Читать книгу DBT For Dummies - Gillian Galen - Страница 56

Impulsivity is a complicated behavior and considered to be both a personality trait and a component of chemicals and nerve cell connections in the brain:

 From a personality trait point of view, impulsivity is a lack of restraint characterized by a disregard for social conventions and a lack of consideration as to the possible outcomes, particularly in potentially risky situations.

 From a neurobiology point of view, impulsivity is seen as a lack of ability to inhibit certain actions.

Slightly different from impulsivity, which is the action of doing something without considering the impact of the behavior, is the related idea of spontaneity. Although in each case the outcome of behavior isn’t known, spontaneity has a different quality. Spontaneity is behavior that tends to be joyful, expansive, and dynamic. Whereas impulsivity tends to have a narrow focus, spontaneity has a big-picture perspective. Even though the outcome might not be known, spontaneity is uplifting in its nature — for instance, calling a friend out of the blue and meeting them for lunch, taking a French language class after seeing it advertised in a magazine, and breaking out into dance while pushing your cart down the aisle of the grocery store when you hear your favorite music being played.

In either case, the behaviors are impromptu. So, what makes one life-enhancing and another potentially destructive? One key element is the state of mind that you’re in when you do the behavior:

 Typically, if the behavior is coming from strong emotions like fear or anxiety and it’s used to alleviate the discomfort of the emotion, it’s impulsive. When there’s fear of missing out on an activity, excessive boredom, or an insistence on needing something to happen right then and there, impulsivity tends to show up.

 If, on the other hand, the decision comes from a sense of grounded stability, or when there is a recognition that there is an opportunity in the situation and we are in control of our behavior, that is the quality of spontaneity.