DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Introduction
• 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.
• Then the ego react by many defense
mechanisms
Contd...
• Ego-defense mechanisms are learned, usually
during early childhood.
• Although people may knowingly use these
mechanisms, in many cases these defenses occur
unconsciously and work to distort reality.
Function of Ego
• To satisfy the id's impulses
• Not offend the moralistic character of the
superego
• While still taking into consideration the reality
of the situation.
Definition of Ego defense mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms are psychological
strategies by ego brought into play by
individuals, groups to cope with reality and to
maintain self-image.
• Healthy persons normally use different defenses
throughout life.
• Denial:
- Refusal to accept external reality because
it is too threatening.
- Arguing against an anxiety provoking
stimuli by stating it doesn't exist.
• Reduce anxiety by refusing to consciously
acknowledge the more unpleasant aspects
of external reality.
• Example: A man who is told he has
terminal cancer denies the diagnosis by
telling his family he had a little tumor on
his lung and his doctor "removed all of it."
Fantasy
• Imagined events or mental images (e.g.,
daydreaming) to express unconscious
conflicts, gratify unconscious wishes, or
prepare for anticipated future events.
Compensation
• The act of "making up" for a real or
imagined inability or deficiency with a
specific behavior to maintain self-respect
or self-esteem.
Contd....
• The person overcomes an inability by
becoming proficient in another area.
• This may occur on a conscious or
unconscious level.
• Example:
1) A short girl may become manager of a
basketball team because she is not tall
enough to qualify for the team.
2) An unattractive man selects expensive,
stylish clothes to draw attention to
himself.
Conversion
• The transferring of a mental conflict into a
physical problem.
Example: - A woman experiences sudden
blindness after witnessing a robbery.
- A man develops paralysis of his lower
extremities after he learns his wife has
terminal cancer.
Displacement
• A mechanism that serves to transfer
feelings such as frustration, hostility, or
anxiety from one idea, person, or object to
another. The substitute target is less
threatening and allows the person to
release emotional reactions.
• Example:
• Yelling at one person when you are angry
at another.
• Parents often displace feelings of anger or
frustration towards their children since
they are more tolerant recipients of such
displacement than other adults.
Dissociation
• The act of separating and detaching a
strong, emotionally charged conflict from
one's consciousness.
Contd....
• This detached information is blocked from
conscious awareness, which allows the
person to defer or postpone experiencing
an emotional impact or painful feelings.
Example:
• A woman who raped found walking on
streets. When examined, she was found in
a state of traumatic amnesia.
- She separated and detached her emotional
reaction to the rape from her
consciousness.
Identification
• Also referred to as "the imitator"
• Unconsciously, people use it in an attempt to
identify with the personality and traits of
another. Such behavior preserves one's ego or
self, the organized conscious mediator
between person and reality.
EXAMPLE:
• A young man chooses to become a doctor
just like his father.
• A man dresses, walks, talks and acts like
….
• An adolescent girl dresses, walks, talks
and acts like…..
Reaction Formation:
• Converting unconscious wishes or impulses
that are perceived to be dangerous into
their opposites.
• This defence can work effectively for
coping in the short term, but will
eventually break down.
• Example: A jealousy boy who hates his
brother may show him exaggerated
respect and affection towards him.
• Example: A man who dislikes his
mother-in-law may act very politely and
courteously toward her.
Projection
• Often termed the "scapegoat" defense mechanism.
The person rejects unwanted characteristics of
self and assigns them to others.
• The person may blame others for faults, feelings,
or shortcomings that are unacceptable to self.
• Behaviour that is completely the opposite
of what one really wants or feels; taking
the opposite belief because the true belief
causes anxiety.
Example:
• A man who is late for work states, "My
wife forgot to set the alarm last night so I
overslept.
• After spilling a glass of milk while playing
cards with a friend, a 10-year-old tells his
mother, "Johnny made me spill the milk.
He told me to hurry up and play.
• A common retort is "You made me do
it!", or, "See what you made me do!".
Repression
• Process of pulling thoughts into the
unconscious and preventing painful or
dangerous thoughts from entering
consciousness.
• Memory lapse or lack of awareness of
one's own situation and condition.
• The emotion is conscious, but the idea
behind it is absent.
• Example:
1. Forgetting a loved one’s birthday after a
fight.
2. A man has a serious auto accident and is
unable to recall the feelings of fear
following the accident.
Regression
• Retreating or reverting to past levels of behavior
that reduce anxiety, allow one to feel more
comfortable, and permit dependency.
• Example:
1. A 27-year-old woman acts like a 17-year-old on
her first day with a fellow employee.
2. A 5-year-old boy who is toilet trained
becomes incontinent during his father's
hospitalization.
3. Four years old begins to suck his thumb
& wet bed shortly after the birth of a
sibling
Sublimiation
• The re-channeling of consciously
intolerable or socially unacceptable
impulses or behaviors into activities that
are personally or socially acceptable.
Example:
• A college student who has hostile feelings
re-channels them by joining the debate
team.
• Aggressiveness might be transformed into
competitiveness in business or sports.
Suppression
• Willfully or voluntarily putting
unacceptable thought for feeling out of
one's mind with the ability to recall the
thought or feeling at will.
• A deliberate, intentional exclusion from
the conscious mind is referred to as
voluntary forgetting.
• This mechanism is generally used to
protect one's self-esteem.
• Example:
• "I'd rather not talk about it right now“
• "Let's talk about my accident later,“
• "I'm taking a vacation. My problems will
still be here when I get back."
Substitution
• The unconscious act of replacing a goal
when it is blocked. Also defined as the
replacement of consciously unacceptable
emotions, drives, attitudes, or needs by
those that are more acceptable.
Contd...
• This mechanism is used to reduce
frustration and promote feelings of
satisfaction or success.
Example:
• A student nurse in a associate degree
program who feels unable to master the
clinical competencies elects to become a
respiratory technician.
Example:
• The individual accepts a modified form of
their original goal (i.e. becoming a high
school basketball coach rather than a
professional athlete.)
Rationalization
• The act of justifying ideas, actions, or
feelings with good, acceptable reasons or
explanation.
Example:
• A lady who cannot afford to buy a new
dress, tells her friend “I would love to have
this dress, but I don’t think the color suits
me”
Types of defence mechanism
Adaptive
Maladaptive
 Repression
Displacement, Denial
Rationalization
Intellectualization
Compensation
Sublimation
Substituition
Isolation, Suppression
Regression, Projection
Reaction formation
Projection,
Dissociation,
Undoing
Implications of defence mechanism
• Helps a person to resolve conflicts. They are
essential to maintenance of normal equilibrium.
• Most of the mental mechanisms are a means of
compromising with forbidden desires, feeling of
gulit..etc.
• When mental mechanisms are used
moderately....
- They are harmless and help to face conflicts and
frustrations easily
- Help to relieve tensions.
- Help to feel comfortable
• Excessive and persistent use of mental
mechanisms is harmful.
- They do not help to solve the problems
- Only relieve related anxiety and tension
- Too much dependence make us unable to face
problems.
• Difficulties only occur if the defence
mechanisms are inadequate to deal with anxiety
or inappropriate to the situation in which they
are used.