What is Indecisiveness?
Every day of our life we are faced with making decisions and generally we make them without too much thought, it can be something simple like, what shall I wear today? What do I want for breakfast? Do I need to withdraw some cash? Have I time to meet friends for lunch? Should I eat out tonight or cook at home? We all make these kind of decisions every day without a second thought.
Occasionally we might be faced with too many choices or a decision that has more serious consequences like should I take this job offer? Do I want to re locate and leave family and friends? Is this relationship right for me? These decisions can often be so hard to make you feel frustrated and stressed trying to decide what to do, and it can leave you feeling anxious and overwhelmed.
Indecisiveness is the inability to make a decision and finding yourself repeatedly evaluating the circumstances, in attempt to do so. Sometimes you can spend so much time weighing up the pros and cons that you run out of time, and either end up making a decision that you regret or are forced to let someone else make it for you.
Causes
There are several reasons why someone might have problems making decisions and these can include things like:
- Your upbringing – for instance, if you had overbearing parents or siblings and were never able to make decisions when you were younger, you may struggle to make your own decisions or rely on other people to make them for you in later life.
- Personality traits – If you are a people pleaser you can struggle to make decisions as you find yourself torn between what you want, and what you think other people want. If you’re a perfectionist you may be afraid to make a decision for fear of making the wrong one. If you’re timid, shy or lack confidence, you might know what decision you want o to make but have problems telling people or sticking to it.
- Underlying mental health issues – several mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, stress, childhood trauma, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), dependant personality disorder, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and Alzheimer’s disease can all affect your ability to make decisions.
- Aboulomania – is a mental health condition where someone suffers with crippling indecision or pathological indecisiveness or “paralysis of will”.
Professional Help
If you are struggling with indecisiveness and feel like it’s having a negative impact on your life or relationships, then you should consider therapy. It can help you find the route cause of your problem making decisions and deal with any related mental health issues. Therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) can be really helpful as they can help you to analyse your choices and envision the outcome, so that you can make the best choice for you. Written by Jan, Jeana and Wendy at Barnsley Hypnosis and Counselling (UK). For more free Information click above link.
