The Ego as a Defense Mechanism
The function of defense is to protect the Ego, and defence may be instigated by Anxiety due to increase in instinctual tension, Super-Ego threats or realistic dangers. Anna Freud lists nine defence : REGRESSION, repression, REACTION FORMATION, ISOLATION, UNDOING, PROJECTION, INTROJECTION, TURNING AGAINST THE SELF, and REVERSAL - plus tenth SUBLIMATION. SPLITTING and DENIAL are also usually listed as defence.
It is usually assumed that defence belong to specific stages of development, e.g. INTROJECTION , projection, denial , splitting to the ORAL phase; reaction-formation , isolation and undoing to the ANAL phase.
Defence Mechanisms are unconscious mental processes which are employed to resolve conflict between instinctive needs ( The Id ), internalized prohibitions (The Super-Ego) and external reality. They Are directed against painful experiences. They are descriptive concepts only.
· Repression:-
It is the basic defence mechanism. There is refusal to recognize external reality and pushing into unconscious of the unacceptable instincts and feelings or conflicting impulses.
Thus their perception is inhibited and prevented from reaching consciousness. Denial is a CONSCIOUS refusal of recognition of external reality.
· Regression:-
Return to an earlier state or mode of functioning. It is a defensive process by which the subject avoids anxiety by return an earlier stage of psychosexual development . The stage to which the regression occurs being determined by the existence of FIXATION POINTS.
· Displacement:-
The process by which energ(CATHEXIS) is transferred from one mental image to another. Displacement is one of the p...
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...· REGRESSION is used in Conversion Hysteria and Eating Disorders.
· REVERSAL is manifested in Passive Aggressive and Dependant Personality Disorders.
KLEINIAN DEFENSE MECHANISMS:-
· SPLITTING:
Freud talked about splitting of the ego, but Melanie Klein considered Splitting as a defense mechanism. The positive and the negative fantasized relationships remain separate in consciousness with one alternative dissociated from the other. The child sees the Good Mother as Separate from the Bad Mother , the patient may see the Madonna as totally different and has nothing to do with the Prostitute.
· PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION:
Part of self is projected into another to harm , control or possess him or her. The dissociated unacceptable parts of the self are projected onto the other then the person identifies with the other.
survival, as well as the survival of the wild. He explains that anger occurs when we defend
unconscious phantasies of the threat of annihilation. These defences are extreme, utterly selfish and survivalist.
Professor B. Lahey agrees “...that the ego possesses a small arsenal of defense mechanisms that are unconsciously used to cope with tension” (566). The following are nine methods identified by Freud. The first is displacement, where letting out your anger to a friend when it was meant for someone else. Secondly is sublimation's, is by putting your stressful feelings into activities like schoolwork, literature, and sports. Reading or drawing always seem to make me feel better. The third one is Projections, putting their feelings of desire or emotions onto someone else. After that is reaction, by conflict motives or feelings are avoided by doing the opposite. Then after that is regression, reducing stress by hiding behind earlier patterns of behavior like stomping and throwing tantrums when a setback has been suffered. Then there is rationalization, reducing stress by thinking logically and explaining to oneself “this happened for a reason”. Another is repression, Avoiding things that would make oneself stressful without knowing it. Another one is Denial, consciously denying one's feelings or desire even when facts are shown. Lastly is intellectualization, looking at the other way around instead of facing
Denial of subjectivity is the treatment of a person as something whose experience and feelings (if any)
These three defense mechanisms allow the child to at least form an attachment bond with the caregivers, even if it is an unhealthy one. Denial is the refusal to accept the reality of things. Regression is when a child reverts to early stages of life such as thumb sucking. Dissociation is the separation of traumatizing events from memory. The use of these defense mechanisms short-term may serve as a protective barrier for the psyche and decrease the damaging effects of trauma. But long-term use will consequently lead to internal confusion and conflict (Hosier 1). Many children learn to use multiple defense mechanisms interchangeably to cope with complex trauma throughout their childhood.
In order to comprehend the adaptive purposes they serve, one must first understand the term coined by Walter Cannon as the ‘’fight or flight response’’ in 1929 which describes changes in an organisms physiology and hormone production in order to survive; whether it is by standing ones ground or by running away. This response creates a lot of anxiety and stress that can be considered good, especially for survival. Anxiety and stress operate just as a smoke detector would and usually trigger false alarms. The cost of these false alarms does not outweigh the benefit of surviving in case it was not a false alarm. This clarifies the fact that anxiety and stress are adaptive responses, even if they produce discomfort and linger around when triggering false alarms. After all, evolution does not care about one’s comfort; rather, it is only concerned with one’s fitness. It is maladaptive at times to reduce all this free floating anxiety and stress; this is evident when looking at individuals who take anti-anxiety medications. These individuals are more likely to act on impulses that would have been prevented by anxiety, but are now putting themselves in harm’s way in order to reduce the uneasy
The data and observations are gathered from case studies of clinical practice in psychoanalysis, as well as from Freud's self-analysis. The key motivational forces are sex and aggression; the need to reduce tension resulting from internal conflicts. Personality is structured around three interacting components (id, ego, superego) operating at three levels of consciousness (conscious, preconscious, unconscious). Developmental emphasis is on fixation or progress through psychosexual stages; experiences in early childhood (such as toilet training) can leave a lasting mark on adult personality. Origins of disorders are unconscious fixations...
The individual’s mind has various methods of protecting the self by identifying a scenario and applying certain defense mechanisms. This part of the mind is called the psyche, which acts as the brain’s defense mechanism when one deals with trauma or sadness. Most often, people do not even realize they are being protected by the psyche, because its job is to make one become unaware of their potential intense feelings. This feeling of unawareness is called dissociation, which Martha Stout refers to in her essay, “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday.” Dissociation isolates memories so that one can function properly without letting their emotions take over. Stout explains that trauma
The basic purpose of the fight or flight response in older times was to give people instinctive power that enabled them to escape or fight through a threatening situation. The people who survived in those olden times--our ancestors--were the ones who understood the fear and that they had to make quick decisions in order to survive. They evolved into having the fight or flight response, which took away the need for prolonged thinking. This is important, and John Grohol, an expert in mental health, agrees saying, “If the person had spent a lot of time thinking about it, they may have become dinner for a lion or other animal” (Grohol). His point is that people could make their split decisions and act accordingly. This answer to fear has been passed down to us through our ancestors and we now live with it; however, it’s not always used for fighting or fleeing now. As the times have changed, so have the threats that trigger this response. They’ve become less obvious, and can be as simple as being upset while stuck in a traffic jam. The threats don’t even have to be real because our minds today can react to perceived or imagined threats as well as actual
On the other hand, an enormous use of defenses can possibly lead to a differentiated amount of psychological disorders. Sigmund Freud, a psychologist, stated in one of his papers called “The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence” that the idea of defense mechanisms comes from the psychoanalytical theory that there are exertions in the mind that disagree and fight against each other. Going through the different types of defenses, they are all done unconsciously. The understanding most likely involves hiding oneself inner feelings and terrorizing to bring down their self-esteem or arouse anxiety. Some common defense mechanisms that a patient may show, like Ms. Bullock, are denial, repression, projection, displacement, sublimation, and
Everyday people use social cognition as a tool to help them thrive in social world. There are many important aspects of social cognition that are helpful to us in making decisions and help us to interpret the world around us. An important aspect that is linked to social cognition is that of thought suppression. Thought suppression is when a person tries to force particular thoughts, memories or feelings out of their minds that may be unpleasant or may cause a great deal of stress for the individual. Many people are unaware how often we use thought suppression in our daily lives, but the truth is we use it in almost every aspect of our day.
Both Freud’s and Beck’s theories are used by some professionals to treat selective mutism. Sigmund Freud (1936) saw defense mechanisms as a way in which we behave or think to protect ourselves. Individuals tend to utilize defense mechanisms to distance themselves from full awareness. Because the majority of defense mechanisms are unconscious, most of the time we are not aware that we are using them to protect ourselves from painful interactions with others or undesired situations or surrounding’s. We also utilize defensive or protective mechanisms to avoid being gripped by unpleasant affect.
Denial is perhaps the most primitive and maladaptive of the defense mechanisms. We engage in the forbidden behavior, but feel no anxiety because memories of that behavior are prevented from entering consciousness. We cannot recall having done anything unacceptable, so we quite honestly deny our behavior.
The Oral Stage: This is the beginning process from birth where we use our mouth as our main source of interaction we use it for feeding and comfort such as savoring. If there is an error in this process dependency and aggression problems develops resulting in drinking, eating and smoking problems in the future. (Cherry (n.d))
The ego struggle to keep the id happy. The ego meets with obstacles in the world. It occasionally with objects that actually assists it in attaining it goals. The ego keeps a record of the obstacles and aides. It also keeps a record of punishments and rewards administered out by the two must influential objects in the world of a child, its mom and dad. This record of things to avoid and strategies to take becomes the superego. As stated earlier the primary function of the id is to satisfy its immediate instincts, drive and urges it superego that links the mind to society and reality. As Freud (1960) states \"superego is however, not simply a residue of the earliest choices of the id; it also represents an energetic reaction formation against those choices\" (p.24).