Psychology

What is disappointment? »Its definition and meaning

Anonim

Disappointment is a subjective emotion, a negative sense of state of mind that occurs when we let go of something or someone that frustrates our expectation. Disappointment is a very common feeling of dissatisfaction among people, which occurs when plans are broken or interrupted or a person betrays us. When disappointment is in love, we speak of disappointment, as we are disappointed or disappointed when we have the wrong idea about someone else's feelings.

But we can not only apply ourselves to plans or situations, we can also use it in relation to people, that is, there are people who can generate disappointment in others when they do not meet the expectations that were assigned to them, or simply if they betray us or hurt us with their behaviors and actions.

It should be noted that although disappointment is a feeling that can be overcome, especially in those cases in which the profile of the person suffering is characterized by being positive, the opposite can also occur and continue in the long term, leading to frustration. and finally in an even more serious state like depression.

Disappointment destroys a certainty and certainties do not grow by themselves. Those who break also never recover and rebuild. Building a new certainty requires work, dedication, effort, and a terrifying confidence that is lost with age. It also requires the ability to overlook the consequences that previous disappointments have caused on the mind, because remembering them is so painful that it makes it impossible to reconstruct new certainties. The older you are, the less certainty you have and the more disappointments you accumulate.

It also indicates that many times this state can be accompanied by anxiety and a lot of stress.

The idea of ​​disappointment is also used in relation to the feeling someone has when their expectations are not met or when something does not develop according to expectations: "The 10th place of the selected in the last World Cup was a disappointment", "The resignation of the coach in the middle of the tournament caused a deep disappointment in all the players", "The German press defined the artist's latest album as a disappointment".

After a disappointment, we generally close the doors to new experiences for fear of suffering again, to feel that deep pain of disappointment. That is why many people prefer or decide not to get attached to someone who they think that in this way they minimize the risk of suffering again.

Psychologists call this choice the " waterproof effect." It can happen when we have given our best to our partner and cheated on another person, when we are completely honest with a friend and stick a dagger in our back, or when we suffer the abandonment of our parents or relatives.

Unfortunately, even if it is not one of these three situations, you have surely experienced that feeling.

Disappointment, finally, is a mixture of surprise and grief caused by an external agent who was trustworthy and appeared to be truthful, not the result of an unrealizable illusion of utopianism.