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Defense mechanisms human psyche are aimed at reducing negative and traumatic experiences and are manifested at the unconscious level. This term was coined by Sigmund Freud , and then more deeply developed by his students and followers, primarily by Anna Freud. Let's try to figure out when these mechanisms are useful, and in what cases they inhibit our development and it is better to react and act consciously.
site will tell you about 9 main types of psychological defense, which are important to realize in time. This is what it does most time in his office, a psychotherapist - helps the client to comprehend the protective mechanisms that limit his freedom, spontaneity of response, distort interaction with people around him.
1. Displacement
Repression is the elimination of unpleasant experiences from consciousness. It manifests itself in forgetting what causes psychological discomfort. Displacement can be compared to a dam that can break - there is always a risk that memories of unpleasant events will burst out. And the psyche spends great amount energy to suppress them.
2. Projection
Projection is manifested in the fact that a person unconsciously ascribes his feelings, thoughts, desires and needs to the people around him. This psychological defense mechanism makes it possible to relieve oneself of responsibility for one's own character traits and desires, which seem unacceptable.
For example, unfounded jealousy may be the result of a projection mechanism. Defending against own desire infidelity, a person suspects of cheating on his partner.
3. Introjection
This is the tendency to indiscriminately appropriate other people's norms, attitudes, rules of behavior, opinions and values without trying to understand them and critically rethink them. Introjection is like swallowing huge chunks of food without trying to chew it.
All education and upbringing is built on the mechanism of introjection. Parents say: “Don't put your fingers in the socket, don't go out into the cold without a hat,” and these rules contribute to the survival of children. If a person in adulthood "swallows" other people's rules and norms without trying to understand how they suit him personally, he becomes unable to distinguish between what he really feels and what he wants and what others want.
4. Merger
In fusion, there is no border between "I and not-I". There is only one total "we". The fusion mechanism is most clearly expressed in the first year of a child's life. The mother and child are in fusion, which contributes to the survival of the little person, because the mother is very sensitive to the needs of her child and responds to them. In this case it comes about the healthy manifestation of this defense mechanism.
But in the relationship between a man and a woman, fusion inhibits the development of a couple and the development of partners. It is difficult to show your individuality in them. Partners dissolve in each other, and passion leaves the relationship sooner or later.
5. Rationalization
Rationalization is an attempt to find reasonable and acceptable reasons for an unpleasant situation, a situation of failure. The purpose of this defense mechanism is to preserve high level self-esteem and convincing ourselves that we are not to blame, that the problem is not with us. It is clear that it will be more useful for personal growth and development to take responsibility for what happened and learn from life experience.
Rationalization can manifest itself as depreciation. Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes" is a classic example of rationalization. The fox cannot get grapes in any way and retreats, explaining that the grapes are "green".
It is much more useful both for oneself and for society to write poetry, paint a picture or just chop wood than to get drunk or beat a more successful rival.
9. Reactive education
In the case of reactive education, our consciousness is protected from forbidden impulses, expressing opposite motives in behavior and thoughts. This protective process is carried out in two stages: first, an unacceptable impulse is suppressed, and then at the level of consciousness the completely opposite appears, while being rather hypertrophied and inflexible.
When difficult situations arise in our life, problems, we ask ourselves the questions "how to be?" and “what to do?”, and then we try to somehow resolve the existing difficulties, and if it doesn’t work, then we resort to the help of others. Problems are external (lack of money, no work ...), but there are also internal problems, it is more difficult to deal with them (often even one does not want to admit them, it hurts, it is unpleasant).
People react in different ways to their inner difficulties: they suppress their inclinations, denying their existence, “forget” about the traumatic event, look for a way out in self-justification and condescension to their “weaknesses”, try to distort reality and engage in self-deception. And all this is sincere, in this way people protect their psyche from painful stress, help them with this protective mechanisms.
What are defense mechanisms?
For the first time this term appeared in 1894 in the work of Z. Freud "Protective neuropsychoses". The mechanism of psychological defense is aimed at depriving the significance and thereby neutralizing the psychologically traumatic moments (for example, the Fox from the famous fable "The Fox and the Grapes").
Thus, we can say that protective mechanisms are a system of regulatory mechanisms that serve to eliminate or reduce e to minimal negative, traumatic experiences of the personality. These experiences are mainly associated with internal or external conflicts, states of anxiety or discomfort. Protection mechanisms are aimed at maintaining the stability of the self-esteem of the individual, her image I AM and the image of the world, which can be achieved, for example, in such ways as:
- elimination from consciousness of sources of conflict experiences,
–Transformation of conflict experiences in such a way as to prevent the emergence of a conflict.
Many psychologists, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts have studied the protective mechanisms of the psyche of their work show that a person uses these mechanisms in those cases when he has instinctive drives, the expression of which is under social prohibition (for example, unrestrained sexuality), defense mechanisms also act as buffers in relation to our consciousness of those disappointments and threats that life brings us. Some consider psychological protection to be a mechanism for the functioning of a normal psyche, which prevents the occurrence of various kinds of disorders. This is a special form of psychological activity, realized in the form of separate methods of information processing in order to preserve the integrity Ego... In cases where Ego cannot cope with anxiety and fear, it resorts to mechanisms of a kind of distortion of a person's perception of reality.
To date, more than 20 types of defense mechanisms are known, all of them are subdivided into primitive defense and secondary (higher order) defense mechanisms.
So, let's look at some types of defense mechanisms. The first group includes:
1. primitive isolation- psychological withdrawal to another state is an automatic reaction that can be observed in the smallest human beings. An adult version of the same phenomenon can be observed in people who isolate themselves from social or interpersonal situations and replace the tension arising from interactions with others, stimulation emanating from the fantasies of their inner world. The addiction to using chemicals to alter the state of consciousness can also be seen as a form of isolation. Constitutionally impressionable people often develop a rich inner fantasy life, and they perceive the outside world as problematic or emotionally poor.
The obvious disadvantage of isolation protection is that it turns off a person from active participation in solving interpersonal problems, individuals who are constantly hiding in their own world test the patience of those who love them, resisting communication on an emotional level.
The main advantage of isolation as a defensive strategy is that, allowing a psychological escape from reality, it almost does not require its distortion. A person who relies on isolation finds comfort not in a misunderstanding of the world, but in distance from it.
2. negation - this is an attempt not to accept undesirable events as reality; another early way to cope with troubles is to refuse to accept their existence. Remarkable is the ability in such cases to "skip" unpleasant experienced events in their memories, replacing them with fiction. Like a defense mechanism negation consists in distracting attention from painful ideas and feelings, but does not make them completely inaccessible to consciousness.
Thus, many people are afraid of serious illness. And they would rather deny the presence of even the very first obvious symptoms than go to the doctor. And according to this, the disease is progressing. The same defense mechanism is triggered when someone from married couple"Does not see", denies existing problems in married life. And this behavior often leads to a break in relations.
The person who has resorted to denial simply ignores the painful realities for him and acts as if they did not exist. Being confident in his merits, he tries to attract the attention of others by all means and means. And at the same time he sees only a positive attitude towards his person. Criticism and rejection are simply ignored. New people are seen as potential fans. And in general, he considers himself a person without problems, because he denies the presence of difficulties / difficulties in his life. Has high self-esteem.
3. almighty control- the feeling that you are capable of influencing the world, that you have power, is undoubtedly a necessary condition for self-esteem, which originates in infantile and unrealistic, but at a certain stage of development, normal fantasies of omnipotence. The first who aroused interest in the "stages of development of the sense of reality" was S. Ferenczi (1913). He pointed out that in the infantile stage of primary omnipotence, or grandeur, the fantasy of having control over the world is normal. As the child grows up, it naturally transforms at a later stage into the idea of a secondary “dependent” or “derived” omnipotence, when one of those who initially cares for the child is perceived as omnipotent.
As they grow older, the child comes to terms with the unpleasant fact that no one person has unlimited possibilities. Some healthy remnant of this infantile sense of omnipotence persists in all of us and maintains a sense of competence and vitality.
For some people, the need to experience a sense of omnipotent control and to interpret what is happening to us due to their own unlimited power is completely irresistible. If a person organizes around the search and experience of pleasure from the feeling that she can effectively manifest and use her own omnipotence, in connection with which, all ethical and practical considerations fade into the background, there are reasons to consider this person as psychopathic (“sociopathic” and “antisocial "- synonyms of later origin).
“Stepping over others” is the main occupation and source of pleasure for individuals in the personality, who are dominated by omnipotent control. They can often be found where cunning, a love of excitement, danger and a willingness to subordinate all interests to the main goal - to exert influence, are needed.
4. primitive idealization (and depreciation)- Ferenczi's thesis about the gradual replacement of the primitive fantasies of one's own omnipotence with primitive fantasies about the omnipotence of the caring person is still important. We are all prone to idealization. We carry with us the remnants of the need to ascribe special dignity and power to people on whom we are emotionally dependent. Normal idealization is an essential component of mature love. And the developmental tendency to de-idealize or devalue those to whom we have childhood attachment seems to be a normal and important part of the separation process - individualization. In some people, however, the need to idealize remains more or less unchanged from infancy. Their behavior reveals signs of archaic desperate efforts to counter the inner panic horror with the belief that someone to whom they are attached is omnipotent, omniscient and infinitely benevolent, and psychological fusion with this supernatural Other provides them with safety. They also hope to be free from shame; a by-product of idealization and the associated belief in perfection is that one's own imperfections are particularly painful to bear; merging with the idealized object is a natural remedy in this situation.
Primitive depreciation is the inevitable downside of the need for idealization. Since nothing is perfect in human life, archaic ways of idealization inevitably lead to disappointment. The more an object is idealized, the more radically devaluation awaits it; the more illusions there are, the harder the experience of their collapse.
V Everyday life an analogy to this process is the measure of hatred and anger that can strike someone who seemed so promising and did not live up to expectations. Some people spend their entire lives replacing one intimate relationship with another in repeated cycles of idealization and devaluation. (Modifying the defenses of primitive idealization is a legitimate aim of any long-term psychoanalytic therapy.)
The second group of defense mechanisms is secondary (higher order) protection:
1. crowding out - the most universal means of avoiding internal conflict. This is a conscious effort of a person to consign frustrating impressions to oblivion by transferring attention to other forms of activity, non-frustration phenomena, etc. In other words, crowding out- voluntary suppression, which leads to a true forgetting of the corresponding mental contents.
One of striking examples displacement can be considered anorexia - refusal to eat. It is a constant and successful suppression of the need to eat. As a rule, "anorexic" repression is a consequence of the fear of gaining weight and, therefore, looking bad. In the clinic of neuroses, the syndrome of anorexia nervosa is sometimes found, which is more common in girls aged 14 to 18 years. During puberty, changes in appearance and body are pronounced. Forming breasts and the appearance of roundness in the thighs of a girl are often perceived as a symptom of incipient fullness. And, as a rule, they begin to struggle with this "completeness". Some adolescents cannot openly refuse the food offered to them by their parents. And therefore, as soon as the meal is over, they immediately go to the toilet room, where they manually induce the gag reflex. This, on the one hand, frees you from the threatening replenishment of food, on the other hand, it brings psychological relief. Over time, a moment comes when the gag reflex is triggered automatically by eating. And the disease is formed. The original cause of the disease has been successfully repressed. The consequences remained. Note that such anorexia nervosa is one of the most difficult to treat diseases.
2. regression is a relatively simple defense mechanism. Social and emotional development is never strictly straightforward; in the process of personality growth, fluctuations are observed that become less dramatic with age, but never completely disappear. The sub-phase of reunification in the process of separation - individuation, becomes one of the tendencies inherent in every person. It is a return to a familiar course of action after a new level of competence has been achieved.
To classify this mechanism, it must be unconscious. Some people use repression as a defense more often than others. For example, some of us react to the stress caused by growth and age-related changes by getting sick. This type of regression, known as somatization, is usually resistant to change and difficult to intervene therapeutically. It is widely known that somatization and hypochondria, like other forms of helplessness and childhood regression, can serve as the cornerstone of personality. Regression to oral and anal relationships in order to avoid oedipal conflicts is quite common in the clinic.
3. intellectualization called a variant of a higher level of isolation of affect from intellect. The person using isolation usually says that they have no feelings, while the person using intellectualization talks about feelings, but in such a way that the listener is left with the impression of a lack of emotion.
Intellectualization holds back the usual overflow of emotions in the same way that isolation holds back traumatic overstimulation. When a person can act rationally in a situation saturated with emotional meanings, this indicates a significant strength of the ego, and in this case the defense is effective.
However, if a person is unable to leave the defensive cognitive unemotional stance, then others tend to intuitively consider it emotionally insincere. Sex, good-natured teasing, display of artistry and other forms of play appropriate for an adult can be unnecessarily limited in a person who has learned to depend on intellectualization to cope with life's difficulties.
4. rationalization is finding acceptable reasons and explanations for acceptable thoughts and actions. Rational explanation as a defense mechanism is aimed not at resolving the contradiction as the basis of the conflict, but at relieving tension when experiencing discomfort with the help of quasi-logical explanations. Naturally, these "justifying" explanations of thoughts and actions are more ethical and noble than the true motives. Thus, rationalization is aimed at preserving status quo life situation and works to hide the true motivation. Protective motives are manifested in people with very strong Super Ego, which, on the one hand, does not seem to allow real motives into consciousness, but, on the other hand, allows these motives to be realized, but under a beautiful, socially approved facade. ...
The most simple example rationalization can be justified by the student who received a deuce. After all, it is so offensive to admit to everyone (and to myself in particular) that it is my own fault - I did not learn the material! Not everyone is capable of such a blow to pride. And criticism from other people who are important to you is painful. So the student justifies himself, comes up with “sincere” explanations: “The teacher had Bad mood, so he gave me deuces and gave everyone for nothing ”, or“ I’m not a favorite, like Ivanov, so he gives me deuces and gives me deuces for the slightest flaws in the answer. ” He explains so beautifully, convinces everyone that he himself believes in all this.
Rationally defenders try to build their concept from different points of view as a panacea for anxiety. Think in advance about all the options for their behavior and their consequences. And emotional experiences are often masked by intensified attempts to rationalize events.
5. moralizing is a close relative of rationalization. When someone rationalizes, he unconsciously looks for reasonable, from a reasonable point of view, justifications for the chosen decision. When he moralizes, it means: he is obliged to follow in this direction. Rationalization shifts what a person wants into the language of reason, moralization directs these desires into the realm of justifications or moral circumstances.
Sometimes moralization can be seen as a more highly developed version of splitting. The inclination to moralize will be a late stage in the primitive tendency of the global division into good and bad. While splitting in a child naturally occurs before the ability of his integrated self to tolerate ambivalence, the decision in the form of moralization through appeal to principles confuses the feelings that the developing self is capable of tolerating. In moralization, one can see the action of the super-ego, although usually rigid and punishable.
6. the term " bias»Refer to the redirection of emotions, preoccupation or attention from an original or natural object to another, because its original direction is alarmingly hidden for some reason.
Passion can also be displaced. Sexual fetishes, apparently, can be explained as a reorientation of interest from a person's genitals to an unconsciously connected area - legs or even shoes.
Anxiety itself is often biased. When a person uses the shift of anxiety from one area to a very specific object that symbolizes frightening phenomena (fear of spiders, fear of knives), then he suffers from a phobia.
Some unfortunate cultural tendencies - like racism, sexism, heterosexism, loud denunciation of social problems by groups deprived of civil rights and those with too little power to assert their rights contain a significant element of bias. Transference, both in clinical and non-clinical manifestations, contains a displacement (of feelings aimed at objects that are important in early childhood) along with projection (internal characteristics of the characteristics of one's own self). Positive types of displacement include the transfer of aggressive energy into creative activity (a huge amount of homework is done if people are in an agitated state), as well as the redirection of erotic impulses from unreal or forbidden sexual objects to an available partner.
7. One time concept sublimation found wide acceptance among the educated public and represented a way of considering various human inclinations. Sublimation is now less viewed in psychoanalytic literature and is becoming less popular as a concept. Initially, it was believed that sublimation is a good defense, thanks to which it is possible to find creative, healthy, socially acceptable or constructive solutions to internal conflicts between primitive aspirations and forbidding forces.
Sublimation was the term Freud originally gave for the socially acceptable expression of biologically based impulses (which include the urge to suck, bite, eat, fight, copulate, look at others and show oneself, punish, hurt, protect offspring, etc.) ... According to Freud, instinctive desires acquire the power of influence due to the circumstances of the individual's childhood; some drives or conflicts take on special meaning and can be directed towards useful creative activity.
This defense is seen as a healthy means of resolving psychological difficulties for two reasons: firstly, it fosters constructive behavior that is beneficial for the group, and secondly, it discharges the impulse instead of spending enormous emotional energy on transforming it into something else (for example as in the case of reactive formation) or to oppose it with an oppositely directed force (denial, repression). Such a discharge of energy is considered positive in nature.
Sublimation remains a concept that is still referred to in psychoanalytic literature if the author points to someone else's found creative and useful way of expressing problematic impulses and conflicts. Contrary to the general misconception that the object of psychotherapy is to get rid of infantile impulses, the psychoanalytic position regarding health and growth implies the idea that the infantile part of our nature continues to exist in adulthood. We have no way to get rid of it completely. We can only contain it more or less successfully.
The goals of analytic therapy include understanding all aspects of one's self (even the most primitive and disturbing ones), developing compassion for oneself (and for others, as a person needs to project and displace previously unrecognized desires to humiliate) and expanding the boundaries of freedom for resolving old conflicts in new ways. These goals do not imply "cleansing" the self from disgusting aspects or blocking primitive desires. It is this that allows us to consider sublimation as the pinnacle of the development of the Ego, explains a lot about the attitude of psychoanalysis to the human being and its inherent capabilities and limitations, and also implies the importance of information from psychoanalytic diagnosis.
It remains to summarize, determine the role and function of protection. It would seem that psycho-protection has noble goals: to remove, stop the severity of psychological experience, emotional hurt by the situation. At the same time, emotional upset by the situation is always negative, always experienced as psychological discomfort, anxiety, fear, horror, etc. but how does this defensive reaction of negative experiences occur? Due to simplification, due to the imaginary palliative resolution of the situation. Due to the fact that a person cannot foresee the impact of his simplified solution to the problem on the future, the defense has a short range: beyond the situation, this particular one, it “sees” nothing.
Protection also has a negative meaning at the level of an individual situation and because the person emotionally experiences a certain relief and this relief, removal of negativity, discomfort occurs when using a specific protective technique. The fact that this success is imaginary, short-term and illusory relief is not realized, otherwise, it is understandable, and the experience of relief would not have come. But, undoubtedly, one thing: when experiencing the onset of relief when using a specific psychological protective technique, this technique is fixed as a skill of behavior, as a habit of solving similar situations in this very psycho-protective way. In addition, energy consumption is minimized every time.
Like every reinforcement, a psychological neoplasm (in our particular case, a protective technique), having once completed its “noble” task of removing the acuteness of psychological experience, does not disappear, but acquires tendencies towards self-reproduction and transfer to similar situations and states, it begins to acquire the status of such a stable education as a psychological property. An ontogenetically similar discrepancy between the good intentions of psychoprotection and its high cost for everyone life path not only persists, but also intensifies.
The use of psychological defense is evidence of an anxious perception of the world, there is an expression of distrust to him, to oneself, to others, there is an expectation of "getting a catch" not only from the environment, but also from his own person, there is an expression of the fact that a person perceives himself as an object of the unknown and formidable forces. The psycho-protective living of life removes from a person his creativity, he ceases to be the creator of his own biography, following the lead of history, society, a reference group, his unconscious drives and prohibitions. The more protection, the less instance "I".
With the development of society, individual methods of psycho-protective regulation also develop. The development of mental neoplasms is endless and the development of forms of psychological defense, because defense mechanisms are inherent in normal and abnormal forms of behavior between healthy and pathological regulation, psycho-protective occupies the middle zone, the gray zone.
Mental regulation by means of defense mechanisms, as a rule, occurs at an unconscious level. Therefore, they, bypassing consciousness, penetrate the personality, undermine its position, weaken its creative potential as a subject of life. The psycho-protective solution of the situation is presented to the deceived consciousness as a valid solution to the problem, as the only possible way out from difficult situation.
Personal development presupposes a readiness for change, a constant increase in one's psychological reliability in various situations. Even a negative emotional state (fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, etc.) can have a useful function for personality development. For example, the same anxiety may be with a tendency to experiment with new situations, and then the function of psycho-protective techniques is more than ambivalent. Aimed at neutralizing the psycho-traumatic impact “here and now,” within the current situation, psycho-protection can cope quite effectively, it saves from the severity of the shock experienced, sometimes providing time, respite for preparing other, more effective ways of experiencing. However, its very use testifies to the fact that, firstly, the palette of the creative interaction of the individual with culture is limited, and the inability to sacrifice the private and the momentary, the fascination with the current situation - all this leads to the curtailment of consciousness towards oneself, to satisfy and diminish the psychological discomfort of any the price; secondly, by substituting a real solution to constantly emerging problems, a solution that may even be accompanied by negative emotional and even existential experiences, comfortable but palliative, the personality deprives itself of the possibility of development and self-actualization. Finally, a psycho-protective existence in life and culture is a complete immersion in norms and rules, an inability to change them. Where the change ends, there begins a pathological transformation and destruction of the personality.
"Protection". The meaning of this word speaks for itself. Protection involves at least two factors. Firstly, if you are defending yourself, then there is a danger of attack; secondly, protection, which means that measures have been taken to repel the attack. On the one hand, it is good when a person is ready for all kinds of surprises, and has in his arsenal the means that will help preserve his integrity, both external and internal, both physical and mental. The feeling of security is one of the basic human needs. But you should get acquainted with the economics of the issue. If all the mental strength of a person is spent on maintaining a sense of security, isn't the price too high? If not to live, but to defend against life, then why is it needed at all? It turns out that the most effective, "global" protection is death or "non-birth"?
All this is only partially true. Under certain circumstances, protective mechanisms, designed in other conditions to help hide feelings, often perform positive functions.
In connection with the foregoing, an understanding of acute actual topic studies of coping mechanisms and their relationship with defense mechanisms. Overcoming and protection are complementary processes: if the potential of coping mechanisms turns out to be insufficient for the psychological processing of affect, then the affect reaches an unacceptable level, and instead of coping mechanisms, defense mechanisms begin to operate. If the potential of protection is also exhausted, then there is a fragmentation of experiences through splitting. The choice of protective mechanisms is also carried out taking into account the degree and type of overloads. (S. Menuos "Key concepts of psychoanalysis", 2001).
The normal coping mechanisms include humorous comprehension of a difficult situation through detached contemplation of certain circumstances that make it possible to discern something funny in them, and the so-called sublimation, which implies the rejection of the desire for direct satisfaction of attraction and the choice of not just acceptable, but beneficially influencing the personality of the way of satisfaction ... It should be noted that only sublimation can be called a mechanism of overcoming, and not any suppression of drives for the sake of observing conventions.
Since virtually any psychological process can be used as a defense, no review and analysis of defenses can be complete. The phenomenon of protection has many aspects that require in-depth study, and if it is developed quite fully in the monpersonal plan, then the interpersonal ones conceal tremendous opportunities for the application of research potential.
The concept of the mechanisms of psychological defense was formed within the framework of the psychoanalytic direction in psychology. Psychological protection consists of a number of specific techniques for processing experiences that neutralize the pathogenic influence that these experiences can have. The concept of psychological defense was introduced by Freud and developed by his daughter A. Freud. The most common definition of Tashlykov: defense mechanisms are "adaptive mechanisms aimed at reducing pathogenic emotional stress, protecting against painful feelings and memories and further development of psychological and physiological disorders." All defense mechanisms have two common characteristics: 1) they are usually unconscious, 2) they distort, deny or falsify reality. The mechanisms of psychological defense differ in the degree of maturity. Repression and denial are considered the most infantile, immature mechanisms - they are characteristic of young children, as well as for the most socially immature personality type - hysterical. Adolescence is more characterized by mechanisms that occupy an intermediate position in terms of maturity: identification and isolation. The most mature defense mechanisms include sublimation, rationalization, and intellectualization. The following mechanisms of psychological defense are most often described.
1. Crowding out. The repression mechanism was described by Freud, who considered it central in the formation of neurotic disorders. Repression is a mechanism of psychological defense by means of which impulses (desires, thoughts, feelings) that are unacceptable to a person, causing anxiety, become unconscious. Repressed (suppressed) impulses, not finding permission in behavior, nevertheless, retain their emotional and psycho-vegetative components. When repressed, the content side of the traumatic situation is not recognized, and the emotional stress caused by it is perceived as unmotivated anxiety.
2. Denial - the mechanism of psychological defense, which consists in denial, unawareness (lack of perception) of any traumatic circumstance. As an outwardly directed process, "denial" is often opposed to "repression" as a psychological defense against internal, instinctive demands and impulses. As a mechanism of psychological defense, denial is realized in any external conflicts and is characterized by a pronounced distortion of the perception of reality, when an individual does not perceive information that contradicts his basic attitudes, ideas about the world and himself.
3. Reactive formations. This type of psychological defense is often identified with overcompensation. Reactive formations include the replacement of "Ego" - unacceptable tendencies for the directly opposite. For example, a child's exaggerated love for one parent can be a transformation of a socially unacceptable feeling of hatred towards him. Pity or caring can be seen as reactive formations in relation to unconscious callousness, cruelty, or emotional indifference.
4. Regression - return to an earlier stage of development or to more primitive forms of behavior, thinking. For example, hysterical reactions such as vomiting, sucking fingers, baby talk, excessive sentimentality, preference for "romantic love" and ignorance of sexual relations in an adult are used when the "ego" is unable to accept reality as it is. Regression, like reactive formations, characterizes an infantile and neurotic personality.
5. Insulation- separation of affect from intellectual functions. Unpleasant emotions are blocked in such a way that the connection between a certain event and its emotional experience does not appear in the mind. In terms of its phenomenology, this psychological defense mechanism resembles the alienation syndrome in psychiatry, which is characterized by the experience of loss of emotional connection with other people.
6. Identification - protection from a threatening object by identifying with it. So, a little boy unconsciously tries to be like his father, whom he fears, and thereby earn his love and respect. Thanks to the identification mechanism, symbolic possession of an unattainable but desired object is also achieved. Identification can occur with almost any object - another person, animal, inanimate object, idea, etc.
7. Projection. The mechanism of projection is based on the process by which unconscious and unacceptable feelings and thoughts for a person are localized outside, attributed to other people. An aggressive person is inclined, evaluating himself as a sensitive, vulnerable and sensitive person, to ascribe aggressive traits to others, projecting onto them responsibility for socially disapproved aggressive tendencies. There are well-known examples of bigotry, when an individual constantly ascribes his own immoral tendencies to others.
8. Substitution (offset). The action of this defense mechanism is manifested in a kind of "release" of suppressed emotions, usually hostility and anger, directed at the weaker, defenseless (animals, children, subordinates). In this case, the subject can perform unexpected, in some cases meaningless actions that resolve internal tension.
9. Rationalization- a pseudo-rational explanation by a person of his desires, actions, in reality, caused by reasons, the recognition of which would threaten the loss of self-esteem. The most striking manifestations of the rationalization mechanism were called “ sour grapes"And" sweet lemon ". Protection of the "sour grape" type consists in devaluing the unattainable, reducing the value of what the subject cannot receive. Protection like "sweet lemon" aims not so much to discredit an unattainable object, but to exaggerate the value of what a person actually possesses. Rationalization mechanisms are most often used in situations of loss, protecting against depressive experiences.
10. Sublimation- psychological protection through desexualization of the initial impulses and their transformation into socially acceptable forms of activity. Aggressiveness can be sublimated in sports, eroticism - in friendship, exhibitionism - in the habit of wearing bright, catchy clothes.
Have you noticed certain behaviors as a standard response to certain life situations? For example, when you are fired from your job explaining the situation to your family, do you blame your boss and say that he constantly nagged, although the situation was not quite the case, and did he have any reason for criticism? Or when you snapped and yelled at another person, is it easier for you to portray them in a negative light? These actions can cause rejection by the society. The surrounding people sometimes write it off as a "complex character". And obviously not everyone thinks that such actions are a typical psychological defense. Let's understand this concept.
What is psychological defense?
This term was introduced back in 1894 by the great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He came to the conclusion that a person can react to unpleasant circumstances for him in two ways: to block them in a conscious state, or to distort these circumstances to such an extent that their scale is significantly reduced or deviated in the other direction.
All defense mechanisms have two characteristics that unite them. First, they are not conscious. A person activates them without realizing it. It's just self-deception. And secondly, the main goal of these mechanisms is to distort or deny reality as much as possible so that it does not seem so alarming or threatening to a person. It is worth noting that often people use several protective mechanisms at once in order to protect their personality from unpleasant, traumatic events. This is by no means a deliberate lie or exaggeration.
Despite the fact that all these protective reactions are aimed at protecting the human psyche, preventing him from falling into depression or experiencing severe stress, they can also be harmful. We cannot live our whole life in a state of denial or blaming everyone around for our troubles, replacing our own reality with a distorted picture that our subconscious has given out.
What are the types of psychological protection?
Let's look at the main defense mechanisms that Sigmund Freud identified. Each person will be able to recognize at least one, or even several mechanisms that were activated by his psyche earlier.
Crowding out. This mechanism is also called “motivated forgetting”. It acts by displacing the traumatic event from the conscious to the subconscious level. But, nevertheless, the problem remains in the human psyche, retains tension with it at the emotional level, and also leaves a mark on human behavior.
Thus, psychological protection in the form of repression can manifest itself in victims of violence, when the shock from the experienced situation is so strong that the psyche simply sends the memory to the depths of the subconscious. A person simply does not remember that some terrible actions were performed on him and lives as he lived before.
But whatever one may say, the repressed memory will make itself felt. This directly affects human behavior. For example, a raped girl, even if she does not remember these terrible events in her life, may show fear, distrust and anxiety in dealing with men in the future. Life in such a state requires constant flow psychological energy... Sometimes the need for the information that has been repressed can come out and manifest itself in the so-called "psychopathology of everyday life" - in dreams, jokes, slips of the tongue and other similar manifestations.
Also, the consequences of repression can be manifested in the presence of psychosexual disorders in a person (such as frigidity or impotence), or in psychosomatic diseases. Repression is the main and most common type of psychological defense. It directly affects other protective mechanisms of the personality, in some cases being their basis.
This type of protection is activated at the moment when a person does not want to be aware of the presence of some traumatic circumstance. For example, a serious illness.
For the first time, we all encounter this mechanism in early childhood. When, having broken mother's favorite vase, the child sincerely declares that he did not do it. In this situation, there are two options: either the baby is very good at deceiving, or he was very afraid that he would be scolded or that his mother would be upset, and his subconscious mind simply supplanted the memory that he really broke this vase.
Projection. The mechanism by which a person attributes his unacceptable feelings, behavior, thoughts to other people or the environment in general. So, within the framework of this mechanism, we can shift the responsibility for our mistakes, failures and mistakes to other people.
A striking example of projection is the case when we transfer our negative qualities (real or imagined) to another person, and feel dislike towards him for this. We do not like him, because on a conscious level we do not understand that we ourselves have the shortcomings that were attributed to him.
Sublimation. This is a psychological defense, which implies a change by a person of his impulses to those that can be expressed in a way that is acceptable to society. Sublimation is the only healthy tactic for controlling impulses that are not accepted by others.
For example, a man who is subconsciously prone to sadism may fulfill his need for writing novels or playing sports. In these types of activities, he can show his superiority over other people, but he can do it in a way that will bring a beneficial result for society. Freud writes in his writings that the sublimation of sexual instincts has become one of the main engines of culture and science in the West. It is this mechanism that led to the rise in ideology, culture and has great importance for modern life.
Reactive education. Such psychological protection works in those moments when a person wants to transform some desires and thoughts unacceptable for society or for himself into completely opposite ones. When, for example, a woman who hates her relative expresses her concern and love for her in every possible way. Or a man who vehemently opposes homosexuals in this way may suppress his tendency to same-sex love.
Because of this distortion of reality, it is difficult to assess objective opinion person. After all, a good attitude can only be suppression of real negative thoughts and desires. But sometimes the defense mechanisms of the personality work and vice versa. For example, when the person expressing anger is actually kind or interested. And feigned or ostentatious hatred is a consequence of relationships or unrequited love, which became a traumatic event for him.
Rationalization. This is a type of defense in which a person tries to explain his mistakes, failures or blunders in terms of logic. And, what is most interesting, he often manages to convince himself and others that everything is in fact all right. So, a man who has been rejected by a woman can inspire himself and his loved ones that she is completely unattractive or has bad character, bad habits etc. That is, as they say: "I didn't really want to." And sometimes we can find defense mechanisms even in fables. Illustrative example rationalization is found in Aesop's fable about the fox and the grapes: the fox heroine could not reach out to pick a bunch of grapes, and began to reassure herself that the berries were not yet ripe.
Depreciation. This psychological defense is one of the most cruel and inhumane types of defense in relation to the outside world. . Because a person with a devalued self (which is often undeserved) tries to devalue the whole world around him, thereby saving his own self-esteem. This mechanism very often works in young people, because in adolescence most of them underestimate themselves, suffer from complexes. And therefore, young people are ironic, trying to ridicule all the shortcomings of society.
This is a type of protection in which a person also tries to create a distorted reality around himself. These psychological mechanisms manifest as fantasies. For example, a person goes to work and visualizes the situation when he finds a case with money. And, naturally, in dreams they are not stolen and earned from someone's misfortune. They are completely "clean", so they fell from the sky right for him. And so a person eventually notices that walking down the street, he looks around, in the depths of his soul hoping to see the same case. Does daydreaming have negative consequences? It depends on the form in which it manifests itself. Sometimes, if we are just dreaming about something, it gives us the opportunity to distract ourselves, relieve tension, think about pleasant things. But sometimes the thought of the object of fantasy becomes obsessive. And if a person quits work and wanders aimlessly through the streets, hoping that he is about to find such a case with money and instantly solve his financial issues, then this is undoubtedly a harmful act of fantasizing. In such cases, defense mechanisms work against ourselves.
Transferred aggression. This is a very common mechanism that uses a large number of of people. Good example: when the head of the family, who on that day could not prove himself at work well and was reprimanded by his superiors, comes and “breaks down” on his relatives. He finds flaws in them, screams, strives to arrange a quarrel, provokes household members in order to free themselves from the negativity that has accumulated in him throughout the day.
In Japan, they figured out how to get rid of this - a rubber doll with the appearance of the head of this enterprise was installed in a specially designated room at enterprises. And next to it there are bats. So, an employee who is dissatisfied with the relationship in the team or criticism of the leader can go and beat his realistic counterpart. This helped reduce scandals at home due to troubles at work. Often, the transferred aggression can manifest itself in somatic diseases, when a responsible, vulnerable, depressed person transfers all the anger for mistakes to himself, his body. Often this can even lead to alcohol dependence.
Insulation. This is a mechanism in which a person seems to divide his personality into two or more, separating the one that does bad deeds. This is an unconscious abstraction from a problem, immersion in which can provoke unpleasant feelings, and even cause a neurotic state. This often manifests itself in childhood, when a child, having done something bad, "turns" into another personality - a mouse or a cartoon character, for example, who admits that a boy or girl did something bad, but not him, "mouse ".
Regression. This is a transition to a simpler, more primitive level of functioning. It is characteristic of individuals who are prone to hysteria. They are often infantile, which is why the transition to childish behavior and the refusal to take responsibility is almost a natural reaction to unpleasant events... Some researchers are inclined to believe that personality regression is one of the reasons for the development of schizophrenia.
Are defense mechanisms good or bad?
It would seem that psychological defense in many cases works against a person, immersing him in an environment of distorted reality. His attitudes, actions and thoughts are adjusted to it, which is a negative influence.
But, nevertheless, in the absence of psychological protection, it would be incredibly difficult for people to endure stressful situations... The news of an illness or a problem at work could provoke severe mental or physical illness.
You cannot blame a person who fantasizes too much, substitutes for concepts or does not want to accept certain events in his life. It is possible that he does not do it intentionally, unconsciously.
And in order to smooth " side effects»Psychological defense, it is necessary to work not on changing the behavior of a person, but on eliminating the consequences of the trauma, which became the provocateur of activating the defense.
The human psyche is equipped with mechanisms that help us instinctively defend our own self. Using them helps make our experience less traumatic, but at the same time reduces our chances of successfully interacting with reality. According to the author of the book "Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms", daughter of Sigmund Freud Anna Freud, each of us uses about five such strategies every day. T&P explains why sublimation is not always about creativity, how projection leads us to criticize innocent people, and why auto-aggression is related to family problems.
Denial: no acknowledgment of the problem
Denial is one of the simplest defense mechanisms in the psyche. This is a complete rejection of unpleasant information, which allows you to effectively fence yourself off from it. A classic example of this is the situation when you drink several glasses of wine or beer every day for a long time, but at the same time you remain confident that you can give up your habit at any time. Denial is characterized by an acute reaction to the posing of the problem: if someone in this case hints to you that you have become addicted to alcohol, that person is likely to suffer from your fit of anger.
Denial often becomes the first reaction to the pain of loss and is the first “stage of grief” according to some experts (however, in this case, it is also called the “stage of distrust”). A person who suddenly lost his job will say: "It can't be!" A witness to a car accident who has tried to help the victims may not immediately come to terms with the fact that one of them has stopped breathing. In this case, this mechanism does not protect anyone except the person who unconsciously uses it - however, in situations where a cold mind is needed, the denial of danger or one's own shock can be very useful for all participants in the events.
Projection: take out
Projection allows us to transfer our destructive or unacceptable thoughts, desires, traits, opinions and motives to other people. The goal is to defend against oneself or to delay the solution of the problem. For example, a person may think that a partner is critical of his earnings, when in fact there is nothing like that on the part of a partner. If such a person overcomes his projection and realizes the situation, he will see that the criticism comes from himself, and it is based on, say, the negative opinion of his parents who insisted on his failure.
A negative consequence of the projection can be the desire to "fix" the object, which supposedly serves as a carrier of unpleasant traits, or to get rid of it altogether. Moreover, such an external "carrier" sometimes has nothing to do with what is projected onto it. At the same time, the mechanism of projection underlies empathy - our ability to share their feelings with others, delve deeply into what is not happening to us, and reach mutual understanding with others.
Auto-aggression: blame yourself
Autoaggression, or turning against oneself, is a very destructive defense mechanism. It is often characteristic of children who are going through difficult moments in their relationship with their parents. It can be hard for a person to admit that their parent is being dismissive or aggressive towards them, and instead assumes that they are bad. Self-blame, self-humiliation, self-harm, self-destruction due to drugs or alcohol, excessive passion for the dangerous aspects of extreme sports - all these are the results of the work of this mechanism.
Autoaggression occurs most often when our survival or well-being depends on the external object that caused its appearance. But despite the many negative consequences of this process, from an emotional point of view, it can be tolerated better than aggression directed at the original target: a parent, guardian or other important figure.
Sublimation: the backbone of pop culture
Sublimation is one of the most widely used defense mechanisms in the psyche. In this case, the energy of unwanted, traumatic, or negative experiences is redirected towards the achievement of socially approved constructive goals. It is often used by people creative professions, including the famous. Songs about unrequited love or books about dark periods of life are often the fruit of sublimation. This is what makes them understandable - and ultimately popular.
However, sublimation can be more than just literary or "pictorial." Sadistic desires can be sublimated in the course of surgical practice, and unwanted (for example, from the point of view of religion) sexual attraction - in the creation of brilliant works of architecture (as was the case in the case of Antoni Gaudi, who led an extremely ascetic lifestyle). Sublimation can also be part of the psychotherapeutic process, when the client throws out his inner conflicts through creativity: he creates texts, pictures, scripts and other works that allow him to bring the personality into balance.
Regression: return to childhood
The regression mechanism allows us to adapt to a traumatic situation of conflict, anxiety or pressure by returning to the usual practices of behavior since childhood: screaming, crying, whims, emotional requests, etc. This happens because we, as a rule, learn early that it is they that guarantee support and safety. Demonstration of defenselessness, morbidity, inferiority very often brings psychological "dividends" - after all, people, like other living beings, at the neurophysiological level tend to protect the weak and small - that is, offspring, and not only their own.
Regression allows you to throw off the burden of responsibility for what is happening: after all, in childhood, our parents are responsible for many things instead of us. This defense mechanism can be called very effective and rather problem-free. Difficulties arise when it works for too long. Abuse of regression leads to the appearance of psychosomatic diseases, hypochondria, the lack of a successful life strategy, the destruction of relationships with people around.
Rationalization: explanations for everything
Rationalization is the ability to carefully select suitable reasonable causes for a negative situation. The goal here is self-conviction that we are not to blame, that we are good enough or significant enough that the problem is not with us. A person who is refused an interview may convince himself and others that he did not need such a job or that the company was too "boring" - when in reality he experienced the strongest regret. “I didn't really want to,” is a classic phrase for rationalization.
Passive behavior can be rationalized by caution, aggressive behavior by self-defense, and indifferent behavior by the desire to give others more independence. The main result of this mechanism is the alleged restoration of balance between the desired and real state of affairs and the degree of self-esteem. However, rationalization often does not completely eliminate the negative effects of the traumatic situation, so that it continues to hurt for a long time.
Intellectualization: theoretical feelings
Intellectualization allows us to neutralize anger, grief, or pain by redirecting our attention to a completely foreign area. A man recently abandoned by his spouse can do anything free time devote to the study of history Ancient rome- and this will allow him to "not think so much" about the loss. This mechanism of psychological defense is based on the desire to abstract from feelings and intellectualize them, turning them into theoretical concepts.
The behavior of the intellectualizing person is often perceived as adult and mature, and this makes this form of protection socially attractive. It also has another plus: intellectualization allows one to reduce dependence on one's own emotions and "cleanse" behavior from them. Nevertheless, long-term use of this mechanism is fraught with the destruction of emotional ties with the outside world, a decrease in the ability to understand and discuss feelings with other people.
Reactive education: fighting instead of hugs
Reactive education is a kind of behavioral magic. This defense strategy allows you to turn negative into positive - and vice versa. We often see its effects, harmless and not so. Boys pull on the braids of girls they like; people of the older generation speak with condemnation of the promiscuity of young people and seek to humiliate them, while in reality open clothing and provocative style make them attracted. Reactive education often betrays his inadequacy of the situation and periodic "breakthroughs" of true feelings through the mask.
Homophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of rejection of social and ethnic groups are also sometimes the result of reactive education. In this case, with the help of the defense mechanism, one's own attraction or one's own connection with a national group, which for some reason is considered unacceptable, is neutralized. This use of the defense mechanism harms other people, but at the same time does not eliminate the inner conflict in the person who uses it, and does not increase his level of awareness.
Substitution: transferring anger
Substitution allows you to transfer unwanted feelings (especially anger and irritation) from one object to another in order to protect yourself. The person who was yelled at by the boss may not answer him, but yell at his child at home in the evening. He needs to take out the anger that has arisen, but doing this in communication with the boss is dangerous, but the child can hardly give a worthy rebuff.
A random object can also become a substitution object. In this case, the effect of this protection mechanism is, for example, rudeness in transport or rudeness at the workplace. An unfinished drawing torn in anger is also a form of substitution, however, it is much more harmless.
Fantasy: Brave New World
Fantasies allow you to temporarily improve your emotional state through the work of your imagination. Dreams, reading, playing computer games and even watching porn give us the opportunity to move from a difficult situation to where we will be more comfortable. From the point of view of psychoanalysis, the emergence of fantasies is due to the desire to fulfill, satisfy and fulfill desires that have not yet been satisfied in the real world.
Fantasy dampens suffering and helps to calm the personality. Nevertheless, the psyche is not always able to fully recognize where reality ends and the imaginary world begins. In the era of development information technologies a person can enter into a relationship with a media image, dreaming about a favorite actress or interacting with a character they like computer game... The destruction of such a relationship due to unsuccessful contact with the real content of the image or unpleasant situations will be experienced as real loss and will bring emotional pain. Fantasy can also distract a person from the real world. At the same time, they often become fertile ground for creativity and form the basis of successful works, bearing positive results in reality.