What if a genius cheated on me all the time? Self-deception convictions and psychotherapy-induced disorders.

Abstract

A syndrome induced by psychotherapy is described. The syndrome is characterized by: 1) subjective feeling of anxious confusion; 2) pervasive and inconclusive self-reflective processes of thinking; 3) inability to choose or decide. The hypotesis is that the main feature of the disorder is patient’s beliefe to have a basic tendency to self-deception. It is discussed the way by which this belief can be generated trough cognitive processes in therapeutic relationship. At least, the hypotesis that psychotherapy induced disorders are basicaly disorders of self-reflection processes is discussed.