What is “Cognitive Dissonance” and how can we reduce the stress it causes?
I define Cognitive Dissonance as the stress we experience when our actions are out of alignment with our beliefs, attitudes, principles or morality. Cognitive Dissonance was first identified and defined by MIT/Stanford Social Psychologist Dr. Leon Festinger in his (1957) “Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”. Festinger taught us that to reduce this “Dissonance” or stress we must either change our beliefs, morals or attitudes, change our behavior or change the way we perceive the behavior, or we will continue to experience the stress caused by the dissonance.
Since stress has its own consequences, like blowing air into a balloon, unless we figure out how to successfully relieve the stress caused by the dissonance, something’s going to pop. Some folks “pop” by creating addictions to relieve their stress. Others might develop symptoms such as compulsive behaviors, anger issues or mood disorders. When addicts “hit bottom” or symptoms get out of hand is when many folks seek out a Counselor, Therapist or a Psychiatrist, having recognized they may need help to deal with “the problem”. Most mental health professionals, having adopted the medical model, which seeks to provide a cure for an identified illness, go about attempting to treat the patient’s symptoms with varying degrees of success.
As an Adult Developmental Psychologist, in addition to addressing the symptoms, I believe that clients benefit from developing their Emotional Intelligence and that long term changes in behavior require us to also address the cause. Psychotherapy must therefore include first identifying what it is that unconsciously influences folks to act in ways which are in conflict with their own internal sense of Right Action. What is it they are doing or not doing which causes them to go out of alignment with themselves? What conscious or unconscious thoughts, feelings or attitudes motivate them to behave in the ways which cause them regret?
Once these conscious or unconscious influences have been identified, the therapy can then proceed by assisting the client to identify what would be required from them to act more in accordance with their personal values, beliefs, or attitudes? Or, on the other hand, what would be required from them to adjust their thoughts, feelings or attitudes to be more excepting of their own behavior?
After having identified internal shifts they choose to make, clients then benefit from a program based on principles of Cognitive Behavioral Psychology, designed to assist them to change the designated behaviors which contribute to creation of the symptoms itself.
Unless they can accomplish one of those options, i.e. changing their attitudes or changing their behaviors, they will continue to feel out of alignment with themselves, continue to produce their own stress, consequently continue to have to find a way to discharge that stress, or continue to produce the symptom, or find another symptom to take its place.
I have found this approach to be especially successful for assisting those suffering with an underlying anxiety or mood disorder.
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I welcome your comments and questions.