“Old age is not a joy,” the old woman mutters, barely moving around the apartment. And the granddaughter, who hears these words day after day, gets the idea that nothing good can be expected from old age. “How can an honest man have so much money!” the father frowns when watching another program on TV. As a result, the son develops a firm conviction: honest work will never lead him to prosperity. “All men are liars,” the mother sighs, putting this attitude into her daughter’s head. Thus, a little girl who has never experienced the experience of aging, a young man who has not yet tried to earn a living, a young girl who has not entered into relationships with men, have ideas about all these areas. Representations based on someone else’s experience.

The word “introjection” is a combination of two Latin words: intro — inside and iacio — throw, put. The term “introjection” was proposed by the Hungarian psychoanalyst Sandor Ferenczi, a proponent of the teachings of Sigmund Freud. In 1909, his article “Introjection and Transference” was published in the journal Yearbook of Psychoanalytic Research, and a year later this work was published as a separate publication. By introjection, Ferenczi understood the process of inclusion (“throwing in”) They integrate their own inner world of introjects into their own psychological structure – the values, motives, standards, and beliefs of other people. The psychoanalyst considered introjection as a mechanism of unconscious psychological defense: other people’s beliefs pose a threat, and their inclusion in one’s own world makes it possible to eliminate this threat and avoid conflict. In other words, introjection is the tendency to appropriate other people’s beliefs and attitudes without critical reflection, without trying to adapt them and make them your own. The first introjects that a person encounters are parental guidance: from the first months of life, the child is told about “what is good and what is bad.” Sigmund Freud saw in introjection not only a protective mechanism of the psyche, but also the process of normal personality formation of the child. In this case, introjects are considered as a kind of “keys to society”, allowing them to behave within the framework of the cultural and ethical norms of this society.

Psychotherapists and psychoanalysts Fritz and Laura (Laura) Perls, a married couple who developed the method of gestalt therapy, pointed out that introjection is similar to feeding an infant, whose body is able to perceive only foods that have already been assimilated and processed by the mother’s body. As a child develops teeth, he begins to process and digest food on his own, and also gets the right to reject or accept it. This process of active food processing – assimilation – is contrasted with introjection, in which there is only the right to “swallow” what has already been processed by another person. “Freud said that development occurs through introjection,– Laura Perls explained in an interview in 1982. – But if it remains an introjection and does not go further, then it becomes a block. From the point of view of Gestalt therapy, the most important thing for development is living your own experience. Just as an adult child tries different foods, rejecting some foods and “processing” and assimilating others, each person must live independently – “try” different situations and form their own beliefs. Unlike classical psychoanalysis, where it is considered useful to “introduce” “healthy” interpretations of the psychoanalyst into the patient’s inner world, in gestalt therapy a person should “try” only his own experience, realize it and then either accept or reject it. Thus, personal growth does not occur due to the “absorption” of other people’s opinions and attitudes, but due to the gradual assimilation and awareness of one’s own experience.

In the above-mentioned interview, Laura Perls, speaking about the negative consequences of introjection, reports that if a person does not move from assimilating other people’s attitudes to receiving and comprehending their own experience, introjection becomes identification. Identification refers to the process of identifying with another person, likening oneself to another person. Unlike imitation– which is the conscious adoption of certain traits and behavioral features of an authoritative person, when identified, a person becomes another person himself, without realizing it. That is, introjection occurs first – the assimilation of beliefs emanating from a certain authority, and then (if there is no awareness of the alien nature of these beliefs and the formation of one’s own based on the experience gained) identification with the source of introjection occurs. For example, a boy hears from his father from an early age that all decisions in the family should be made only by a man, and a woman’s place is in the kitchen. These beliefs are introjects that the child learns and includes in his world as his own. If, as a boy grows up, he does not realize that the source of these beliefs is another person, and continues to think and act in accordance with parental introjections, he will identify with his father, see himself as the authoritarian head of the family, behave in accordance with these beliefs and expect others to react accordingly. The processes of introjection and identification occur not only within the family, but also at the societal level. Many of the prevailing beliefs in society are introjects that a person “absorbs” from an early age and is further guided by them throughout life. Thanks to social introjections, a person identifies himself with a certain circle of people among whom his life passes, feels “like everyone else”, “no worse than others”. Such social introjects can affect almost all areas of life: where to go to study, where to work, which partner to choose for life, how to treat money. Other people’s unconscious beliefs even affect such important aspects as attitudes towards health, aging, and life expectancy. If a person hears from childhood that at forty (fifty, sixty) his life is ending and there are no optimistic prospects that old age is infirmity, illness and loneliness, that life expectancy at best is 70-80 years, this becomes his way of thinking and underlies his attitude towards adulthood. In fact, it is introjects, rather than beliefs based on one’s own experience, that pave the way for many people’s lives.

In early childhood, introjection is necessary for socialization, establishing contacts with other members of society, and assimilating the values prevailing in the child’s environment. However, as you get older, it is very important to understand which of the beliefs that a person is guided by in life are introjects. And then either consciously accept them as your own, or reject them. In order to identify introjects, it is necessary to think about which beliefs underlie our actions. As a rule, such attitudes can be detected by the words “everyone”, “always”, “no one”, “must”, etc. For example, “everyone drinks coffee in the morning”, “all men love football”, “every real woman should be an ideal hostess”. In addition, you should pay attention to the proverbs that we often recall. For example, a person may have a desire to move to another city or even change their country. But the familiar expressions he heard from his grandmother come to mind: “where he was born, he came in handy,” “the bird that hated its nest is stupid,” “it’s warm across the sea, but it’s light here,” and he suppresses his impulse, forcing himself to accept his usual life. In response to the desire to change jobs to a more monetary one, to start a business, a whole bunch of proverbs may come to mind: “a rich man will not buy his conscience, but he will ruin his own,” “a rich man cannot sleep: a rich man is afraid of a thief,” “they did not live richly, there is nothing to start.” These pearls of folk wisdom often have an indisputable authority for people: it seems that their ancestors who “knew better how to live” are behind them. In fact, such statements are introjects that are passed down from generation to generation, limiting people in acquiring beliefs based on their own experience. Recognizing introjects allows you to understand their strangeness and begin to take steps towards acquiring your own experience and your own principles of life.

Destructive or inhibiting introjections should be replaced by effective beliefs that are born from one’s own experience or are consciously acquired based on the experience of authorities in a particular field. So, if a person wants to change their attitude towards aging, they need to become aware of family and social introjects related to adulthood and find alternative beliefs. They can be obtained by reading information about centenarians and scientific discoveries related to life extension. The influence of widespread societal beliefs about longevity can be studied using the example of Okinawan Islanders: a significant part of the population here lives to see their 100th birthday, while locals consider this phenomenon to be the norm. At the same time, new unconscious beliefs play an important role in the formation of alternatives to inhibiting introjects. In the book “Biology of Faith: how the power of beliefs can change your body and mind” American biologist Bruce Lipton talks about an experiment showing how beliefs about aging affect people’s psyche and physiology. The study was conducted by scientists from York University and the University of Berkeley. The participants were divided into four groups, the first of which experienced the implicit impact of positive beliefs about aging: every day for fifteen minutes they unconsciously observed on the computer screen the words “old” and “senior” in conjunction with words such as “wise”, “creative”, “agile”, “fit” and so on. The second group consciously worked with positive beliefs about aging: They wrote essays about positive and agile older people. The third group was simultaneously exposed to unconscious beliefs and went through conscious work with them. The fourth (control) group was not exposed to any effect. It turned out that implicit beliefs had the best effect: the group members who felt their impact not only developed a positive attitude towards age during the experiment, but also improved their physical performance: participants became more agile, energetic, and agile. Positive changes also affected the well-being of the subjects: their manifestations of age-related diseases decreased. At the same time, the participants who consciously worked with beliefs did not have such pronounced positive trends. According to experts, this is due to the fact that in order to work out some of the negative beliefs deeply embedded in our culture (namely, the idea of old age as a time of infirmity and illness), it is important to use methods that allow new beliefs to bypass “conscious control.” Such methods are used in the work of VSH25 to overcome negative attitudes, including those related to aging and possible life expectancy.

When people talk about “fate,” “predestination,” they unknowingly mean a life that is guided by unconscious beliefs learned in infancy. Introjects, passed down from generation to generation, form a rut that limits our possibilities and deprives us of choice. Realizing such beliefs, working them out and replacing them with those that we choose ourselves is a necessary step towards creating our own destiny and gaining freedom of choice.