yes, therapy helps!
Defense mechanisms: 10 ways of not facing reality

Defense mechanisms: 10 ways of not facing reality

March 10, 2024

In the article "Sigmund Freud: Life and Work of the Famous Psychoanalyst" we commented that the function of I is to satisfy the impulses of the it and not offend the moral character of superego, while the reality is valued. This is not an easy task, and Freud describes that the I uses mechanisms to manage conflicts between these psychic instances.

The defense mechanisms , therefore, are procedures that maintain the psychological balance unconsciously to face the anguish or anxiety associated with the conscious expression of a drive (sexual or aggressive) representation, the transgression of the moral code, or a real external danger.


The defense mechanisms in psychoanalysis

The defense mechanisms are incorrect ways of resolving the psychological conflict and can lead to disturbances in the mind, behavior and, in the most extreme cases, to the somatization of the psychological conflict that causes it.

Here we present the ten main defense mechanisms described in the theories of psychoanalysis .

1. Displacement

Refers to the redirection of an impulse (usually an assault) to a person or object . For example, someone who is frustrated with their boss and kicks their dog, or a piece of furniture. We are in this case before a defense mechanism: as we can not hit the boss because he would fire us from work, we move the object of our anger towards any other being or object.


2. Sublimation

It is similar to displacement, but the impulse is channeled into a more acceptable form. A sexual drive sublimates towards a non-sexual purpose , pointing to objects positively valued by society, such as artistic activity, physical activity or intellectual research.

3. Repression

It is the mechanism that Sigmund Freud discovered first. It refers to process by which the self erases events and thoughts that would be painful if they were kept at the conscious level , since the satisfaction of the repressed drive is irreconcilable with other demands of the superego or of reality.

4. Projection

Make reference to the tendency of individuals to attribute (project) their own thoughts, motives or feelings towards another person . The most common projections can be aggressive behaviors that provoke a feeling of guilt, and fantasies or socially unacceptable sexual thoughts. For example, a girl hates her roommate, but the superego He tells her that this is unacceptable. You can solve the problem by thinking that it is the other person who hates her.


5. Denial

It is the mechanism by which the subject blocks external events so that they are not part of consciousness and, therefore, it deals with evident aspects of reality as if they did not exist. For example, a smoker who denies that smoking can cause serious health problems. By denying these harmful effects of tobacco, you can tolerate your habit better, naturalizing it.

6. Regression

Make reference to any regression to previous situations or habits, a return to immature behavior patterns . For example, a teenager who is not allowed to go to a friend's house for a weekend and reacts with a tantrum and screams in front of his parents, as if he were a younger child.

7. Reactive training

The impulses are not only repressed, but also, they control themselves by exaggerating the opposite behavior . That is, the appearance of a painful thought stops, replacing it with a more pleasant one. For example, a person who is very angry with a friend, but tells him that everything is correct to avoid discussion.

8. Isolation

It is a mechanism by which s and divorce the memories of the feelings, as a way to support and tolerate the facts better and reality. It separates an intolerable idea for the ego from the emotions it produces, thus it remains in consciousness in a weakened form. For example, to relate a traumatic episode with total normality, as if talking about time or any other trivial matter.

9. Condensation

It is a mechanism by which certain elements of the unconscious (latent content) come together in a single image or object during sleep . It consists in the concentration of several meanings in a single symbol. The condensation process makes the story of the manifest content much shorter than the description of the latent content. It is a term that emerges from psychoanalytic explanations that account for the creation of dreams.

10. Rationalization

In rationalization substitute a real reason that is not acceptable, for another that is acceptable . That is, the perspective of reality is changed through offering a different explanation. For example, a woman falls madly in love with a man, and they start a relationship. After a month of beginning the courtship, the man breaks the relationship because he considers that the woman has a very low self-confidence and does not let him breathe. Although the woman has three consecutive love failures for the same reason, she concludes: "I already knew that this man was a loser", or "from the first moment I knew that this man did not suit me".


Psychology: Defense Mechanisms & Rationalization: "Facing Reality" 1954 McGraw-Hill Text-Films (March 2024).


Similar Articles