Conquering the “It” Monster: The Deanthropomorphization of Abusive and Depressive Behavior

The author presents an approach to identifying and intervening in a type of discounting that is common in abusive and depressive behavior. This type of discounting is based on the anthropomorphization of: 1) a thought or a set of thoughts, 2) a feeling or a set of feelings, 3) the individual's own behavior, 4) another person's behavior, 5) a part of the physical body, 6) an event, or 7) an object. Clinical examples are presented for each of the anthropomorphized subjects, and an intervention model is demonstrated.