defense mechanisms

Memories banished to the unconscious, or

unacceptable drives or urges do not
disappear. They continue to exert a powerful
influence on behavior. The forces, which try to
keep painful or socially undesirable thoughts and
memories out of the conscious mind,
 Defense Mechanisms: Psychological
Techniques We Use to Cope With
Anxieties, we looked at the way in which
the psyche deals with unconscious
anxieties. We identified a number of
common defense mechanisms which we
often use without even realising, in order to
avoid the anxiety caused by unreasonable
impulses originating in the id and the
resulting guilt which the super egos moral
conscience applies in reaction to these
feelings.
 Recall that the Freudian psyche
consists of:

Defenses are the primary tools of the ego,

used to manage the internal conflicts
between the primitive id and the punitive
corrective" superego
 Clusters of defences
Narcissistic
Immature Mature Anxiety
1/Projection 1/ Blocking 1/ Humor 1/Displacement
2/Regression 2/ Sublimation 2/ Repression
2/ Denial 3/ Isolation of
3/ Splitting 3/Somatizatio 3/
affect
n Suppression
4/
4/Introjection Intellectualizatio
n
5/ Acting out
6/
Rationalization
7/ Reaction
formation
8/ Undoing
9/ Passive
aggressive
10/ Dissociation
 Narcissistic
1/ Projection
People deal with
unacceptable impulses by
acting as if OTHER people
have them.
They see their own faults in
other people
EX :
1/I do not like another person. But I have a
value that says I should like everyone. So
I project onto them that they do not like
me. This allows me to avoid them and
also to handle my own feelings of dislike.
2/An unfaithful husband suspects his wife of
infidelity.
2/ Denial
Denial is the refusal to
acknowledge the existence or
severity of unpleasant external
realities or internal thoughts and
feelings
 3/ S
3/ Splitting plitting
 Immature
1/ Blocking
Cessation of thought to avoid confronting
an unpleasant idea. Can be conscious or
subconscious.
 EX :
A student is unable to recall the
fact needed to answer the exam
question, although he recalls it as
he walks out of the exam.
3/ Somatization
Somatization occurs where a
psychological problem turns
into physical and subconscious
symptoms.

 EX :
A student has a test that feels
pain in his abdomen

A policeman, who has to be very

restricted in his professional
behavior, develops hypertension.
Anxiety
1/ Displacement
 3/ Isolation of affect
when a traumatic event is experienced
without the emotion associated with
it.
EX:
A person told they have cancer asks for details on
the probability of survival and the success rates of
various drugs. The doctor may join in, using
'carcinoma' instead of 'cancer' and 'terminal'
instead of 'fatal'.
4
5
6
7
8
9/ Passive aggressive
Nonperformance or poor performance
after setting up the expectation of
performance. Regarded as a passive
(indirect) expression of hostility.

Often used by borderline personality

disorders and young children
EX :
A student agrees to share class notes but
goes home without sharing them.
10
 Mature
1/ Humor
Permits the overt expression of feelings
and thoughts without personal
discomfort.

We laugh the easiest at the things that

make us most anxious.
EX :
A terminally ill cancer patient makes
fun of his condition.
2
3