ABSTRACT
Self-denial involves an avoidance and holding back of happiness and pleasurable experiences from oneself that is only incidentally damaging to other people. Rationalizations, which are promoted by the voice, allow individuals to casually give up activities and friendships they especially enjoy. Individuals who as children felt threatened by retribution from their parent of the same sex tend to retreat from expressions of mature sexuality and hold back their natural responses of affection, love, and sex when they find themselves in a competitive situation. Jealousy and competitive feelings arise naturally in interpersonal relationships. One major reason people seek therapy is because of the extreme distress they experience upon discovering that their mate is sexually involved with another person. A family with a self-denying parent is often dysfunctional because other family members are manipulated into feeling guilty, fearful, or angry in relation to the martyred individual.
