Defense mechanisms: what are they, and their 10 most important types

Defense mechanisms are part of the most important concepts in the theory of psychoanalysis arisen from the works of Sigmund Freud.

It is a series of psychological processes that, hypothetically, would regulate the way in which the contents of the unconscious are manifested in our consciousness and in our behaviors.

In this article we will see what exactly defense mechanisms are, with several examples and a classification of their main types.

• Related article: "Metapsychology: what it is and how Sigmund Freud defined it"

Defense mechanisms in psychoanalysis

In the article "Sigmund Freud: life and work of the famous psychoanalyst" We commented that the function of me is to satisfy the impulses of the it and not offend the moral character of the superego, while the reality is valued. This is not an easy task, and Freud describes that the me uses mechanisms to manage conflicts between these psychic instances.

Defense mechanisms, therefore, are procedures that unconsciously maintain psychological balance to cope with distress or anxiety

associated with the conscious expression of an instinctual representation (sexual or aggressive), with the transgression of the moral code, or to a real external danger.

That is to say, that starting from the idea that there are contents belonging to the realm of the unconscious that cannot pass into consciousness without further ado because they would disturb us too much, the Defense mechanisms would make it possible for part of them to pass a kind of filter, being expressed in a way in which they are denied or too distorted to affect us. too much.

Defense mechanisms are incorrect ways of resolving psychological conflict and can lead to disorders in the mind, conduct and, in the most extreme cases, somatization of the psychological conflict that causes it.

Here are the ten main defense mechanisms described in the theories of psychoanalysis.

1. Displacement

It refers to the redirection of an impulse (usually an aggression) towards a person or an object. For example, someone who gets frustrated with her boss and kicks her dog, or a piece of furniture. In this case we are faced with a defense mechanism: how is it not possible for us to hit the boss because it would fire us from work, we shift the object of our anger to any other being or object.

2. Sublimation

It is similar to displacement, but the momentum is channeled into a more acceptable shape. A sexual drive is sublimated towards a non-sexual purpose, pointing to objects valued positively by society, such as artistic activity, physical activity or intellectual research.

3. Repression

It is the mechanism that Sigmund Freud discovered first. Refers to process by which the self erases events and thoughts that would be painful if kept at the conscious level, since the satisfaction of the repressed impulse is irreconcilable with other demands of the superego or from reality.

4. Projection

Make reference to the tendency of individuals to attribute (project) their own thoughts, motives, or feelings onto another person. The most common projections can be aggressive behaviors that provoke a feeling of guilt, and socially unacceptable sexual thoughts or fantasies. For example, a girl hates her roommate, but the superego tells you that this is unacceptable. She can solve her problem by thinking that it is the other person who hates her.

5. Denial

It is the mechanism by which the subject blocks external events so that they are not part of consciousness and, therefore, treats obvious aspects of reality as if they did not exist. For example, a smoker who denies that smoking can cause serious health problems. By denying these harmful effects of tobacco, she can better tolerate her habit, naturalizing it.

6. Regression

Make reference to any regression to previous situations or habits, a return to immature behavior patterns. For example, a teenager who is not allowed to go to a friend's house for a weekend and reacts with a tantrum and screams in front of his parents, as if he were a younger child.

7. Reactive training

The impulses are not only repressed but also are controlled by exaggerating the opposite behavior. In other words, the appearance of a painful thought is stopped by replacing it with a more pleasant one. For example, a person who is very angry with a friend, but tells him that everything is correct to avoid discussion.

8. Isolation

It is a mechanism by which memories are divorced from feelings, as a way to better bear and tolerate events and reality. An intolerable idea for the self is separated from the emotions it produces, thus it remains in the consciousness in a weakened way. For example, recounting a traumatic episode with total normality, as if talking about the weather or any other trivial matter.

9. Condensation

It is a mechanism by which certain elements of the unconscious (latent content) are brought together in a single image or object during sleep. It consists of the concentration of several meanings in a single symbol. The condensation process makes the narrative of the manifest content much shorter than the description of the latent content. It is a term that arises from the psychoanalytic explanations that account for the creation of dreams.

10. Rationalization

In streamlining a real reason that is not acceptable is substituted for another that is acceptable. That is, the perspective of reality is changed by offering a different explanation. For example, a woman falls madly in love with a man, and they start a relationship. After a month of starting the courtship, the man breaks the relationship because he considers that the woman has a very low self-confidence and does not let him breathe. Although the woman has had three consecutive love failures for the same reason, she concludes: “she already knew that this man was a loser ”, or“ from the first moment I knew that this man did not it was convenient ".

Bibliographic references:

• Almendro, M.T. (2012). Psychotherapies. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 06. CEDE: Madrid.
• Arlow, B. (1964), Psychoanalytic Concepts and the Structural Theory. New York: International Universities Press.
• Cramer, P. (1991). The Development of Defense Mechanisms: Theory, Research, and Assessment. New York, Springer-Verlag.
• Grünbaum, A. (1984). The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique. University of California Press.