Masochism comes from the French word masochisme, the word meaning "
inclination to take pleasure in pain" is a kind of perversion that degrades oneself and is fond of situations that cause physical and especially mental pain
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If explained in terms of clinical observation, it is seen that the person with a masochistic structure has some beliefs that he/she deserves to be harmed. The person believes that he deserves it rather than choosing to suffer, and he thinks that he has no choice but to suffer in life. If we look at the basis of these thoughts, it is seen that childhood and adolescence experiences mostly play an important role. As a result of the experiences that will leave heavy psychological traces such as traumatic and abuse experienced during these periods, the person may unconsciously turn himself into a masochist. It is thought to have a very critical importance in this regard
. Childhood and adolescence, as the basis of many patterns that we experience in the spiritual sense, are the first periods that come to mind and are examined. During this period, family attitudes, environmental factors and traumatic experiences may provide an opportunity to prepare the ground for a masochistic structuring in adulthood
. Witnessing physical and mental violence against oneself or by family members against one another in the family may lead the child to learn this feeling and may cause the person to believe that he/she deserves it in adulthood. In the researches, it is seen that the attitudes that individuals observe in the family are also included in the romantic and social relationships they establish in later ages. Humans have a tendency to find any situation to which they are sufficiently exposed to be reliable, regardless of whether it is good or bad. For this reason, the fact that the first institution where our learning process begins is the family, suggesting that the attitudes within the family are an important factor. In addition to family attitudes, it is thought that individuals who exhibit masochistic attitudes also have an important place in the environmental factors they are exposed to when they grow up. Environmental We can consider the factors as social environment, economic situation and cultural experiences. The quality of life of children who are exposed to the negative side of these factors is also directly affected. For these reasons, children who normalize difficult conditions may adopt attitudes such as accepting or even thinking that this is the life they deserve, rather than improving these conditions, as they remember the troubled situations they encounter in the future as familiar memories. In addition to these, there may be some patterns brought about by severe traumatic experiences. Trauma, when observed clinically, is called unexpected, disturbing and shocking experiences that disrupt the person's normal life. Since the normal flow of the person's brain is blocked at the time of trauma, he loses his ability to think analytically about the moment. In other words, the left side of our brain loses its functionality, and in such moments, memories such as images, sounds, smells and taste are locked in the right side of our brain. Reflections of traumatic memories on our adult life are also very strong in this context.
We have beliefs that the memories that we live and traumatize only happen to us, and this makes us think that we deserve it. In this way, traumatic memories can form the basis of a masochistic structuring. These maladaptive behaviors are commonly referred to as 'schemas'. People with masochistic personality patterns are more likely to have schemas such as "self-sacrifice, punitiveness, inadequate self-control, submissiveness, imperfection, and vulnerability".
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