Defense Mechanism (Dr.
Sonia Rodriguez)
July 4, 2011
1
SIGMUND FREUD
 Founder of Psychoanalysis
 EARLY 1900s: affluent women would have diminished
functioning of certain parts of the body without any
pathophysiologic mechanism through constant conversation,
their symptoms would disappear  BIRTH OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
“When it comes to unraveling the mysteries of the human mind, no
body of knowledge approaches that of psychoanalytic theory.”
NOTE: Psychoanalysis is hardly done nowadays because it’s expensive and
time-consuming
1. The Topographic Model
The mind is divided into 3 regions:
a. Consciousperceptions coming from outside world or from w/in
the body or mind are brought into awareness (attention cathexis)
b. Preconsciousmental events, processes and contents that can be
brought into conscious awareness by focusing attention
interfaces both unconscious and conscious regions of the mind;
repressive barrier
c. Unconsciousmental contents and processes that are kept from
conscious awareness through censorship and repression; related to
instinctual drives (sexual and self preservative)
primary processing thinking – facilitates wish fulfillment and
instinctual discharge, governed by the pleasure principle
2. Stages of Psychosexual development
1. Oral 4. Phalic
2. Anal 5. Latency
3. Urethral 6. Genital
NOTE:
Fixation in Anal Mode: Obsessive-Compulsiveness
Fixation in Oral Stage: Alcohol consumption, Smoking
3. Structural theory
a. IDreservoir of unorganized instinctual drives (We
are all born Id. Everything NOW! NOW! NOW!)
lacks capacity to delay or modify drives
b. EGOcontrol motility, perception, contact with
reality, and the delay and modulation of drive
expressions
essential for self-preservation
abstract thinking and verbal expression (conscious and
preconscious); defense mechanisms (unconscious)
c. SUPEREGOthe moral conscience based on values
and ideals internalized from parents
heir to the Oedipus Complex
provides scrutiny of person’s behavior, thoughts, feelings
and makes comparisons with standards (what a person
should not do)
 Ego ideal – prescribes what a person should do according
to standards and values
THE DEFENSIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE EGO
“The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense” by Anna Freud, 1936
Defense Mechanisms: emerge as a reflection of the ego’s attempts to
mediate between the pressures of the id and the demands of external
reality Ego: protects the Id from exploding; protects the superego
from being so punitive
Edding, Engada, Enriquez, Esguerra, Espinosa
Properties of Defense Mechanisms
 They manage instinct, drive and affect.
 They are unconscious – but they can be made conscious
through verbal cues.
 They are discrete.
 They are dynamic and reversible.
 They can be adaptive, as well as pathological – suppression of
certain emotions
 They may be used singularly or in tandem with other defenses.
CLASSIFICATION OF DEFENSE MECHANISM
 Narcissistic Defenses
 Immature Defenses
 Neurotic Defenses
 Mature Defenses
Narcissistic Defenses
prevent the individual from being able to cope with a real threat and
obscure his/her ability to perceive reality
(In Dra. Rodriguez’s lecture these defenses were under Immature Defenses)
1. Denial
 Avoiding awareness of some painful aspect of reality by
negating sensory data. Painful external reality is abolished.
 Only lasts for a while
 Examples:
o 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.
o A smoker concludes that the evidence linking cigarette use to
health problems is scientifically worthless.
2. Distortion
 Grossly reshaping external reality to suit inner needs
 Feelings of delusional superiority and entitlement
 Megalomaniac beliefs
o A woman believes that she is Virgin Mary.
 Hallucinations
o A man who hears voices even though in reality
there’s no one there.
 Grandiose delusions
o A man thinks he is Superman and that he can save
the world.
3. Projection
 Perceiving and reacting to unacceptable inner impulses and
their derivatives as though they were outside the self and
subsequent acting on the perception
 People who take methamphetamine experience this kind of
defense mechanism: causes paranoia
 Examples:
o A woman who dislikes her boss thinks she likes her boss
but feels that the boss doesn't like her.
o A boyfriend who has a strong desire to cheat with his
girlfriend accuses his girlfriend of flirting with other men.
Immature Defenses
used in childhood and adolescence, but mostly abandoned by adulthood,
since they lead to socially unacceptable behavior and/or prevent the adult
from optimal coping with reality
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1. Acting Out
 Expressing an unconscious wish or impulse through action to
avoid being conscious of an accompanying affect
 The unconscious fantasy is lived out impulsively in behavior
thereby gratifying the impulse, rather than the prohibition
against it
 Examples:
o A child’s temper tantrum is a form of acting out when he or
she doesn’t get his or her way with a parent.
o Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in
physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.
2. Hypochondriasis
 Exaggerating or overemphasizing an illness for the purpose
of evasion and regression.
 Responsibility can be avoided, guilt may be circumvented &
instinctual impulses are warded off.
 Examples:
o A man insists that his stomachache isintestinal CA.
o A woman believes that her headaches are being caused
by a brain tumor.
3. Introjection
 Internalizing the qualities of another person
 You introject the qualities of the person that you love when
you lose that person and you become that person
 Can be positive or negativeintrojection of a loved object
(avoids the pain of separation or threat of loss)or identification
with the aggressor(avoids anxiety placing the aggression under
one’s own control)
 Examples:
o Cory Aquino is a simple housewife who doesn’t
know anything about politics. When her husband
gets murdered, it seems as if there’s no one else
perfect enough to takeover the candidacy for but
her. She internalizes all of her husband’s qualities
and becomes the president.
o When a boy is constantly being beaten up by his
father, he internalizes his father’s behavior as his
own and grows up to be an abusive father
himself.
4. Passive-Aggressive Behavior
 Expression of aggression toward others indirectly through
passivity, masochism & turning against the self.
 Failures, procrastination, illnesses that affect others more
than oneself
 Example:
o You don’t like your boss but you have no choice
but to stay in that company. You express your
aggression by procrastinatingand delaying work.
5. Regression
 Attempting to return to an earlier psychosexual phase of
development to avoid tension & conflict evoked at the
present level of development.
 You have to regress every now and then because wecannot
be mature all the time. (normal phenomenon)
 Regression may be needed in relaxation, sleep, orgasm and
in the creative process.
 Examples:
o Some artists drink (regression to the oral
stage)before painting. Drinking releases their
inhibitions.
Edding, Engada, Enriquez, Esguerra, Espinosa
o An adult has a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his
way.
o An adolescent who is overwhelmed with fear, anger and
growing sexual impulses might become clinging and
begin thumb sucking or bed-wetting.
6. Schizoid Fantasy/Frank Schizophrenia
 Indulging in autistic retreat to resolve or avoid conflict, and
to obtain gratification
 Intimacy is avoided and eccentricity serves to repel others
 People keep to themselves and do not actually fully believe
in their fantasies
 Example:
o A 15-year-old boy dreams of being the world chess champion.
He spends nearly all of his time alone studying the game and
won’t discuss other topics.
7. Somatization
 Converting psychic derivatives into bodily symptoms &
reacting with somatic, rather than psychic manifestations
 Desomatization – infantile somatic responses are replaced
by thought and affect; Resomatization – person regeresses
to earlier somatic forms when faced with conflict
 Examples
o A girl experiences abdominal pains only every
Monday when she wants to avoid attending a
class. When checked, nothing is wrong with her.
o A woman has a mass appearing on her neck
whenever she has a difficult problem to handle.
When checked, test shows negative result.
8. Blocking
 Temporarily or transiently inhibiting thinking
 Tension arises when the impulse, affect or thought is inhibited
Neurotic Defenses
common in everyone, but clearly not optimal for coping with reality since
they lead to problems in relationships, work, and problems in enjoying life
1. Controlling
 Attempting to manage or regulate events or objects in the
environment to minimize anxiety & to resolve inner
conflicts.
 Example:
o A mother, who does not want to let her child go,
creates a 5-year, 10-year plan for her child.
2. Displacement
 Shifting an emotion or drive from one idea or object to
another that resembles the original in some aspect or
quality
 Permits the symbolic representation of the original idea or
object by one that evokes less distress.
 Examples:
o An employee is mad at one his colleagues at work
then becomesirritable and ill tempered to
everyone else at home.
o After parental scolding, a young girl takes her anger out
on her little brother.
3. Dissociation
 Temporarily but drastically modifying a person’s character
or one’s sense of personal identity to avoid emotional
distress
 Fugue states (loss of awareness of one’s own identity) and
hysterical conversions
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  Psychogenic amnesia: you forget certain parts of very
traumatic situations
 Example:
o A rape victim completely forgets what happened to her,
leaves her home and becomes a totally different person.
4. Intellectualization
 Excessively using intellectual processes to avoid affective
expression or experience
 Focus is on: the inanimate to avoid intimacy with people;
the external reality to avoid expression of feelings; the
irrelevant details to avoid perceiving the whole.
 Med students are fond of doing this! You want to explain
everything in a way that you were taught.
 Example:
o Your own mother has a clot. To avoid attaching
feelings over it (being worried, etc.), you approach
her in an intellectual way: you explain to her
everything from the clotting factors to the
coagulation system.
o A person who has just been given a terminal medical
diagnosis, instead of expressing their sadness and grief,
focuses instead on the details of all possible fruitless
medical procedures.
5. Rationalization
 Offering rational explanations in an attempt to justify
attitudes, beliefs, or behavior that may otherwise be
unacceptable.
 Motives are instinctually determined
 Example:
o A woman, who starts dating a man she really likes,is
suddenly dumped by the man for no reason. She
reframes the situation in her mind with, “I suspected he
was a loser all along.”
o Stating that you were fired because you didn't kiss up
the boss, when the real reason was your poor
performance.
6. Reaction Formation
 Transforming an unacceptable impulse into its opposite
 Characteristic of obsessional neurosis
 If this is used frequently at any early stage of development,
it can become permanent – obsessional character
 Examples:
o A parent who unconsciously resents a child spoils the
child with outlandish gifts.
o A woman who is very angry with her boss and would like
to quit her job may instead be overly kind and generous
toward her boss and express a desire to keep working
there forever.
7. Repression
 Expelling or withholding from consciousness an idea or
feeling; conscious perception of instincts or feelings is
blocked
 Two types:
o Primary repression: curbing ideas or feelings before they
attain consciousness
o Secondary repression: excludes from awareness what
was once experienced at a conscious level
 “Queen of defenses”
 Examples:
o A traumatized soldier has no recollection of the details of
a close brush with death. (secondary repression)
o Having unacceptable sexual feelings for someone are
buried in the unconscious. (primary repression)
Edding, Engada, Enriquez, Esguerra, Espinosa
8. Externalization
 Perceiving elements of one’s own personality (instinctual impulses,
conflicts, moods, attitudes) in the external world and in external
objects
 More general term for Projection
9. Inhibition
 Consciously limiting ego functions to evade anxiety arising out of
conflict with the Id, Superego and environmental forces or figures
10. Isolation
 Splitting or separating an idea from the affect that accompanies it
 Social isolation – absence of object relationships
 Example:
o Being indifferent to someone who has hurt you badly.
11. Sexualization
 Endowing an object of function with sexual significance to ward of
anxieties associated with prohibited impulses
Mature Defenses
used by "healthy" adults, they optimize one's ability to have normal
relationships, enjoy work, and to take pleasure in life
1. Altruism
 Using constructive & instinctually gratifying service to
others to undergo a vicarious experience
 Benign and constructive reaction formation
 Altruistic surrender  surrender of direct gratification or instinctual
needs in favor of fulfilling the needs of others to the detriment of
oneself
 Example:
o A woman engages in building foundations and
doing philanthropic work after her husband died.
2. Anticipation
 Realistically anticipating or planning for future inner
discomfort
 Premature but realistic affective anticipation of dire and
potentially dreadful outcomes
 Example:
o A family prepares themselves for the death of a family
member with terminal CA.
3. Asceticism
 Eliminating the pleasurable effects of experiences
 Gratification is derived from renunciation, and asceticism is
directed against all base pleasures perceived consciously
 Example:
o A man renounces his materialistic urges to lead a
life of simplicity.
4. Humor
 Using comedy to overtly express feelings & thoughts
without personal discomfort or immobilization & without
producing an unpleasant effect on others
 Allows the person to tolerate but focus on what is too terrible to
bear
 Different from wit (a form of displacement that involves
distraction from the affective issue)
 Example:
o A person's treatment for cancer makes him lose his hair so he
makes jokes about being bald.
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5. Sublimation
 Achieving impulse gratification & the retention of goals but
altering a socially unacceptable aim or object to a socially
acceptable one
 Instincts are channeled rather than blocked
 Example:
o A womanwho was sexually abusedas a child
becomes a human rights lawyer who protects
several women and children from having to
undergo what she experienced.
o When a person has sexual impulses they would like not
to act upon, they may instead focus on rigorous exercise

6. Suppression
 Consciously or semiconsciously postponing attention to a
conscious impulse or conflict
 Issues may be deliberately cut off but they are not avoided,
discomfort is acknowledged but minimized
 Repression is UNCONSCIOUS. Suppression is CONSCIOUS.
 Example:
o A bad memory comes up when you’re in the
middle of an important meeting. You say to
yourself, “No, I have to forget. Now is not the
time.”
o You are attracted to someone at work but say that you
really don't like the person at all.

-------------------- FIN --------------------

Humor as a Defense Mechanism :P

Sources:
Dr. Rodriguez’s Lecture
Kaplan and Saddock (THAT SUPER EXPENSIVE PSYCH BOOK!)
2013B Trans
Psychology 7 by Santrock (undergrad psych textbook)

Transcribed by:
Edding, Sherida
Engada, Kashmir Mae
Enriquez, Camille Lucia
Esguerra, Maria Cecil
Espinosa, Malcolm Ray

Edited by: Robin Aguila

Edding, Engada, Enriquez, Esguerra, Espinosa Page 2 of 3