The psychological process of attributing one's internal thoughts, feelings, or problems to external sources or other people. It can involve blaming others for one's emotional state or projecting internal conflicts onto the outside world.
From Latin 'externus' meaning outward or foreign, combined with '-ization' meaning the process of making. The psychological concept developed in the early 20th century to describe how people cope with internal distress by locating its source outside themselves.
Externalization can be protective in the short term - it's easier to believe 'they made me angry' than to explore why you're so quick to anger. But chronic externalizers become emotional victims of their environment, always at the mercy of other people's actions rather than developing internal emotional regulation.
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