Defense Mechanism Paper

Defense mechanisms is an individual’s way of dealing with unpleasant thoughts, behaviors and feelings (Cramer, 2009). It is a coping technique used to deal with such feelings of hatred, aggression to name a few. According to Burger (2015), the ego has many ways to deal with unpleasant thoughts and desires, which are called defense mechanisms (Burger, 2015). The ego uses defense mechanisms to protect the unconscious mind. In order to deal with conflict and problems that we may face defense mechanisms such as repression, sublimation, displacement, and denial all assist the ego to ward of what is considered to be unpleasant feelings.

According to Cramer (2000), states that defense mechanism in psychology began with Freud and further explored

by Anna Freud (Cramer, 2000). Freud’s theories on defense mechanism explained how mentally an individual is able to keep unwanted painful thoughts, and feelings out of their consciousness mind (Cramer, 2000). This occurs with the help of repression, sublimation, displacement, and denial.
When an individual has overwhelming feelings of guilt, or anxiety our defense kicks in to help us cope with these feelings.

Repression plays a vital role in humans coping with unpleasant feelings. Burger (2015), states that repression is the cornerstone of psychoanalysis and is the most important defense mechanism (Burger, 2015). Repression is the unconscious defense mechanism used by the ego to prevent threatening or disturbing thoughts from reaching an individual’s consciousness. Repression is used to help individuals deal with situations that are traumatizing that they would prefer to forget. Repression helps people to bury painful events in their life, such as witnessing physical abuse of a parent, or being molested as a child. It explains why many times children that have been abused have a hard time remembering the abuse as

adults.
Sublimation is considered the most successful and healthiest of all the defense mechanisms. Burger (2015), states that psychoanalysts consider sublimation as the most successful defense mechanism (2015). Sublimation is the process by which the ego redirects unacceptable unconscious behavior into something that is considered morally and socially acceptable. Sublimation allows an individual to channel inappropriate sexual or aggressive behavior by participating in a sport, such as football, hockey or boxing or creative activities. When an individual is angry they can use such aggressive sports to hash out their frustration. Another example is a man or woman who has extra-marital impulses may either go to the gym, yoga class or repair stuff around the house when either spouse is out of town. Sublimation helps them to channel inappropriate sexual behavior into something that is acceptable.
Displacement is redirecting unpleasant feelings of thoughts from the actual source to a non-threatening person or thing. According to Vaillant (2011), Freud believed that emotion could be reattached to something else (Vaillant, 2011). Displacement helps us to understand why when we are angry at someone else we tend to take our frustrations out on another. For example you are angry with your boss, but instead of confronting your boss you take your angry out on your wife. Another example is an individual that gets angry at his significant other and breaks a glass by throwing it against the wall. Burger (2015), states that irrational fears or phobias are considered symbolic displacements. That an individual can be afraid of something due to displaced fear of something else (Burger, 2015).
Denial is refusing to accept reality. According to Cramer (2009), denial is ignoring upsetting feelings or thoughts (Cramer, 2009). Denial is an extreme defense mechanism and the more an individual uses it, the more they lose touch with reality (Burger, 2015). With denial people tend to block certain situations or events from awareness because it may be too painful to deal with. Unlike repression, where the individual may not remember. Denial is saying something isn’t true despite the evidence (Burger, 2015). For example an individual is repeatedly arrested for drunk driving but they don’t believe they have an alcohol problem. Another example is a mother who’s lost a child may refuse to pack up the child’s room. When a person is in denial there isn’t anything any one can say to them to bring them back to reality.
There are many instances in public media where individuals have demonstrated the use of defense mechanisms.

One public figure that uses defense mechanisms to deal with issues is President Barack Obama. Denial is a defense mechanism that is used by the President. An example of this is the current immigration problem in the United States. Immigration was an issue when the President took office and it is still an issue now. He doesn’t acknowledge the problem. He refuses to accept reality that it is an issue. Another situation is Whitney’s denial of having a drug problem. Whitney did drugs for years but denied being addicted to drugs. Despite the fact that Whitney had heart disease and a hole in her septum she continued to abuse drugs and alcohol. Repression can be seen in Chris Brown, who observed domestic violence and was abused by his stepfather. According to Miller (2009), in 2007 Chris Brown revealed he had a history with abuse (Miller, 2009). Displacement can be seen at basketball games with LaBron getting angry at a call made by the referee and instead of saying something to the referee he would take his frustration out on the chairs and lash out at his fellow team mates. Another example of displacement is Kanya West disrespecting Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards. Kanya took his frustration out on Taylor, even though he was angry with MTV. Taylor Swift was just the target that West used to vent his frustrations. Sublimation can be seen in Kobe Bryant, Bryant claims he

dealt with his aggression and anger during basketball games. He claimed it helped him to better deal with himself and the pressure of the game.