From Sigmund Freud’s Pleasure principle, we can conclude that the main goal in life, to many, is to pursue pleasure and avoid Pain.
Psychological pain hurts more than a physical one. To prevent this from occuring, it has it’s own defense Mechanisms through which the level of anxiety and unacceptable states can either be minimized or avoided. This is where defense mechanisms that protect us from stressful and anxiety-arousing thoughts, emotions, situations, people and Event comes in.
In other words the ego protects us from the Psychological discomfort that occurs from conflicts between the ID , the external world and The Superego.
The Id drives all our wants, wishes and needs while the Super ego contains the moral constraints we have learned from the society, parents, teachers, Media and peers.
When a conflict arises, Anxiety ensues and this cause us some psychological pain. To alleviate these painful feelings, the ego has to employ various techniques to minimize the level of anxiety we experience called Ego Defense Mechanisms.
We shall discuss about the main Defense Mechanisms from Anna Freud’s (Freud’s daughter) mechanisms of defense work and also add on top of them various defense mechanisms that are products of future scholars.
Since we had earlier made a post on the Primary Ego defense mechanisms, we shall just summarize them here. The 10 include;
1. Repression – Viewed as the main Defense Mechanism by various scholars where distressing thoughts, feelings and memories are unconsciously pushed from our conscious awareness into the conscious mind.
For instance; A kid who was sexually abused in childhood forgets about the memory.
A kid whose sexual impulses were shamed in childhood forgets about the event.
2. Suppression – Similar to Repression but consciously done where distressing thoughts, emotions or events are consciously pushed from conscious awareness to avoid discomfort at the moment.
For instance; A student experiencing a romantic heartbreak chooses to push the thoughts away to focus on their examinations first.
3. Denial – Here people refuse to acknowledge reality or information that they find uncomfortable.
For instance; A drug addict denies evidence that drugs have a negative effect on their health despite enormous research that confirms that.
4. Projection – In Projection, we attribute our own negative traits, impulses , behaviours or insecurities to other people. This is to save our own self-esteem and avoid distressing feelings that would otherwise occur had we acknowledged them.
Eg; One with repressed sexual cheating intentions accuses the partner of cheating on him/her.
Eg; An individual insecure about their own intelligence accuses others of being unintelligent.
5. Reaction Formation – Here individuals behave in a manner that’s extremely opposite to their real unacceptable feelings or thoughts.
This is usually displayed in an exaggerated manner.
For instance; A stepmother who feels resentful of her stepson becomes overly protective of her.
Or an individual vehemently preaches against homosexuality yet he secretly has those cravings.
6. Regression – This is reverting to an earlier behaviour to avoid uncomfortable feelings eg; A stressed adult starts eating to avoid stressful feelings.
Or an individual starts throwing tantrums like a child when frustrated.
7. Rationalization – Here we come up with seemingly logical or rational explanations for unacceptable or irrational behaviours.
Eg; A thief alleviate their guilt by claiming that at least they don’t murder people.
Or an individual who has encountered a romantic heartbreak rationalize by claiming that it’s good now he can focus on other things.
8. Intellectualization – Here one focuses on the analytical aspect of an event rather than the emotional component.
For instance; An individual who has encountered a romantic heartbreak rationally talks about the “Unpredictability of Relationships nowadays” avoiding the emotions connected to the heartbreak.
9. Displacement – Here an impulse is directed to a source separate from the original source ie; the impulse is directed from the original source to a more safer outlet. Call the later a punching bag.
For instance; A man yelled by his Boss at work may repress the anger only to arrive home later in the evening and start yelling or beating his spouse or kids.
A special form of displacement is Turning against the self where the person becomes their own substitute target.
Negative impulses such as hatred, anger, and aggression are channeled inwards leading to feelings of inferiority, guilt, and depression.
As the saying goes ; “Depression is just but a swallowed anger”
10. Sublimation – Is a more mature defense mechanisms where unacceptable impulses are channeled through more socially acceptable means.
For instance; An individual with a hostile attitude becomes a news investigator where his news covers ruin politically careers
Also an individual who faced any form injustice in childhood becomes a politician who fights for the Oppressed in the society.
Other Form of Defense Mechanisms;
11. Acting out
Here one expresses one’s impulses through actions rather than expressing them directly.
For instance; A Parent who expresses her anger by slamming the door or throwing things on the wall.
12. Passive Aggression – Here negative feelings, emotions and thoughts are expressed indirectly.
For instance; A partner displaying a silent treatment instead of directly expressing their anger.
13. Splitting – This is a dichotomous way of managing conflicting thoughts, feelings and beliefs where people or events are viewed as either all good or all bad. This is to avoid the problems brought about by ambivalence such as cognitive Dissonance.
For instance; Romantic partner who see their partners as all perfect and good during the idealization stage before shifting to hatred to see their partners as imperfect.
14. Humor – Here we use sarcasm and comedy to diffuse pain.
For instance; A fired employee jokes; “Time to start that Taco stand”
15. Fantasy – An individual resorts to daydreaming or retreats to a safe place within the mind to avoid facing reality. This helps one satisfy unmet desires, wishes or needs in imagination instead of real life.
For instance; An individual with sexual attractions to another but afraid of approaching them fantasizes about having moments with them.
To many, fantasizing is ‘living in their head’
16. Avoidance – Here an individual avoids emotionally distressing objects or situations.
For instance; Avoiding someone you are in conflict with instead of discussing the issue.
Or someone who avoids situations that may expose him to criticism or rejection.
17. Compensation – Here we overachieve in one area to compensate for failures in another areas.
For Instance; A girl insecure about her beauty compensates her inferiority by excelling in academics or putting on excessive make-ups.
18. Undoing – Here an individual relieves guilty/anxiety by trying to make up or amend for thoughts, feelings and behaviours they felt were inappropriate.
For instance; Being nice to someone you think you wronged to alleviate guilt.
A young child starts doing house chores after making a mistake.
19. Altruism – Here our impulses is satisfied by helping others .
For instance; A wealthy but unfulfilled individual donates funds to help the needy.
20. Introjection
One unconsciously take others traits, attitude, beliefs, values and behaviours into their own personalities.
In Freudian Psychoanalytic theory, our superego is developed through introjection.
For Instance; An inner critic develops when one internalizes the critical voice of their parent.
A child who internalizes his parents voice of “Boys don’t cry”
Some time we take in beliefs, values and attitudes from the society ie; parents, teachers, media and peers unconsciously eg; on beauty, success, behaviour etc.
21. Identification – An extension of introjection but here the individual adopts the internalized messages, believes and values identifying with an authority figure.
For instance;
- A medical student imitating her professor to feel confident.
- A man who says “My father used to say women should respect men”
22. Reversal; In reversal, we reverse the roles where the victim now assumes the position of the abuser after events and situation that were painful.
For Instance; A young Boy once abandoned in a relationship starts abandoning his partners later in life.
A kid raised by authoritative parents later becomes a partner who is domineering to his spouse/children or a Boss who is domineering to his employees.
Are Defense Mechanisms useful;
We all use these ego mechanisms sometimes but overuse can be dangerous or even lead to ruining relationships.
Some defense mechanisms like ; Sublimation, use of Humor and altruism are constructive while Avoidance , Denial, Rationalization may distort reality.
Repression despite solving the pain problem, still pause a problem for repressed memories, desires, emotions and thoughts still yearn to be relieved and in Freud’s word they’re buried alive and will come forth in uglier way.
Projection ruin relationships while defense mechanisms such as Avoidance may hinder us from developing the necessary coping skills.
Introjection and identification might make us adopt beliefs and attitudes that are separate from our core being. Eg; Beliefs on success and definition of a good job. Negative voices make us internalize critical voices from parents and caregivers later forgetting it’s not our own.
While our minds work tirelessly to protect us from pain, sometimes the perceived pain might not be real.