Hello and welcome to The Healthy Coconut Blog. This blog is dedicated to bringing you information on trauma and trauma healing from a holistic perspective. I’m Gabbie Bodkin, a licensed mental health counselor, and the author of this blog. This post is all about a psychology term called the inferiority complex. I’ll be sharing an overview of everything you need to know on the neurological process in hopes of helping you understand and overcome symptoms.
More specifically I’ll review:
The definition of an inferiority complex and common presentations/ symptoms.
How an inferiority complex typically develops.
What to do to reduce symptoms.
We’ve all experienced feelings of inadequacy from time to time, so most of us can relate to some of the symptoms presented with this complex. I will also preface that just because you may experience one or more symptoms, that does not mean you meet criteria for a mental health disorder/diagnosis. Behaviors are all adaptations to different environmental situations and threats and therefore all behavior serves a purpose. Behavior becomes maladaptive or unhelpful when it no longer serves a purpose that moves you into a direction of growth or functionality and instead inhibits and harms your psychological wellbeing. After learning the information shared in today’s blog post, you will be able to create an awareness and motivation to care for your brain and nurture yourself, thus reducing inferior behaviors.
What is an inferiority complex?
The American Psychological Association defines inferiority complex as “a basic feeling of inadequacy and insecurity, deriving from actual or imagined physical or psychological deficiency, that may result in behavioral expression ranging from the withdrawal of immobilizing timidity to the overcompensation of excessive competition and aggression.”
The term was first introduced in 1907 by psychotherapist and theorist who studied individual psychology and personality while emphasizing social constructs including birth order and individualism as it relates with the surrounding world.
Symptoms and characteristics of an inferiority complex may include:
Extreme insecurities
Sensitivity to criticism
Social phobia’s or withdrawals
Attention-seeking
Depression, anxiety, hopelessness
Perfectionism
High or unrealistic expectations for self or others
Feelings of unworthiness
Feeling on guard or skeptical of others intentions
Passive aggressiveness
Feeling sad or lonely
Frequently feeling misunderstood
As you can see in reading this list there is a range of symptoms some of which seem to contradict each other. This is because each individual will respond to feelings of low self esteem with different compensatory behavior based on their environment and personality characteristics.
How does an inferiority complex develop?
The most common cause for an inferiority complex is childhood trauma. Experiencing a macro or micro trauma in childhood sets the foundation for feelings of low self esteem. One adverse event can perpetuate across the lifespan because how we view the world and ourselves in childhood is typically how we continue to interact with the world and therefore confirm those earlier belief systems. For example, if a child was bullied in elementary school, they would naturally pose some version of these questions:
-“Why does no one like me?”
-“Why am I being bullied instead of my other peers?”
-“What do the popular kids have that I don’t have?”
Can you guess what a child may conclude as an answer to these questions? It’s most likely a very harsh and very untrue statement which then becomes the foundation of how they see themselves. Then the next time that something happens, they are going to jump to this untrue conclusion about themselves rather than brush it off or look for evidence against the conclusion that they are the problem.
Now imagine a child that did not experience such adversity. Imagine a child that was able to explore the world freely and received feedback that the world is safe and that they are appreciated and loved just the way they are. Imagine they never were made to feel that they needed to change an aspect of themselves to be accepted. Sure they may have been told of areas they could improve on to enhance their performance in a sport or school play, but those teachings were not internalized as whole person flaws.
In order to achieve high self esteem and self worth, we have to value ourselves to believe in our abilities, love and nurture our strengths, and view small imperfections and areas of improvement simply as areas we are motivated to improve. If we can normalize human error and understand that every single person can take a hard look in the mirror and identify areas they’d like to improve and be ok with those things knowing self actualization is a long process of continual micro steps in a desired direction, then we can be more gracious in moments where the environment/situation makes us feel “less than” our worth and or others.
How to reduce symptoms:
Identify what symptoms/ signs of inferiority are present in your life and in what areas (i.e. at work, in relationships, physical appearance, etc).
Assess when the inferiority first showed up in your life (i.e. typically the root of the inferiority stems from a trauma or early life relationship).
Ask yourself what you needed at the time when the inferiority first surfaced in your life (i.e. “I needed to be told I would be loved and accepted no matter how I performed in my sport”).
Ensure your current environment and relationships provide the need/validation you needed to hear when the unhelpful/untrue belief was first planted (i.e. “I now have a support system that loves me unconditionally.”)
Identify what you would like the new belief/narrative to be and search for evidence for that new belief as you go through your day to day. This will be difficult as it’s likely that the core belief feels very concrete and absolute…so we’ll want to come up with a new narrative that you feel is at least somewhat true and work towards building that up while your old narrative belief can fade away.
Thank you all for reading this post. As always, I hope you found this information useful. This information is purely intended to inform, not to treat. If you are struggling with brain health issues or childhood trauma, speaking to a healthcare professional is recommended to receive a specific plan for treatment and healing based on your individual needs. You can follow along for more posts and psychoeducational tools on trauma and trauma healing from a holistic perspective. You can also check out my website, thehealthycoconut.com or Instagram the_healthycoconut for more resources or to book a free consult with me. If you found this blog helpful, please like and subscribe to support these resources.
Safety Disclaimer:
If you find any of this information triggering or do not feel safe being alone with your thoughts, call a support person or 911 if you feel you are at risk of hurting yourself or others. I’m a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and I help adults heal from childhood trauma. Follow along for more self-help tools and psychoeducation on trauma and trauma healing.
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