If a person is looking to protect themselves from emotional injury, avoiding intimacy might not be the answer, according to a prominent Wisconsin psychotherapist.
Philip Chard, a therapist, newspaper columnist and author, said the best thing a person can do to protect themselves is “be more discriminating and take your time” when revealing intimate information.
Chard also pointed out that intimacy avoidance “is a learned behavior if you grew up in an environment where expressing your emotions was not rewarded.”
But still, being emotionally expressive might not be for everyone, he said. If a person is uncomfortable, if they are in a group of people where open expressions of love is the theme of the day, Chard observes “a person can feel like they’re losing themselves, smothered, or under attack.”
But despite all of that, Chard said that people who let it all hang out emotionally "are generally healthier, mentally, interpersonally and physically” so give someone a hug or a smile. It just might make a person feel better.
Chard writes a column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and is the author of “Nature’s Ways: Experiencing the Sacred in the Natural World.”
