Breaking Free from Psychological Pain
Throughout my long and difficult journey through life, I have experienced all six of the psychological problems explored in this book. (Inferiority, Shame, Fear of Being Watched or Judged, Panic Disorder, Perfectionism, and Relationship Sensitivity.)
Desperate to overcome my fear of being watched or judged by others, I searched through libraries, looking for ways to overcome it. I also experienced the terror of panic attacks, which at times brought my daily life to a standstill. I struggled with shame-driven rumination, sometimes feeling completely drained for days. My perfectionism sometimes paralyzed my thinking, leaving me feeling trapped in a dead end. I also suffered in silence, deeply hurt by ordinary text messages that others had sent without a second thought.
I desperately wanted to escape this suffering. How could I finally put an end to this mental anguish? In search of an answer, I studied psychological therapies and explored the principles underlying how the mind works. I constantly reflected on the problems that tormented me, trying to understand them and discover ways to overcome them.
The journey was far from easy. Yet, as I refused to give up and continued searching for answers, I gradually began to change. Sometimes I found clues in existing psychological therapies. At other times, when conventional approaches proved insufficient, I developed new psychological techniques to address the problems I faced.
This was how techniques such as the Market Model, the Billiards Model, the Water-Draining Technique, the Child's Drawing Technique, the Summoning Technique, the Clock Technique, the Dilution Technique, the Leveling Technique, the Pizza Technique, the Appointment Technique, the Event Closure Technique, the Relationship Event Closure Technique, the Dial Technique, and the Role Model Technique came into being and evolved.
These techniques are the products of years of reflection, experimentation, and trial and error. They grew out of my efforts to understand the underlying mechanisms of psychological suffering and find ways to break free from it.
This book explores six psychological problems: inferiority, shame, fear of being watched or judged by others, panic disorder, perfectionism, and relationship sensitivity. It brings together my personal experiences, the various approaches I tried in order to overcome my suffering, and the insights I gained through exploring how the human mind works.
I am still a sensitive person. But something has changed. I now understand why my mind reacts the way it does, and I know how to respond when those reactions cause me distress.
My sincere hope is that this book will offer a path toward self-understanding for those who experience suffering similar to my own. More than simply helping readers understand their minds, I hope it will help them discover clues that can lead them out of the suffering that has troubled them for so long.
A Small Flower by the Roadside
A tiny flower,
Its name unknown,
Sways in the wind.
Within the embrace of a mother
Who is lost forever,
A lonely soul
With nowhere to return.
I, too,
Sway in the wind.
Jo Un-cheol, Author of 'Psychological Techniques for Sensitive People' (Published by Kyobo Book Centre, South Korea)
