Defense mechanisms

In psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud first used defense as a psychoanalytic term (1894), but he did not break the notion into categories, viewing it as a singular phenomenon of repression. His daughter, Anna Freud, expanded on his theories in the 1930s, distinguishing some of the major defense mechanisms recognized today. Primary defense mechanisms include repression and denial, which serve to prevent unacceptable ideas or impulses from entering the conscience. Secondary defense mechanisms—generally appearing as an outgrowth of the primary defense mechanisms—include projection, reaction formation, displacement, sublimation, and isolation.

Defence mechanisms are unconscious resources used by the ego to reduce conflict between the id and superego and thereby anxiety. For that reason they are more accurately referred to as ego defence mechanisms. They can thus be categorized as occurring due to the following scenarios:

When the id impulses are in conflict with each other;

When the id impulses conflict with superego values and beliefs;

When an external threat is posed to the ego.

Structural model

The id, ego, and superego

The concept of id impulses comes from Sigmund Freud’s structural model. Id impulses are based on the pleasure principle: instant gratification of one’s own desires and needs. Sigmund Freud believed that the id represents biological instinctual impulses in ourselves, which are aggression (Thanatos or the Death instinct) and ***uality (Eros or the Life instinct). For example, when the id impulses (e.g. desire to have *** with a stranger) conflict with the superego (e.g. belief in societal conventions of not having *** with unknown persons), the feelings of anxiety come to the surface. To reduce these negative feelings, defence mechanisms are employed.

Freud also believed that conflicts between these two structures resulted in conflicts ***ociated with psycho***ual stages.

Definitions of individual psyche structures

We can summarize the three structures of the psyche or personality as follows:

Id: a selfish, primitive, childish, pleasure-oriented part of the personality with no ability to delay gratification.

Superego: internalized societal and parental standards of "good" and "bad" and "right" and "wrong" behaviour.

Ego: the moderator between the id and superego which seeks compromises to pacify both.

Primary and secondary processes

In the ego, there are two processes going on. First, there is the unconscious primary process, where the thoughts are not organized in a coherent way, the feelings can shift, contradictions are not in conflict or are just not perceived that way, and condensations arise. There is no logic and no time line. Lust is important for this process. By contrast, there is the conscious secondary process, where strong boundaries are set and thoughts must be organized in a coherent way. Most conscious thoughts originate here.

The reality principle

Id impulses are not appropriate for civilized society, so society presses us to modify the pleasure principle in favour of the reality principle; that is, the requirements of the external world.

Formation of the superego

The superego forms as the child grows and internalizes parental and societal standards. The superego consists of two structures: the conscience, which stores information about what is "bad" and what has been punished and the ego ideal, which stores information about what is "good" and what one "should" do or be. (Interestingly, the Freudian conscience became cognitive-behavioural therapist Albert Ellis' focus.)

The ego's use of defence mechanisms

When anxiety becomes too overwhelming it is then the place of the ego to employ defence mechanisms to protect the individual. Feelings of guilt, embarr***ment and shame often accompany the feeling of anxiety. In the first definitive book on defence mechanisms, Ego and mechanisms of defence (1936), Anna Freud introduced the concept of signal anxiety; she stated that it was ‘not directly a conflicted instinctual tension but a signal occurring in the ego of an anticipated instinctual tension’. The signalling function of anxiety is thus seen as a crucial one and biologically adapted to warn the organism of danger or a threat to its equilibrium. The anxiety is felt as an increase in bodily or mental tension and the signal that the organism receives in this way allows it the possibility of taking defensive action towards the perceived danger. Defence mechanisms work by distorting the id impulses into acceptable forms, or by unconscious blockage of these impulses.

List of defence mechanisms

Sigmund Freud was the first person to develop the concept of defence mechanisms, however it was his daughter Anna Freud who clarified and conceptualized it. She has described various different defence mechanisms:

Denial. An ego defence mechanism that operates unconsciously to resolve emotional conflict, and to reduce anxiety by refusing to perceive the more unpleasant aspects of external reality;

Displacement. An unconscious defence mechanism, whereby the mind redirects emotion from a ‘dangerous’ object to a ‘safe’ object. In psychoanalytic theory, displacement is a defence mechanism that shifts ***ual or aggressive impulses to a more acceptable or less threatening target; redirecting emotion to a safer outlet;

Intellectualization (isolation). Concentrating on the intellectual components of the situations as to distance oneself from the anxiety provoking emotions ***ociated with these situations;

Projection. Attributing to others, one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts and/or emotions. Projection reduces anxiety in the way that it allows the expression of the impulse or desire without letting the ego recognize it;

Rationalization. The process of constructing a logical justification for a decision that was originally arrived at through a different mental process;

Reaction formation. The converting of unconscious wishes or impulses that are perceived to be dangerous into their opposites;

Regression. The reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable impulses;

Repression. The process of pulling thoughts into the unconscious and preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness;

Sublimation. The refocusing of psychic energy (which Sigmund Freud believed was limited) away from negative outlets to more positive outlets. These drives which cannot find an outlet are rechanneled. In Freud’s cl***ic theory, erotic energy is only allowed limited expression due to repression, and much of the remainder of a given group’s erotic energy is used to develop its culture and civilization. Freud considered this defence mechanism the most productive compared to the others that he identified. Sublimation is the process of transforming libido into ‘social useful’ achievements, mainly art. Psychoanalysts often refer to sublimation as the only truly successful defence mechanism;

Undoing. A person tries to 'undo' a negative or threatening thought by their actions.

Suppression. The conscious process of pushing thoughts into the preconscious.

Dissociation: Separation or postponement of a feeling that normally would accompany a situation or thought.

Humour: Refocuses attention on the somewhat comical side of the situation as to relieve negative tension; similar to comic relief.

Idealization: Form of denial in which the object of attention is presented as "all good" masking true negative feelings towards the other.

Identification:The unconscious modelling of one's self upon another person's behaviour.

Introjection: Identifying with some idea or object so deeply that it becomes a part of that person.
Inversion: Refocusing of aggression or emotions evoked from an external force onto one's self.

Somatization: Manifestation of emotional anxiety into physical symptoms.

Splitting: Primitive defence mechanism-when a person sees external objects or people as either "all good" or "all bad."

Substitution: When a person replaces one feeling or emotion for another.