DEFENSE MECHANISM
OBJECTIVES:
 To define what is defense
mechanism
To distinguish the importance of
defense mechanism
To apply the values of defense
mechanism
DEFENSE MECHANISM
 In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, defense mechanisms are
unconscious psychological strategies brought into play by various
entities to cope with reality and to maintain self-image.
 White and Gilliland (1975) stated that the term mechanisms of
defense refers to the various automatic, involuntary, and
unconsciously instituted psychological activities by which the
human being attempts to exclude unacceptable urges or impulses
from awareness.
 According to American Psychiatric Association (1994), “defense
mechanisms are patterns of feelings, thoughts, or behaviors that are
relatively involuntary. They arise in response to perceptions of
psychic danger or conflict, to unexpected change in the internal or
external environment, or in response to cognitive dissonance.”
Therefore,
The individual has devices for
protecting
himself
against
psychological dangers & distress.
These protective devices are known
as ego defences or defence
mechanism or mental mechanism or
dynamism.
HISTORY
The concept of defense first appeared in Sigmund Freud’s
article "The Neuro-Psychoses of defense" (1894) and was
next discussed in "Further Remarks on the Neuro-Psychoses
of defense" (1896) and "The Aetiology of Hysteria" (1896).
For Freud, the concept of defense refers to the ego's
attempts at psychic transformation in response to
representations and affects that are painful, intolerable, or
unacceptable.
He abandoned the concept of defense for a period in
favor of the concept of repression. He then reintroduced it
in "Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia and
Homosexuality" (1922).
In an appendix to Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety
(1926), Freud reverted to the old concept of defense.
He also retained the word “repression” for special
method of defense.
Freud's list of basic Defense Mechanisms includes:
Denial, Displacement, Intellectualization, Projection,
Rationalization, Reaction formation, Regression,
Repression and Sublimition.
The first comprehensive study of defense mechanisms
was reported by Anna Freud in her landmark work, The
Ego and the Mechanisms of defense (1937).
PURPOSE OF DEFENSE MECHANISM
 Allow individuals a period of respite to master changes in selfimage that cannot be immediately integrated, as might result
from puberty, an amputation, or a promotion (i.e., changes in
reality).
 Deflect or deny sudden increases in biological drives. Awareness
of instinctual wishes is usually diminished; alternatively,
antithetical wishes may be passionately adhered to.
 Enable individuals to mitigate unresolved conflicts with important
people, living or dead.
 Keep anxiety, shame, and guilt within bearable limits during
sudden conflicts with conscience and culture.
NARCISSISTIC
DEFENSES
IMMATURE
DEFENSES
DEFENSES
MATURE DEFENSES
ANXIETY
DEFENSES
NARCISSISTIC
DEFENSES
1) PROJECTION
2) DENIAL
3) SPLITTING
PROJECTION
One’s own unacceptable feelings &
thoughts are expressed as if they are due
to others.
DENIAL
 The individual does not accept the REALITY/existence
of something that is disturbing.
SPLITTING
People or things in world are perceived as
all bad or all good
IMMATURE
DEFENSES
1) REGRESSION
2) BLOCKING
3) INTROJECTION
4) SOMATIZATION
REGRESSION
Returning to an earlier stage of development.
“acting childish”
BLOCKING
Temporary or transient block in thinking, or
inability to remember.
In the middle of the
conversation a
woman pauses , looks confused
& asked ,
“What was I just talking about”
INTROJECTION
Identifying with some idea or object so
deeply that it becomes a part of that
person.
EXAMPLE:
•A teenager adopts the style &
mannerisms of a rock star.
SOMATIZATION
Psychic derivatives are converted into
bodily symptoms.
ANXIETY DEFENSES
1) REGRESSION
2) BLOCKING
3) INTELLECTUALIZATION
4) ISOLATION OF AFFECT
DISPLACEMENT
Changing the target of an emotion or drive ,
while the person having the feeling remains
the same.
REPRESSION
Strong
emotional
ideas
or
unpleasant
memories which do not fit in with our social
values & norms , are split off from consciousness
& thrown into the unconscious.
You forget, then forget that
you forgot.
INTELLECTUALIZATION
Affect is stripped away & replaced by an
excessive use of intellectual processes.
Cognition replaces affect. The intellectual
content is academically, but not humanly,
relevant.
ISOLATION OF AFFECT
Reality is accepted, but without the expected
human emotional response to that reality.
A child who has
been beaten
discusses the
beatings without
any display of
emotions.
MATURE DEFENSES
1)
2)
3)
HUMOR
Permits the overt expression of feelings
and thoughts without personal discomfort.
SUBLIMATION
When people channel impulses into socially
acceptable behavior.
SUPPRESSION
Conscious decision to postpone attention to an
impulse or conflict, conscious setup &
unconscious follow-through. The suppressed
content temporarily resides in the unconscious.
DENIAL
DISPLACEMENT
If you are yelled at by
your boss you can’t
yell back you’ll get
fired! So, you go home
and yell at your loved
ones!
INTELLECTUALIZATION
A boy is about to ask a girl out on a
date 4 the 1st time talks with his friend
about the importance of mating
rituals for the long term survival of the
species & the mechanisms by which
societies arrange 4 these rituals.
PROJECTION
A man who has committed
adultery becomes convinced
that his wife is having an affair
even though there is no evidence
of it.
REGRESSION
A husband speaks to
his wife in a “baby
talk”
REPRESSION
A man has a phobia of
snakes but cannot
remember the first time
he was afraid of them.
SOMATIZATION
Getting a headache
while taking an exam.
SPLITTTING
“He’s just so perfect and
wonderful,” says a
teenage girl in love.
SUBLIMATION
A angry man does
pushups to work off his
temper.
HUMOR
A man laughs when he is
going to be fired.
SUPPRESSION
A student decides to 4get
about a pending exam
to go out and have a
good time for an
evening.
ISOLATION OF AFFECT
A child who has been
beaten discusses the
beatings without any
display of emotions.
INTROJECTION
A resident dresses and
act like the attending
physician.
BLOCKING
In the middle of the
conversation a woman
pauses , looks confused
& asked , “What was I
just talking about”