“If an individual’s self-system is sensitive, flexible, and open to influences from the world around her and from her inner emotional life, she will adapt to new circumstances by spontaneously evolving a new optimal order. However, the less open an individual’s self-system, the more rigid will be her way or ordering her view of the world. Her self-image will be narrow, and she will not integrate unacceptable emotions and rejected aspects of her personality into her self-system. A depressed person’s world is static, maladaptive, and closed. She may be so withdrawn and isolated from life that she rarely experiences chaos because she is defended against it. She drains herself of energy through her desperate efforts to avoid and reject experiences of chaos. By rejecting the realities of human existence and withdrawing emotionally, she restricts the full development of her personality. Such a person is limited in her awareness of what is happening both inside and outside herself. She is less in touch with her needs and desires and, therefore, less able to satisfy them.”
