Those of you who know me have probably not escaped my huge interest in psychology. The other day I stumbled across a pretty good website on this topic: https://psychcentral.com
What especially caught my attention was an article about defense mechanisms. It deals with various ways that we protect or defend ourselves from unpleasant, or even painful, thoughts and feelings. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately, and it is fascinating to see to what lenght we go to avoid suffering.There is a range of defense mechanisms, and not all of them are unhealthy. However, I'll start with the ones that are not so constructive.They are called primitive defense mechanisms, because they are little evolved and not effective in the long run. These are the mechanisms we resort to when we are very young, and they are mostly used subconsciously.
Denial is considered to be one of the most rudimentary defense mechanisms. Basically, it includes ignoring or refusing to believe an unpleasant reality. Imagine an alcoholic being in complete denial about having a drinking problem. That's classic denial.
Regression means reversing to an earlier stage of (childhood) development when you face unbearable thoughts or impulses. For example, someone who is under a lot of pressure at work might regress to just staying in bed, not engaging in everyday activities.
Acting out involves behaving in an extreme way instead of verbalizing thoughts and emotions. To use a quote from the website: "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. Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally."
Dissociation is to break off parts of your memory, consciousness or perception of yourself or your environment in order to avoid a difficult situation. It's as if you disconnect from the real world and find another representation for yourself. Sadly, this is a common mechanism among people who have any kind of child abuse history.
Compartmentalization is a form of dissociation, but to a lesser degree. It often appears when we have conflicting values, cognitions, emotions and beliefs within ourselves that we cannot deal with properly. Like the above mentioned defense mechanisms, compartmentalization is subconscious. This means that we are not aware that we have two conflicting sets of values. For example, a person who considers himself to be honest cheats on his income tax return, unaware of the conflict of values.
Projection means that we project our own unpleasant thoughts and feelings onto others. An example of this might be if I am angry at someone who is not listening, when I'm the one with poor listening skills.
Reaction formation is when we change unwanted or dangerous thoughts into their complete opposites. This happens when we are incapable of expressing negative or unhealthy thoughts about something, for example a person who is very angry with their boss and wants to quit might start saying how much they love working for their boss, never wanting to quit.
Roughly, these are the seven primitive, unhealthy, defense mechanisms that might help you cope with your problems temporarily. Sooner or later though, the bubble will burst. Fortunately, there are productive and healthy defense mechanisms. I'll get to them in a little while.
What especially caught my attention was an article about defense mechanisms. It deals with various ways that we protect or defend ourselves from unpleasant, or even painful, thoughts and feelings. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately, and it is fascinating to see to what lenght we go to avoid suffering.There is a range of defense mechanisms, and not all of them are unhealthy. However, I'll start with the ones that are not so constructive.They are called primitive defense mechanisms, because they are little evolved and not effective in the long run. These are the mechanisms we resort to when we are very young, and they are mostly used subconsciously.
Denial is considered to be one of the most rudimentary defense mechanisms. Basically, it includes ignoring or refusing to believe an unpleasant reality. Imagine an alcoholic being in complete denial about having a drinking problem. That's classic denial.
Regression means reversing to an earlier stage of (childhood) development when you face unbearable thoughts or impulses. For example, someone who is under a lot of pressure at work might regress to just staying in bed, not engaging in everyday activities.
Acting out involves behaving in an extreme way instead of verbalizing thoughts and emotions. To use a quote from the website: "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. Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally."
Dissociation is to break off parts of your memory, consciousness or perception of yourself or your environment in order to avoid a difficult situation. It's as if you disconnect from the real world and find another representation for yourself. Sadly, this is a common mechanism among people who have any kind of child abuse history.
Compartmentalization is a form of dissociation, but to a lesser degree. It often appears when we have conflicting values, cognitions, emotions and beliefs within ourselves that we cannot deal with properly. Like the above mentioned defense mechanisms, compartmentalization is subconscious. This means that we are not aware that we have two conflicting sets of values. For example, a person who considers himself to be honest cheats on his income tax return, unaware of the conflict of values.
Projection means that we project our own unpleasant thoughts and feelings onto others. An example of this might be if I am angry at someone who is not listening, when I'm the one with poor listening skills.
Reaction formation is when we change unwanted or dangerous thoughts into their complete opposites. This happens when we are incapable of expressing negative or unhealthy thoughts about something, for example a person who is very angry with their boss and wants to quit might start saying how much they love working for their boss, never wanting to quit.
Roughly, these are the seven primitive, unhealthy, defense mechanisms that might help you cope with your problems temporarily. Sooner or later though, the bubble will burst. Fortunately, there are productive and healthy defense mechanisms. I'll get to them in a little while.
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