Escape from oneself. Avoidance. When a person runs from life Why do people run from themselves? - frustration of basic needs and central desires (frustration = mental state that arises in a situation of real or perceived impossibility of satisfying certain needs); - collapse of values, when a person abruptly or due to gradual progressively loses faith in his main life guidelines and goals, in his basic values, which gave him motivation for action, inspiration, interest, vital tone. Such loss causes tension, a negative emotional background, debilitating and depressing suffering (as opposed to awakening suffering, cleansing). Or, when freezing and “killing” one’s painful feelings and bleeding needs - to emptiness and vacuum. Essentially, any pain or experience is a signal from our body and psyche that something is not going as it should. Every person has needs, emotional and physical (at the intersection of which social ones are also born). These needs create a strong connection with the image of oneself, the Self-concept, with the integrity and uniqueness of one’s personality. And when there is frustration of these needs and/or a blow and danger to the Self-concept, the body gives a signal of pain and anxiety so that we do something corrected. However, in some situations, these experiences become too difficult for the individual and there is a rejection of them from awareness, isolation, an attempt to run away and hide, and to hide both from the experiences themselves and from the situations that cause them. The more often this happens, the stronger an avoidant style of coping with stress is formed. As a result, there is a desire to escape from such suffering, tension or emptiness. But there may also be a desire to fill them, plug the hole, compensate for mental deficits with obsessive exploits and achievements, development, control, activity, and also drown them out with mental, emotional and social stimulants. I’m not even talking about retreating into fantasy, gaming addiction, the Internet or drug addiction. The phenomenon of escaping from reality or even from oneself was described by the works of thinkers and philosophers long before psychologists approached this (and before they actually appeared ). In order to save time, I will cite as an example only Nietzsche, who especially clearly analyzed this tendency of the human soul. So, for example, he wrote: “It is an intoxicating joy for the sufferer to turn his gaze away from his suffering and forget himself. The world once seemed to me like an intoxicating joy and self-forgetfulness. <...> All other worlds were created by suffering and powerlessness, and by the short madness of happiness that one experiences only the one who suffers the most. <...> They wanted to escape their poverty, but the stars were too far for them. Then they sighed: “Oh, if only there were heavenly ways to sneak into another existence and happiness!” - then they invented their invention and bloody drink! I teach people a new will: to follow the path that man blindly walked, and to praise it, and no longer deviate from it, like the sick and dying, those who despised the body and the earth and invented heaven and redemption! drops of blood; but even these sweet and dark poisons they took from the body and the earth!” That is, as one of the options for such an escape from oneself due to suffering and “poverty,” Nietzsche singled out faith and complete withdrawal into other worlds. Erich Fromm wrote a lot about escape in his books. Also, this includes regrets and nostalgia for past “golden”, “righteous” and “Edenic” times, or anticipation of the coming end of the world and a new world, when finally caring otherworldly forces will parentally will destroy all troubles and suffering and bring only happiness and heavenly bliss. Nostalgia for a carefree past or