Why Does Understanding More Sometimes Change Nothing? Tolerance for Ambiguity as a Driver of Psychological Growth

According to Bion, the capacity to tolerate frustration and the unknown is a fundamental condition of thinking. That is, we sometimes need to hold an experience in mind without immediately denying it or seeking a definitive explanation. From this perspective, psychological growth means not only knowing ourselves better, but also transforming our relationship with not knowing, frustration, and conflict. How long can you remain with "not knowing" without rushing to find an explanation for it?

From Bion's point of view, the capacity to bear failure and the unknown is one of the fundamental conditions of thinking. That is, sometimes it is necessary to keep an experience in mind, without immediately denying it or resorting to a definitive explanation. From this point of view, psychological growth does not only mean getting to know ourselves better; The transformation of our relationship with not knowing is also failure and conflict. How long can you stay with "not knowing" without rushing to find an explanation for it?

Andisheh Group: The website of the Iranian Social Psychology Association, by its student club, has published a short article about "Why sometimes more understanding doesn't change anything?" This short article contains a serious nudge to those who carry an accumulation of concepts in their minds and wonder why they don't undergo transformation? Here is a short article for you to consider:

Maybe it has happened to you: we know the root of our suffering, we explain our conflicts and even name our defense mechanisms; But as soon as the excitement of that moment comes, we return to the same familiar defenses.

This is because awareness is not the same as experiencing. Knowing a feeling does not give us the ability to live and endure it. Therefore, psychological growth does not occur in the accumulation of knowledge, but in the ability to tolerate ambiguity, suffering and the unknown.

Sometimes the interpretation and explanation itself has a defensive function and takes us away from an experience that is difficult to bear. In psychodynamic literature, this model is close to "intellectualization". And sometimes what we don't tolerate is "not knowing" itself; A situation that confronts us with helplessness, lack of control and our limitations.

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