Starting from the expression of the power dissipation in a material, we analyze the competition between parametric and resonant processes in nonlinear optics. It is shown that this leads to the suppression of the medium excitation when the phase mismatch existing in the parametric process is small. This results from destructive interference of two different medium excitation pathways which minimizes energy dissipation. This analysis is applied to three examples: three-photon resonantly enhanced third harmonic generation and Stokes-anti-Stokes coupling in stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering.