A Study on Defense Mechanisms

People utilise defense mechanisms to protect themselves against traumatic events, acts, or ideas. Most individuals do these without even comprehending what technique they’re employing. Knowing which kind of you, your family, and sometimes even your colleagues might aid you in upcoming talks and interactions. Regular and natural defense systems exist. They’re often utilized with no long-term difficulties or concerns. Nevertheless, if individuals continue to employ these methods without addressing the underlying danger or worry, they might develop emotional problems. Treatment seeks to assist you in addressing challenges from a cognitive, rather than unconscious, perspective.

Types of Defense Mechanisms

There are numerous various defense systems that have been discovered. Some are much more widely used than others. Almost all of the time, a person’s psychological reactions are out of their conscious control. It implies you don’t get to choose when you’re doing something. Here are some types of defense mechanisms:

• Denial

Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Anna Freud that entails an unwillingness to accept the truth, hence obstructing knowledge of external circumstances.

• Repression

The ego’s subconscious protective strategy for keeping upsetting or dangerous emotions from becoming aware is repression.

• Projection

Anna Freud suggested projection as a psychological defensive mechanism wherein an individual projects undesired thinking, sensations, and impulses onto another individual.

• Displacement

The redirecting of an emotion (typically violence) to a weaker replacement object is displacement. An individual or an object might be used as a symbolic replacement for the target.

• Regression

Regression is a defense mechanism described by Anna Freud in which the ego regresses to a more primitive development stage in reaction to stressful conditions.

• Rationalisation

The rationalisation is a defense mechanism postulated by Anna Freud that involves a cognitive distortion of “the facts” and making an incident or impulse appear less dangerous. Whenever we make excuses for ourselves, we frequently do this on a pretty conscious level.

• Sublimation

Sublimation is comparable to displacement, but somehow it occurs when we are prepared to bring our negative feelings into constructive & acceptable behaviours instead of harmful ones. Perhaps one of Anna Freud’s first defense mechanisms was sublimation.

• Reaction formation

Reaction formation, also known as “believing the opposite” by Anna Freud, seems to be a mental defensive mechanism wherein an individual carries beyond rejection and acts in the wrong manner that they believe or feel.

• Interjection

Introjection, also known as identification, entails adopting the personality traits of another individual to alleviate some emotional distress.

• Identification with the aggressor

The defense mechanism of identification with the aggressor was hypothesised by Sandor Ferenczi and further explored by Anna Freud. It entails the victim imitating the actions of someone more strong and antagonistic to them.

Freudian Defence Mechanisms

The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense is the first authoritative work on defense mechanisms. Repression, regression, response formation, isolation, undoing, projection, introjection, turning against oneself, reversing into the opposite, & sublimation or displacement are the ten defense mechanisms mentioned by Anna Freud throughout her father’s works.

Why Do People Employ Self-Defense Techniques?

The following are some of the most typical reasons why people such as you and me employ protective mechanisms:

1. Positive psychological skills for dealing with stress
2. To come up with a justification to justify a bad habit
3. To avoid having to cope with negative feelings
4. When you’re feeling scared, you might use pain avoidance to protect yourself.
5. As a mental break from adjusting to life’s adjustments

Treatment for Faulty Defensive Systems

Self-deception could be considered a form of defense mechanism. You could be using them to conceal emotional reactions which you would not want to cope with. It is, however, typically done subconsciously. You aren’t constantly conscious of how your brain or personality will react.

That doesn’t rule out the possibility of altering or changing the behaviour. You can change harmful defensive systems into more stable forms. These methods may be beneficial:

Identify the Mechanisms: Friends and family can assist you in recognizing the processes. They can assist you to notice the instant you unknowingly make an unwise choice by calling attention to self-deception. This helps you pick what you want to accomplish in a conscious condition.

Acquire Coping Mechanisms: Working with a mental health professional like a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalysis can help you identify the most defensive mechanisms you utilise. They can then assist you in learning numerous approaches to make better conscious decisions.

Conclusion

Defense mechanisms automatically utilise mental methods to safeguard an individual from anxiety caused by unwanted thoughts or sensations. As per the Freudian theory, defense mechanisms constitute a false reality in women such that we are more equipped to cope with a circumstance. Defense mechanisms work on an instinctual level to assist the individual in avoiding unpleasant sensations or making wonderful things seem better. People’s defense mechanisms are unconscious ways of defending themselves from worrying thoughts or sensations. Defense mechanisms are not harmful; they might help people cope with difficult situations or redirect their energies more effectively.