in which the meaning they could overlap each other, follow or be individually tested and can be summarized as follows:
- A transitory boredom due to the lack of active needs. Usually in these cases the meaning It emerges after a definitive failure or paradoxically after achieving an important goal, in which the person feels, precisely, emptied because he no longer has a goal to aspire to. When, to this lack of purposes, the inability to make decisions independently is added, to impose one’s desires and to undertake any initiative, emptiness becomes a member of the depressive experience.
- The meaning It can also be perceived as the impression of “having to do something”, without however knowing how to finalize this need and leads the individual to experience a sense of frenzy, agitation, which however does not find immediate explanation. By determining another often associated phenomenon, the so -called sense of chronic dissatisfaction.
- A lack of meaning of existence, which becomes a more generalized aspect (abundantly described by poets, writers and philosophers including Leopardi, Beckett, Schopenhauer) and is characterized as a loss of meaning compared to one’s life. The person feels like a grain of sand, insignificant, in the face of something vast and incomprehensible.
- The meaning Sometimes it is experienced as a disturbing anticipation of the death in which the sense of self, characteristic expression of those who experience dissociative states is lost. In particular, during the depersonalization (a form of dis-integrative process of consciousness), the individual can experience a terrifying mental void, a “black hole” from which one can only go out through powerful painful sensations (such as cutting or burning).
- The meaning It can also be the cause of other emotions that emerge at the very moment in which it is experienced: fear, sadness, anger, anguish, restlessness, terror are often consequent to this feeling. In this case it is important to recognize that the triggering factor of these emotions is emptiness, as the therapeutic intervention will be declined differently.
The meaning It has a strong clinical relevance given that suicidal gestures, selfish acts and/or impulsive behaviors occur more frequently.
In the event that, when the emptiness is experienced, the “need for something” emerges like having sex compulsively, bingeing on food, use of substances, these behaviors become means of which is to get out of state of emptiness.
These needs are different from the desires (characterized by the anticipation of the satisfaction that joy procures), but are rather described as automatisms necessary to get out of a space where nothing makes sense. The goal is not to eat or have sex, but to hear a high physiological activation that can help you get out of this stateless state.
When, on the other hand, intolerable emotions are experienced (for example fear due to the sense of vulnerability), the only way to manage them is to implement dysfunctional behaviors that can reduce emotional activation and evoke an absolute detachment from the world.
THE’emotional anesthesia It can be used by some patients to avoid coming into contact with the unworthy and dirty self that they cannot tolerate. In this case the sense of emptiness It has an initially pleasant, control, connotation, in which the use of the self -elegant or suicidal gesture takes place within a sense of omnipotent detachment, in which everything is possible, even death.
The sense of emptiness in personality disorders
Among the disorders in which we find this feeling more frequently there are personality disorders: in these cases the meaning It is an expression of a deficit of self -directorality. The latter is a component of the functioning of the self and refers to having short and long term objectives perceived as their own and pursued persistence; Furthermore, the difficulties in this psychological function indicate the inability to use standards internal of constructive behavior, prosocial and scarce self -reflection. In general, this type of patient seem to have a constant lack of purposes active in the mind and difficulty in pursuing their goals.
The meaning It is not only present in the borderline personality disorder, as the current nosography suggests us. In fact, we also find it in the narcissistic personality disorder and in the personality dependent disorder. In the borderline personality disorder the DSM – 5 (the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders) reports in criterion 7 the following wording: “chronic feelings of emptiness“. In fact, people who suffer from this disorder often describe mental states of emptiness and emotional detachment, which they usually experience after having come into contact with an unworthy, disgustable, vulnerable self that cannot be tolerated.
Eshing itself to this sense of unworthiness is therefore coveted by the patient, who enters a sort of ecstatic state where everything is perceived as under control and emerges a sense of invulnerability. It is here that self -elements or suicidiaries usually take place, as they are both the effect of this state and a way to evoke it.
When, in the patient with borderline personality disorder, the meaning Perceived is more similar to the lack of purposes, the transition to acting out is useful for causing physiological activation that can make the person remove this painful lack of meaning.
In this state, all that activates Arousal is functional to fill the void: promiscuous sexual behaviors, binges, alcohol abuse, reckless guide are all actively sought after behaviors, which however lead to the confirmation of the contempt towards themselves according to an endless circuit: a sense of unworthiness – empty – unwary management – unworthiness.
The mental state of emptiness In the narcissistic personality disorder, it is described in the myth of Narcissus as a peregrine without purposes and passions, whose feeling of boredom and dissatisfaction pervades the whole self. In fact, people who suffer from this disorder describe the meaning As if all its inner experience was devitalized and off. Pride is no longer able to turn on the triumphant ego and despite the fact that the fantasies of success and power can continue to exist, these no longer have the same great flavor.
Initially the person can stop in this mental state as it becomes the elevated spectator of the labors of others and his self -esteem remains stable. But when this condition continues and the boredom full of anguish take over, chronic dissatisfaction and the need for the other, it state of emptiness It is no longer tolerated and becomes a source of suffering from which it is necessary to go out.
If the meaning Narcissistic is more similar to apathetic resignation, a subtracting from the world and your desires in order to avoid the failures that are a source of shame and humiliation, we are faced with what experiences the type of narcissist called vulnerable (Russ et al., 2008).
Giving up can be preferable to the effort to pursue one’s objectives, as the needs of the vulnerable narcissist are all linked to their self -esteem and not to the intrinsic pleasure in the activity itself. So better to resign yourself, to retire and avoid any failure, experiencing grandiose patterns only in your imagination.
Also in the functioning of people with personality dependent disorder the meaning It is linked to the purposes. In this case it is perceived when there is abandonment, given that the presence of the other is essential to feel self -efficacious, active and remove that sense of self of so feared inadequacy.
The dependent personality, when it enters this state, can perceive a sort of disorganization, disintegration of the self and its body scheme. Usually, when the other is missing, the mood suffers a negative inflection: there are no more desires, needs and the loss takes over. If there is no reference figure who keeps self -esteem everything is lacking in meaning.
As described above the States of emptiness They can be of different nature and correlate to different personological structures. Second and third generation cognitive-behavioral therapies put in place numerous techniques and strategies useful for management and emotional regulation. Furthermore, the work of awareness on impulsive and self -elevative behaviors safeguards the patient’s physical and mental health which is more available to develop alternative strategies to manage the different mental states.
During the therapeutic path, understand where the feeling of emptinessbeing aware of it and accepting it may be the first step to be able to live there or perhaps get out of it through functional methods.
In -depth resources
To download for free
- First chapter of the volume “overcoming the borderline personality disorder. Practical guide for family members, partners and clinicals” published by Centro Studi Erickson
Texts for deepening suggested
- Porr, V. (2020). Overcome the borderline personality disorder. Practical guide for family, partners and clinicals. Trento: Erickson Study Center
