Scapegoating: A common defence mechanism of our mind
If you are one of those who direct your angst against a domestic help, staff, spouse or even fate, you are not alone. Many of us are just too uncomfortable accepting setbacks or bad times, and resort to holding someone else responsible if something goes wrong.
When a 45-year-old Siddharth (name changed) had collapsed at home after vomiting two litres of blood, and was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died within 2 hours, the family blamed the doctors and the hospital for delay and mismanagement.
Rahul had died of a complication of liver cirrhosis, a disease that had developed from 20 years of heavy drinking. It must have been frustrating for the parents to helplessly watch their son drift away despite their urgings, and fall into the company of delinquent friends and a bad habit. The parents however did not blame themselves or their son or his friends for the habit.
By picking on one external scapegoat, the doctor, the family members had unconsciously found a way of remaining united emotionally. Scapegoating, therefore, is the perpetrator’s defense mechanism against unacceptable emotions such as shame and guilt.
Scapegoating or blame transfer is something we do almost every day without quite realizing it. When a smoker develops lung cancer after years of heavy smoking, it is the tobacco lobby at fault. If the cancer, when detected is at an advanced stage, the fault is of the 1st doctor who ignored that nagging cough and did not ask for a bronchoscopy. If he finally succumbs to his disease, then the cancer specialist and hospital are guilty for not being able to achieve a cure. Everyone is guilty, except the smoker himself or his family, or the people who really allowed all this to happen.
In another interesting case, a 29 year old man, who seemed frustrated and angry, came to consult me for constipation. He had consulted 5 doctors in a year, who had all prescribed mild fibre-based laxatives by various names. These had provided him relief too, but now he blamed the doctors for getting him hooked to a natural fibre like Isabgol.
Happiness has become our right and if we are prevented from achieving it, someone must be responsible. Doctors, who have become the favourite scapegoats of these times, need to understand this unique need of desperately distressed patients and their relatives to want to paradoxically blame them instead of thanking them for their efforts.