Defence Mechanisms

12 Key excerpts on "Defence Mechanisms"

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  Introduction to Psychoanalysis

  Contemporary Theory and Practice

  • Anthony W. Bateman, Jeremy Holmes, Anthony Bateman(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 4 Mechanisms of Defence DOI: 10.4324/9780203133057-4 The ego makes use of various procedures for fulfilling its task, which, to put it in general terms, is to avoid danger, anxiety and unpleasure. We call these procedures ‘mechanisms of defence’. (Freud 1937 : 235) We saw in Chapter 2 how models of the mind may be divided into those that are predominantly intrapsychic, interpersonal or mixed. Similarly, the concept of defence, and even the individual Defence Mechanisms themselves, may also be viewed from an intrapsychic, interpersonal/ relational or mixed point of view. Some defences refer primarily to internal life (for example, repression), others to interactional or interpersonal phenomena (for example, projective identification, splitting), and yet others to both, such as denial. The Concept of Defence Classical psychoanalysis views defences primarily from an intrapsychic perspective, placing conflict at the heart of psychic life. First, conflict occurs between wishes and external reality which produces inner tension and anxiety. Second, conflict develops between the different agencies of the mind. Adaptation is made possible by defences. These are psychological configurations operating outside the realm of consciousness which minimise conflict, reduce tension, maintain intrapsychic equilibrium, regulate self-esteem and play a central role in dealing with anxiety whether it arises from internal or external sources. Repression Repression, the pushing back of unacceptable wishes from consciousness, is the classical primary mechanism of defence. Repression ensures that wishes which are incompatible with reality, superego demands, or other impulses, remain unconscious or disguised

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  The Psychology of Adaptation To Absurdity

  Tactics of Make-believe

  • Seymour Fisher, Rhoda L. Fisher, Rhoda Fisher(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 7

  CLASSICAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS

  Any endeavor concerned with the tactics of illusion construction must scan the nature of the classical defense mechanisms. As can be seen, such mechanisms represent the everyday tactics of adaptation to all of the things in life that are fear provoking, puzzling, or not easily handled within a strictly rational or logical frame of reference.

  As is well known, Sigmund Freud and other psychoanalytic pioneers (especially Anna Freud) described ways in which individuals who find life to be puzzling or difficult try to reshape their experiences into more palatable versions. Persons are said to make use of various “defense mechanisms,” which permit them to edit selectively what is happening to them and to conjure up narratives that are less puzzling, less scary, and more triumphant. An internal feeling or emotion that is alien to one’s ego ideal can be projected onto a bad other. A memory of villainous action on one’s part can be shoved into the recesses of the repressed. One’s unacceptably intense anger can be transformed so that it appears to be a diametrically opposite brand of affect. Psychoanalytic observers originally told us that the persons who came to them for treatment were constantly utilizing defense mechanisms to adjust their images of reality. However, as more and more research data have accumulated, we learn that defense mechanisms flourish in those who are troubled enough to seek therapeutic help as well as in the average citizen. It is not unusual to repress, to project, to rationalize, and to engage in all of the other varieties of defensive maneuvers.

  The best evidence of the urgent need to defensively camouflage emerges when persons do scientific work. The scientific establishment starts out with the assumption that individual scientists innocently and unconsciously shape their observations so that they will match preconceived notions and hypotheses. It is accepted that, even with the best intentions, scientists will cleverly find ways to make “reality” conform to some ego-invested paradigm. That is why such procedures as “random assignment,” “double blind,” and statistical tests of significance are required for experimental designs. However, what is truly startling is that, even though strict, suspicious restraints are applied to investigators, they often manage to shade (for the most part without deliberate intent) their findings in their own favor. Their own psychological needs drive them to use subtle defense mechanisms, which render their data more ego-syntonic (e.g., Rosenthal, 1966). There are endless examples of such phenomena.

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  Encyclopedia of Emotion

  [2 volumes]

  • Gretchen M. Reevy(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  Defense mechanisms are also central in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theory. Defense mechanisms are the means through which individuals keep mental processes and content outside awareness. Defense mechanisms also usually serve as ways to ex- press the unconscious factors. Each person tends to have favorite defense mechanisms, ones that he uses with regularity. Some examples are projection (attributing one’s own qualities, often negative qualities, to someone else), denial (pretending that an event, reality, or one’s own impulse does not exist), and reaction formation (behaving in a way opposite to the way one actually feels unconsciously, for instance, expressing love when one feels unconscious hatred). When bringing the unconscious mind into con- sciousness, theoretically, the need for defense mechanisms will decrease. The psychodynamic and psychoanalytic perspectives take a developmental approach to personality and emphasize the importance of childhood experiences. Childhood re- lationships, especially with parents, are presumed to influence the dynamics present in adult relationships. This is not to say that other influences on present relationships are completely ignored, such as biological factors or current social circumstances, but rather that childhood experiences tend to be the focus. Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychologists are also interested in an individ- ual’s subjective and phenomenological experience—how he experiences himself, other people, and the world in general. Other approaches in psychology, such as cogni- tive and phenomenological approaches, also have this emphasis. Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychologists differ, however, in weighting unconscious experience at least as highly as conscious experience. Additionally, in the psychodynamic and psy- choanalytic approaches, emotions are emphasized over cognitions.

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  Defense Mechanisms in the Counseling Process

  • Arthur J. Clark(Author)
  • 1998(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  In addition to an awareness of the impact and significance of defense mechanisms in counseling, other aspects of the defenses contribute to a comprehensive understanding of their function and characteristics. A surprisingly large number of defenses and definitions of defense mechanisms have been proposed in the literature since Sigmund Freud’s earliest formulation of the construct, late in the 19th century. An examination of the specific properties of the defenses assists in clarifying a reasonable working number for counseling purposes. Attempts to assess defense mechanisms also have a lengthy history, although many psychometric instruments and procedures are not directly relevant to counseling. Any review of defense mechanisms must make a determination as to the selection of defenses to be included; specified here are 10 classic mechanisms that clients frequently employ in counseling. An understanding of the nature of defenses assists the counselor when processing client mechanisms in counseling through a coherent and systematic therapeutic model.

  SIGNIFICANCE OF DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN COUNSELING

  Client use of defense mechanisms frequently restricts the development of open communication and trust in the counseling relationship. If a counselor indiscriminately challenges individuals’ defenses, the counseling alliance may be jeopardized, and those mechanisms become further entrenched. Yet if a counselor is reluctant to explore dynamics of client defenses, affect and conflicts relating to the mechanisms may remain fragmented and therapeutically inaccessible. Failure to adequately process defenses also precludes the opportunity to clarify clients’ subjective distortions inherent in the mechanisms. Individuals who rely on defenses to avoid or escape uncomfortable situations often encounter interpersonal difficulties, and social context is a key dynamic in the operation of the mechanisms. Counselors may understandably be hesitant about challenging clients’ defenses because of uncertainties about how to proceed once defenses are observed, as multiple defenses may be operating at the same time. It is possible, however, to identify and describe a comprehensive approach in working with client defenses that is both supportive and challenging.

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  Introduction to the Practice of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

  • Alessandra Lemma(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Inhibition, Symptoms and Anxiety, Freud (1926) established the central role of anxiety and conflict in psychopathology. He also broadened the concept of defence. Prior to 1926, Freud had conceived of defence as synonymous with repression – a kind of pushing away from consciousness of disturbing thoughts or feelings. In 1926, he came to understand repression to be one of many Defence Mechanisms.

  Any behaviour or feeling3 can be used defensively, that is, whatever allows for an alleviation of psychic pain belongs under the heading of defence. Brenner (1982) suggests that “modes of defence are as diverse as psychic life itself”. It is the psychic function of a behaviour or feeling that determines whether it is being used defensively, for example, whether it protects self-esteem.

  Defences are often used to manage interpersonal anxiety generated, for instance, by a fear of being taken over or controlled by the other or of becoming too intimate. Such object-related defences, are once again, varied. For example, some people may use distancing to protect themselves from intimacy; others may become obstinate as a way of controlling others and others still may become passive as a way of discharging hostility towards other people.

  As we have seen, the core function of defences is to ward off threatening psychic impulses or anxiety. The ego can use defensively any perception or alteration of awareness, which minimises distress. There are defences that destroy or attack a mental process and leave the patient bereft of his own mental capacities (e.g. attacks on thinking as a defence against understanding something painful) and defences that destroy a mental representation (e.g. splitting the representation of a significant other reducing them to a part object). Let us look at an example of each.

  When I first assessed Dave, he rather blandly described everything in his life as “Going OK”. He had sought therapy because his doctor had referred him as he was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. He came across as being disconnected from his feelings. His affect was predominantly flat.

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  It's an Emotional Game

  Learning about Leadership from Football

  • Lionel F. Stapley(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In its most primitive form, repression would take care of a desire that has become unobtainable and does not yet have any substitute or derivative desires. As in the example above, the more difficult it gets, the more it will take on the character of ‘mourning’. Once all repressions have been completed, mourning is over. For a manager who is trying to understand why other team members are not performing in a motivated fashion, they might consider that what is happening can be explained by repression. This may be expressed in behaviour such as laziness, social withdrawal, secretiveness and indecision, all of which are of value to the individual in reducing anxiety. For the manager the challenge is to help team members by doing all they can to help reduce anxiety so that reality-based solutions can be found. Repression of this kind is the most primitive of all the Defence Mechanisms. We shall see that all other forms of Defence Mechanisms use, among other things, substitution of another object or of a derivative desire. Repression in its most primitive form does not.

  Defence Mechanisms

  Defence Mechanisms are specific types of learning not to like. In the following paragraphs I shall try to explain some of those that we more frequently use. Several are referred to in everyday conversation and will be familiar to the reader. All of these unconscious psychological techniques of thinking and feeling, have the objective of reducing anxiety from stress and conflict among different needs. As with much of our behaviour Defence Mechanisms are not to be regarded as good or bad. Above all, they serve a useful and necessary purpose of reducing anxiety.

  Displacement

  A frequently used defence mechanism is that known as ‘displacement’. As its name implies this is the substitution of one desire by another or of one object of satisfaction by another. For example, during a football match a team member may become angry because the team are losing and develop a desire to hit the referee, but, fortunately for all concerned, when leaving the field of play they kick the changing room door instead. What they are doing is displacing or substituting their desire to hit the referee onto an inanimate object. You will note here that although it is a door, the same feelings are associated with this object as with the referee. Displacement refers to some acute impossibility to satisfy one desire and its ready substitution by another. Thus, in the example above, the original desire of the team member would possibly have concerned success and achievement, but being unsuccessful in satisfying that desire they substitute a desire to hit the referee. There is no reference as to what will become of the desire in the long run. However, there is a reference to the degree of control involved. It is a more primitive desire that gets satisfied, be it for no other reason than that the object (the door) matters less than were the team member to satisfy the original desire.

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  Reading Anna Freud

  • Nick Midgley(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Once again, a number of colleagues followed Freud in paying greater attention to these defensive processes, including Reich (1928), Glover (1930), Klein (1932) and Nunberg (1931), but it was Anna Freud who tried to systematise the psychoanalytic knowledge of the Defence Mechanisms and explain their workings within a broader model of personality development and psychopathology. Not content with cataloguing the Defence Mechanisms which had already been identified in her father’s work (such as repression, reaction-formation, regression, undoing, isolation, introjection, identification, projection, turning against the self, reversal and sublimation), Anna Freud also asked the more profound questions: What is it that the mind is protecting itself from when it makes use of defensive mechanisms? How do these mechanisms develop? Are some mechanisms of defence more ‘primitive’ and some more ‘mature’? Are there other Defence Mechanisms besides those already identified by Sigmund Freud? And what is the connection between Defence Mechanisms, psychopathology, and mental health and well-being?

  Why does the mind need to use defensive mechanisms?

  Although Anna Freud accepted Freud’s definition of the mechanisms of defence as ‘all the techniques which the ego makes use of in conflicts which may lead to a neurosis’ (S. Freud, 1926: 163), in the course of her book she actually considerably expands the meaning of the term, looking at the ways in which the mind protects itself from all kinds of painful or unpleasant feelings (not just conflicts), both in the course of normal development and in neurosis.

  The area that was already most familiar to psychoanalysis was the way in which the psyche responds to anxiety related to internal conflicts between an (unconscious) wish and the part of the mind that rejects such wishes. In neurosis, this can be understood as ‘super-ego anxiety’, which from Anna Freud’s perspective forms the basis of all neurosis in adults. As she explains it, ‘some instinctual wish seeks to enter consciousness … but the super-ego protects. The ego submits to the higher institution and obediently enters into a struggle against the instinctual impulse … Its defence is motivated by super-ego anxiety’ (1936: 58–59).

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  Psychology for Actors

  Theories and Practices for the Acting Process

  • Kevin Page(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  one lens among many, the Freudian could certainly suggest interpretations that might be combined with other lenses to create a very richly textured overall performance. Many other lenses will be introduced and explored in the following chapters.

  Exploring Defense Mechanisms

  Revealing the nature and prevalence of psychic defense mechanisms was one of Freud’s major contributions to modern Western psychology. Most people are aware, at least to some degree, of the kinds of defenses that Freud described, and the words for these defenses have passed into the common vernacular. “You’re being defensive,” or “That’s a rationalization,” or “She’s projecting that feeling” are all common phrases in our everyday language. But how much do you really know about how you personally use defense mechanisms? As stated before, actors are required to have extraordinary self-understanding and awareness, and so knowing how your own defense mechanisms work is a prerequisite to becoming a successful performer.

  A Map of Your Own Defenses

  Either journal or record notes about the following introspections for later review. If any of these activities make you extremely uncomfortable or upset (beyond what you consider to be your own natural resistance), feel free to skip this exercise or the portion that seems to be causing distress. Different people have different levels of tolerance for self-reflection, so while you are encouraged to be brave in your self-explorations, you are also cautioned to respect your own limits.

  Take a few moments to center yourself and turn your attention inward. Once you are fully relaxed, try to remember one of your most embarrassing or awkward moments, perhaps a time when you were caught doing something that you knew was wrong, were publicly humiliated, or were emotionally rejected by someone important to you. Try to fully recall the circumstances and emotions surrounding the event. Is this difficult for you to do? Do you find yourself resisting the memories? Can you recall if you used any defense mechanisms at the time, such as rationalization, denial, or projection? How does the memory make you feel now?

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  Psychotherapy Meets Emotional Neuroscience

  The Two Minds of Cognition and Feeling

  • Gilbert Pugh(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The denial, by some, of the catastrophic, long-term effects of global warming is an example of how a mental defence could have disastrous consequences for the future integrity of the planet. In defying both science and logic, denial in this case, might be described as psychotic blindness. Permitting the sale of automatic firearms on the grounds of individual freedoms is another example of dangerous, crooked thinking involving the denial of reality.

  Some authors divide the mechanisms of defence into early and immature defences and later, more mature ones. The idea here is that the earliest defences serve the purpose of organising the child’s sense of self whereas the later ones of maintaining this integrity. If we glance at the defences outlined above, projection, denial, and dissociation involve rather more drastic mental somersaults than displacement, identification and repression which can be said to be more adaptive. Although a great deal more research is needed to understand the methods of defence that the brain employs, it does seem developmentally, that mental defences impose a useful buffer before physical defences are employed.

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  Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms in Cognitive Multi-Agent Systems

  • Friedrich Gelbard(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In [NTNI99], the defense mechanism repression is used to repress Ego events and to substitute the Ego events by different ones. This is not in accordance with psychoanalytic literature [FF09, p. 35]. There the defense mechanism repression represses “undesirable id impulses.”

  Furthermore, Nitta et al. mention four defense mechanisms: repression, denial, projection, and reaction formation [NTNI99, p. 342]. Only the functionality of repression is described [NTNI99, p. 344–354]. Nitta et al. do not describe how they intend to implement defense mechanisms other than repression.

  Furthermore, Nitta et al. lacks a practical implementation of the theory introduced in [NTNI99].

  2.2.3 Psychodynamic architecture

  In 2003, Buller explains his Volitron architecture [Bul03] and gives arguments for psychoanalytic notions in artificial intelligence [Bul05]. Buller builds a model of the human cognitive processes based on the concept of psychodynamics. S. Freud describes psychodynamics as a flow of psychic energy and uses the theory of psychodynamics to describe the interplay of psychological forces [Hor88], [16] . Buller postulated his model based on the crucial role of unconscious processes, existence of mental forces, and defense mechanisms. To use the concept of psychodynamics, Buller includes technical interpretations of the psychoanalytic terms tensions, thoughts, feelings, pleasures, wishes, and conflicts.

  The main aspects of his work in [Bul03] are four different realities: the perceived reality, the desired reality, the ideal reality, and the anticipated reality. Buller speaks of “predicted behaviors of objects of interest” (people, animals, other robots, etc.) to anticipate reality [Bul03, p. 1]. The difference between perceived reality and desired reality causes tension and motivation to take action to alter the environment. If the action plan does not alter the environment satisfyingly, defense mechanisms can alter realities in order to reduce tension.

  Psychoanalytic tension has a pivotal role in Buller’s model [Bul03, pp. 1–2]. Buller translates the tendency of the human mind to avoid negative tensions (unpleasure) and to strive toward defusing tensions into implementable aspects of his psychodynamic model. Buller introduces the term memes

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  The Psychoanalytic Theory Of Neurosis

  • Otto Fenichel(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter IX The Mechanisms of Defense

  DOI: 10.4324/9780203981580-9

  Classification of Defenses

  EGO defenses may be divided into (a) successful defenses which bring about a cessation of that which is warded off, and (b) unsuccessful defenses which necessitate a repetition or perpetuation of the warding-off process to prevent the eruption of the warded-off impulses.

  Pathogenic defenses, which are at the basis of neuroses, belong to the second category: when opposed impulses cannot find discharge, but remain in suspension in the unconscious and are still heightened by the continued functioning of their physical sources, a state of tension results and a break-through may occur.

  Hence the successful defenses are of less importance in the psychology of neuroses; they are actually less understood (cf. 1032). However, the borderlines between the two categories are not always sharply defined, and sometimes it is not possible to distinguish between “a drive changed by the influence of the ego” and “a drive that breaks through in a distorted way against the will of the ego and unrecognized by it.” The latter type of impulse will produce cramped attitudes, will repeat itself again and again, will never permit full relaxation, and will cause fatigue.

  Sublimation

  The successful defenses may be placed under the heading sublimation. This term does not designate a specific mechanism; various mechanisms may be used in successful defenses, such as a change from passivity to activity, a turning round upon the subject, a reversal of aim into its opposite (588). The common factor is that under the influence of the ego, aim or object (or both) is changed without blocking an adequate discharge. (The factor of valuation usually included in the definition of sublimation had better be omitted [127, 137].) Sublimation is to be differentiated from defenses that use countercathexes; sublimated impulses find their outlet, though drained via an artificial route; whereas the others do not. In sublimation, the original impulse vanishes because its energy is withdrawn in favor of the cathexis of its substitute. In the other defenses the libido of the original impulse is held in check by a high countercathexis (555, 1499).

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  Metapsychology and the Foundations of Psychoanalysis

  Attachment, neuropsychoanalysis and integration

  • Simon Boag(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3REPRESSION AND THE METAPSYCHOLOGY OF DEFENCE

  Introduction

  While, for Freud, drives and affects provide the foundations of personality, it is conflict, repression, and defence that provide the foundations for psychoanalytic theory generally and his metapsychology specifically. Freud declared that the “theory of repression is the corner-stone on which the whole structure of psycho-analysis rests” (Freud, 1914d, p. 16; cf. Freud, 1925d, p. 30) and a simple reason for this concerns the effects of repression. Freud (1915d) writes that “the essence of repression lies simply in turning something away, and keeping it at a distance, from the conscious ” (p. 147, his italics), and the targets of repression are typically desires and wishes (‘instinctual representatives’—Freud, 1915d) that invoke anxiety and are blocked from both awareness and being acted upon. These targets, however, fuelled by their endogenous sources, are not thereafter destroyed but instead persist and remain causally active (Freud, 1900a, p. 577; 1915e, p. 166; 1919g, p. 260; 1933a, p. 68; 1939a, p. 95), which then allows Freud to explain the symptoms of the psychoneuroses and other phenomena, such as dreams and slips, in terms of repressed wishes, blocked from primary sources of gratification, acquiring substitutive ones (e.g. Freud, 1926f, p. 267; 1939a, p. 127). Conflict and repression thus provide Freud with a dynamic explanation of psychoneurotic symptoms, and indeed the mind generally:

  We seek not merely to describe and to classify phenomena, but to understand them as signs of an interplay of forces in the mind, as a manifestation of purposeful intentions working concurrently or in mutual opposition. We are concerned with a dynamic view of mental phenomena.

  (Freud, 1916–1917, p. 67, his italics)

  The mind is thus pictured as an economy of competing motives, underlying both normal and pathological behaviour. In fact, writes Freud, given that impulses are generally not afforded free reign, “the maintenance of certain internal resistances is a sine qua non of normality” (Freud, 1940a[1938], p. 161), and thus repression is part of everyday human existence and even necessary for adaptive functioning. However, if there was any room left for doubting the centrality of repression in Freud’s thinking, repression is also a cornerstone in terms of clinical practice. From very early, Freud recognised that repression manifests itself in therapy as resistance

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