Psychological defence mechanisms
What are these so-called psychological defence mechanisms?
We are all just human. We may feel scared at times, even threatened. We all just need some way to defend or protect ourselves from the harsh reality of the world out there.
Psychological defence mechanisms are subconscious strategies our mind uses to save us from specific emotional harm or pain. It might sometimes even save us from physical discomfort and pain. These mechanisms may help us survive stressful situations, but they may also block our awareness of our true emotions and affect our mental health and relationships.
Psychological defence mechanisms can almost be compared to the shock absorbers of a car on a road. At least it helps to absorb the shock hitting potholes, but it won’t necessarily save your vehicle.
It may even be compared to a state of unconsciousness or a coma after physical trauma, not to experience the pain and trauma at a conscious level. We may experience psychological defence mechanisms at a psychological level not to experience our trauma or emotional pain.
Our psychological defence mechanisms may appear to manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order to cope with our anxiety, threats, or unwanted feelings. We might even see these anxious or insecure people as manipulators, bossy or intimidating. However, these people are using their own defence mechanisms to protect themselves emotionally.
The problem with psychological defence mechanisms
We may use all or some of our defence mechanisms (as discussed later in this article) to deal with our challenges. These mechanisms may help you to absorb emotional trauma. However, when trauma is not addressed:- your defence mechanism may prevent you from being confronted with your challenge;
- you may not be able to resolve your issue or challenge;
- you may experience emotional reactions, like anger, sadness etc;
- these emotions may result in long-term anxiety, depression and more;
- it may somatise, which means that the challenge will make itself known on a physical level in the form of an illness or disease;
Do we all need psychological defence mechanisms?
Although not all of us necessarily need psychological defence mechanisms, we all use them to a greater or lesser extent. We all manipulate, lie, or distort reality, just a little bit in order to survive. On the other hand, for instance, antisocial personality disorders – the co-called psychopaths or sociopaths seem not to experience emotions in the same way as the rest of us. Their defence mechanisms got stalled, and it is impossible to break through their defence. You can learn more about it by looking at my website, www.jorganharris.co.za, and clicking on Emotional Abuse. Like most things in life, too little can be as harmful as too much, and there is a sweet spot where optimum benefit can be found. You may defend yourself from being emotionally harmed by reality, but not to the point of blocking out reality. At the other extreme, there are those who are so sorted that they face reality head-on and would rather figure out practically how to deal with any emotional challenges. They are denying that emotions have any value and are merely practical in the sense that emotions can be managed. Most of us use defence mechanisms as and when required. Thinking about emotions – what they are and how to handle them goes back thousands of years in the history of mankind. The Greek philosopher, Plato thought of emotions and logic as pulling in opposite directions. Most people will have experienced that is not always true, when achieving at a high level the two work together wonderfully. Another Greek philosopher, Aristotle, thought whether emotions were experienced as pleasure or pain, depended upon how the object (with which pain or pleasure was associated) was represented in the mind. Defence mechanisms can be used to quell emotional pain or pleasure, more usually pain. Mostly they are used to protect our self-esteem, our self-worth, and our self-identity.We might make use of defence mechanisms such as:
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Denial
Denial is probably the best known of all the defence mechanisms. It is not an on-off, either or tool; it is seated on a continuum:
- from bare-faced refusal to accept facts,
- to partial refusal to accept the truth,
- to rejection of any responsibility for the truth,
- to acceptance of the facts and the responsibility but denial of intent, and all shades in between.
Here are a few examples of the range of denial:
- I didn’t have anything to drink.
- It never happened.
- It does not bother me at all.
- I have moved on.
- Someone spiked my drink.
- I didn’t know how strong that drink was.
- Yes, I was a bit tipsy, but I didn’t intend to…
Many of the defence mechanisms overlap, and several can be used at the same time.
Rationalisation
- I didn’t fail to meet my target, circumstances changed.
- I didn’t fail, I just wasn’t interested since the rewards weren’t worth it.
- I wasn’t fired, I was made redundant.
Repression
You might even choose not to think about a challenge that could have caused you emotional pain. This defence mechanism is called repression. Like all defence mechanisms, it exists because it can be very effective as an emotional survival tool. It can enable you to cope until you have the strength and time to deal with the negative emotions.
In some circumstances, repression can perpetuate the challenge. For instance, choosing not to think about your loveless, toxic marriage is not going to solve it. This is the one reason why people might make use of repression. If someone in such a situation perceives that they have no other choice but to stay in the horrible environment, it allows them to cope.
Projection
- you have an ugly nose;
- never trust anyone
- I think you are stupid
- I am not the person feeling this – you are;
- I just can’t deal with my obsession with my nose, and will tell you that you have an ugly nose;
- I am telling you that you are pathetic, just to deny my own feelings of helplessness;
- I can’t trust you. Since I can’t be trusted;
- on a social level, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other malignant othering mindsets have been attributed at least partly to projection. There is research evidence, for example, that men with notably homophobic attitudes have higher-than-average same-sex arousal, of which they are unaware.
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Displacement
If you cannot express your negative emotions to the person you have the issue with, you might tend to displace them, or divert the expression of them on to someone else – usually an innocent, and less powerful party. For instance, your boss shouts at you, so you shout at your kids or spouse. It may be that the boss had their boss giving them a hard time. These kids could be on the wrong end of a displacement chain.
Displacement destroys relationships. People tend to know when the emotions they are subjected to are disproportionate to what is happening to them. Like when someone blows their top over a misplaced toothpaste cap. Taking our negative feelings out on others damages everyone.
Some psychological defence mechanisms are more empowering and positive than others. Even the more positive defence mechanisms can be harmful if taken to the extreme.
Compartmentalisation
Some people choose to keep each aspect of their lives separate. For example, they will not talk or think about family while at work, and vice versa.
Sublimation
Sublimation is the act of changing something from one form to another. In the case of psychological self-protection, it is the process of changing or channelling negative emotions into something positive. For example, diverting anger or frustration into a high intensity physical work-out, or expressing emotions in the form of art. Much great poetry and many wonderful songs have been written through sublimation.
We might also make use of more, but less-used defence mechanisms such as:
Isolation of feelings
We may consciously admit the facts to ourselves, but we are totally blocking out any feelings or emotions associated with the situation, as if we are feeling absolutely nothing.
Reaction formation
Reacting against the desire to act in one way by forming strong desires for the opposite. We also know this mechanism as: standing behind the door. Shakespeare knows it as: the lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Compromising
We might want to back off and settle for less to avoid the pain of standing our ground. Also, to keep the peace between different parties, e.g. when someone wants to arrange a surprise party for someone who despises it, you will compromise by making another proposal that accommodates both parties, most often to your own detriment, since both parties may be cross with the peacemaker.
Act of limitation
We might even deliberately limit our abilities as a defence against failure or rejection.
People may pretend, as an example, to be helpless or incompetent, when indeed they are strong and competent. They are, however, unwilling to meet the challenge, even if they are more than competent to do so.
Turning against one self
We might be aggressively blaming ourselves for whatever we have done wrong. At least it is less painful than passive guilt.
Turning against one self is a defence mechanism in which an original desire to harm others is directed towards themselves. An example of turning against one self would be an individual harming themselves as a kind of misguided altruism, in the need to harm another person, but are sanctioned to do so.
Thought disassociation
Disassociating ourselves from what we did, said, or thought with no conscious memory of a certain event of certain nature at a certain time. We may not remember important aspects of an event or events. Some people with a traumatic history may not recall an entire period in their lives.
Introjection
We might even tend to over-identify ourselves with some heroic figure to avoid facing ourselves.
Introjection is the opposite of projection as discussed earlier. Introjection, which is common among children and parents, occurs when a person internalises the beliefs of other people by identifying so strongly with them that they cannot separate that person or object from themselves.
Introjections involve attitudes, behaviours, emotions, and perceptions that are usually obtained from influential or authoritative people in one’s life. They are just accepted as their own with no or minimal thought and adopted as a part of their personality as they think they should be like.
To conclude
Psychological defence mechanisms are unconscious strategies that the mind uses to manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order to cope with anxiety, threats, or unwanted feelings. They are based on the psychoanalytic theory of personality, which sees personality as the interaction between three components: id, ego, and superego.
Some common examples of defence mechanisms are repression, rationalisation, projection, and identification. Defence mechanisms may help people survive stressful situations, but they may also block their awareness of their true emotions and affect their mental health and relationships.
Final thought
As with most aspects of life, moderation is the best route. Not using any psychological defence mechanisms can be as harmful as overusing them.
These defence mechanisms may be beneficial for us as human-beings, enabling us to absorb the shocks of life. However, when we misuse them, mostly unconsciously, it may cause more psychological challenges in the longer run, especially anxiety and depression. It may even lead to all sorts of emotional and even physical disorders in the form of somatisation, where a challenge may reappear in the form of physical illnesses and ailments.