Defense Mechanisms

In some areas of psychology (especially in psychodynamic theory), psychologists talk about “defense mechanisms,” or an environment in which we behave or think in definite ways to better protect or “defend” ourselves. Defense mechanisms are one way of looking at how people detach themselves from a full awareness of unpleasant thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

The amazing ability of the sub-conscious mind to protect the conscious mind is the root of many symptoms and problem behaviors encountered in counseling,therapy and personal growth.

In Sigmund Freud's topographical model of personality, the ego is the aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. The id seeks to fulfill all wants, needs and impulses while the superego tries to get the ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner.

What happens when the ego cannot deal with the demands of our desires, the constraints of reality and our own moral standards? According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant inner state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that things are not going right.

Frued identified three types of anxiety:

1.      Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's urges, resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior.

2.      Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually easily identified. For example, a person might fear receiving a dog bite when they are near a menacing dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety is to avoid the threatening object.

3.      Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our own moral principles.

In order to deal with this anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped shield the ego from the conflicts created by the id, superego and reality. Because of anxiety provoking demands of  id,edo and super ego,ego has developed a number of defense mechanisms to deal with anxiety.

Most defense mechanisms are fairly unconscious – that means most of us don’t realize we’re using them in the moment. Some types of psychotherapy can help a person become aware of what defense mechanisms they are using, how effective they are, and how to use less primitive and more effective mechanisms in the future. 

Some of the defense mechanisms are:

1 : Rationalization - unconscious explanations, excuses or reasonings given to make a behavior seem reasonable
       For e.g :a student might blame a poor exam score on the instructor rather than his or her lack of preparation.

2 :Regression : Regression is the reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. 

       For an example an adolescent who is overwhelmed with fear, anger and growing sexual impulses might become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood behaviors he has long since overcome, such as bedwetting. An adult may regress when under a great deal of stress, refusing to leave their bed and engage in normal, everyday activities.

3 :Reaction Formation: 

Reaction formation reduces anxiety by taking up the opposite feeling, impulse or behavior. 

             An example of reaction formation would be treating someone you strongly dislike in an excessively friendly manner in order to hide your true feelings.

4: Projection - Attempts to expel or "disown" unwanted and disliked thoughts, behaviors, and even "parts of self" by projecting or attributing them to someone else.

May be as simple as blaming someone else - "He should have let me off on that ticket but that cop was trying to fill his monthly quota."

Or as complex as seeing and experiencing a repressed or "disowned" part of self in another person –

          e.g., an excessively passive person marries an excessively angry person - both experience their disowned "part" in the other.

5:Introjection - The opposite of projection - subconsciously "takes in" to self an imprint (or recording) of another person including all their attitudes, messages, prejudices, expressions, even the sound of their voice, etc.

This is healthy if the imprinted material is helpful advice, warnings, or other lessons from parents and respected others -- unhealthy if shaming messages from parents, hatred, or aggression is turned inward on self.

6 : Denial : Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of early childhood development. Many people use denial in their everyday lives to avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas of their life they don’t wish to admit.

         For example, a person who is a functioning alcoholic will often simply deny they have a drinking problem, pointing to how well they function in their job and relationships.

7 :Repression: Repression is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts, feelings and impulses. The key to repression is that people do it unconsciously, so they often have very little control over it. “Repressed memories” are memories that have been unconsciously blocked from access or view. But because memory is very malleable and ever-changing, it is not like playing back a DVD of your life. The DVD has been filtered and even altered by your life experiences, even by what you’ve read or viewed.

          Eg. : A child who is abused by a parent later has no recollection of the events, but has trouble forming relationships.

8 : Regression : This is a movement back in psychological time when one is faced with stress. When we are troubled or frightened, our behaviors often become more childish or primitive. 

          For Example : A child may begin to suck their thumb again or wet the bed when they need to spend some time in the hospital. Teenagers may giggle uncontrollably when introduced into a social situation involving the opposite sex.

9 :Displacement :  

Displacement involves taking out our frustrations, feelings and impulses on people or objects that are less threatening. 

           Displaced aggression is a common example of this defense mechanism. Rather than express our anger in ways that could lead to negative consequences (like arguing with our boss), we instead express our anger towards a person or object that poses no threat (such as our spouse, children or pets).

10 :Sublimation :  This is similar to displacement, but takes place when we manage to displace our emotions into a constructive rather than destructive activity. 

           This might for example be artistic “ many great artists and musicians have had unhappy lives and have used the medium of art of music to express themselves. Sport is another example of putting our emotions (e.g. aggression) into something constructive.

11: Identification with the Aggressor :  A focus on negative or feared traits. I.e. if you are afraid of someone, you can practically conquer that fear by becoming more like them.

            An extreme example of this is the Stockholm Syndrome where hostages identify with the terrorists. E.g. Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty was abused and raped by her captors, yet she joined their movement and even took part in one of their bank robberies. At her trial she was acquitted because she was a victim suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

12 :  Intellectualization :  Intellectualization is a 'flight into reason', where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic. The situation is treated as an interesting problem that engages the person on a rational basis, whilst the emotional aspects are completely ignored as being relevant.

        For example, a person who has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness might focus on learning everything about the disease in order to avoid distress and remain distant from the reality of the situation.

13: Isolation - Separation of memory from emotion...can remember and talk about the trauma but feels no emotion -- the Person talks about the incident as if it is someone else's story. Accomplished by talking Third Perceptual Position.

14: Undoing:

Undoing is the attempt to take back an unconscious behavior or thought that is unacceptable or hurtful. 

             For instance, after realizing you just insulted your significant other unintentionally, you might spend then next hour praising their beauty, charm and intellect. By “undoing” the previous action, the person is attempting to counteract the damage done by the original comment, hoping the two will balance one another out.

15 : Conversion - Mental conflict converted to a physical symptom... 

e.g., a soldier on being deployed into battle is conflicted about his desire to serve his country but believes it is wrong to kill for any reason develops paralysis, blindness, or deafness with no medical cause.

16 :Humor : Pointing out the funny and ironic aspects of the situation.