Issue #15: Freud's Defense Mechanisms
Learn about different ways humans try to cope with stress and when our sense of self is threatened
Dear mental health advocate,
Hopefully you are having a great week so far! Like every other Saturday, a new edition of The Present Psychologist Paper in your inbox to help raise awareness about mental health and psychology.
Before I get into it, have you considered subscribing to a premium membership? Some of you do not have access to therapy (yet) and while I do not claim I can provide you with a similar alternative, these newsletters provide you with a lot of insights concerning mental health. They will help you with understanding yourself better, your relationships, why we do the things we do and actionable tips to improve your struggles.
Premium means more content each biweekly edition (2 extra articles written by me), a monthly advice column and access to all previous paid content. For example, read about being an overthinker here, fear of abandonment here, childhood wounds here, adult attachment styles here or find out what a dysfunctional family looks like here.
If you are interested, I have a special summer sale for 50% off, both for the monthly and yearly subscription. Instead of $5.50 a month or $55 a year you can now subscribe for $2.75 a month or $27.50 a year! The price of a cheap takeaway coffee each month, cancellable when you want and you would support me as a freelancer to keep the content going as well as improve your own mental health.
And now, back to the content. In this edition I will look at Freud and the theory about different defense mechanisms. When people face a threatening situation or are presented with a stressful stimulus, their anxiety can make them lash out in a specific way. Today I will discuss twelve defense mechanisms and share examples what they are like.
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
If there is one psychologist in history who has stirred quite a lot of debate it is Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939). By many he is seen as a pioneer in psychology and developed a lot of interesting concepts about our unconscious, hidden desires and the structure of our mind. He basically invented psychoanalysis and influenced how we approach therapy. But, at the same time there are criticisms on his ideas as well and many do not follow his school of thought. Some argue that he puts too much focus on childhood, claiming your personality is fully formed then, while modern psychologists believe your personality can still evolve and change during adulthood. Perhaps the most challenged theory is about children’s psychosexual stages, where Freud sees sexual conflict as central to a child’s development.
Other theories Sigmund Freud proposed that could count on more followers try to explain how our mind is structured. He distinguished three levels at first: the conscious, the unconscious and the preconscious. The unconscious mind would then be the part where our drives and (repressed) desires reside that we do not have much control over. The preconscious mind consists of parts in the brain that are available to use by the conscious mind, but not currently in use. Think about where memories reside. Later, Freud adjusted this theory to change our mental structure to the id, ego and superego. Here, the id would be the part responsible for our primitive impulses, the ego the realistic voice trying to balance our impulses with what is possible and the superego our moral code and the judging force.
Okay, but how does this relate to defense mechanisms?
While I already tried to explain a few of Freud’s theories in a nutshell, in today’s article I want to elaborate a bit more on another theory that I find very interesting myself: the one about our defense mechanisms. What some of you might not know, is that Sigmund Freud’s daughter Anna Freud (1895 - 1982) was also a psychoanalyst. She further refined and expanded theories about our conscious and unconscious mind. As mentioned before, the ego tries to take into account the realities of the world around you and deals with both the id and the superego. This superego tries to tell us what is right and what is wrong, but the ego ultimately makes a decision. There are many internal conflicts leading to problems, which result in defense mechanisms.
Anna Freud hypothesized that the superego, whose critical voice demands action and change from our ego, triggers anxiety. As the superego is a righteous voice trying to shame and guilt us to conform to society’s standards and other people’s expectations, we try to defend ourselves. Why we would need to defend ourselves? Well, because the ego wants to preserve our self-esteem, her father Sigmund argued. Whether we find ourselves in a dangerous situation and our sense of self is being threatened, or when our inner judgment tries to make us feel bad, we want to fight back. Anna Freud has described and distinguished several mechanisms how we try and defend ourselves. I will explain twelve of these with examples.
Which defense mechanisms exist?
While both Sigmund and Anna Freud did not necessarily make an exhaustive list of all the defense mechanisms people employ, there are twelve specific ones psychologists often discuss. Below I will explain all of them and give some situations to help you understand them. Not everyone makes use of each defense mechanism, but it is possible during your life.
Defense mechanism 1: Compensation.
This mechanism is triggered when someone tries to hide a certain aspect or cover up what they consider a flaw. This could be something they see as a shortcoming or a characteristic/personality trait they are unhappy with. In many cases people will overcompensate in an extreme way, which does not seem to be proportionate to their ‘shortcoming’.
Example: Janet thinks she is overweight and people will not like her because of it or even make fun of here. She tries to compensate by constantly making jokes, even about herself and her weight hoping people will think she has humor and is a nice person to be around.
Defense mechanism 2: Denial.
Denial happens when people flat out do not want to believe something is true and cannot accept a certain situation or a fact. In some cases this means that the person will try to deny a specific feeling or thought. This mechanism can be triggered so the person feels protected from the actual truth, ‘if I pretend it is not there, then it won’t hurt as much’.
Example: John believes he is a very smart and successful guy. Despite him failing exams and his teachers telling him he needs to work harder to pass, he denies the truth and instead blames external factors for his failures. All to protect his feelings to avoid seeing himself as unsuccessful.
Defense mechanism 3: Displacement.
When someone tries to unload all their anger and frustrations on a target that is different from the cause of the anger. In many cases another target has to or will be chosen because the original target is not available or it is socially unacceptable to direct the negative emotions towards them.
Example: Max is mad at his boss for not giving him a promotion that he worked really hard for. He wants to become angry and shout at his boss, but because he believes that will make him lose his job, he instead comes home and shouts at his wife.
Defense mechanism 4: Dissociation
In some cases, it is possible that a person experiences a loss of awareness without losing consciousness in a specific situation that could be considered triggering. The person tries to not associate with a person or situation, but in that case cannot leave. They dissociate in the present moment then.
Example: Becky and Nate are talking about what is going on in their lives and how they are feeling. As Becky’s mom died a few months ago, it is painful for her to talk about it. Nate does not know Becky’s mom died and asks how she is doing. Becky blanks out, suddenly feels tired and tries to block thoughts about her mom. She disassociates.
Defense mechanism 5: Introjection
When someone internalizes or tries to copy the behavior and characteristics shown by others. This regularly happens unconsciously and is similar to identification. Mirroring beliefs, behavior, thoughts and personality traits are done because the person believes it helps with building their self-concept and getting approval.
Example: Fatima copies her mother’s behavior because she believes she should be like her and it will help with gaining her parents’ approval. It becomes hard for her to develop her own personality as she thinks she should behave like others.
Defense mechanism 6: Projection
This happens when people try to ignore the negative traits and behaviors they have and instead project these on others. Often they do not realize they possess these traits themselves. Projecting faults and negative self-concepts onto others helps with protecting their own self-concept.
Example: Jack has cheated on his girlfriend and he is really scared she will find out. During arguments with her he accuses her of cheating to avoid suspicion and projects his own negative self-concept on her.
Defense mechanism 7: Reaction formation
If you try to pretend being different than who you actually are to hide your true feelings, it is considered a reaction formation. To be more precise, this can mean that a person does the exact opposite than initially intended to elicit a reaction from someone or a specific situation.
Example: Rose really likes Luisa and would like to be romantically involved. Instead of flirting and being nice, she actually teases and insults Luisa. This is the opposite reaction to what you would expect to gain Luisa’s interest.
Defense mechanism 8: Rationalization
Rationalization occurs when a person tries to explain away an action or emotion to feel better or find a reason to excuse certain behavior. Often meant to justify bad intentions or situations. The behavior shown in many cases is motivated by instinctive impulses.
Example: Lars has applied for a job he really wanted. He thought the job interviews went well and is very excited. However, he is being turned down and does not get to work there. He tries to make himself feel better by thinking: ‘Oh well, I am better off somewhere else anyway!’
Defense mechanism 9: Regression
Sometimes when people face a lot of stress or outside pressure they can revert to behavior that is not expected of their age. This could mean that an adult suddenly starts to act in an immature way and emotionally behaves like a child. Often it is seen as a negative and unhelpful mechanism making problem solving more difficult.
Example: Joe’s girlfriend Betty breaks up with him. While it makes sense he is sad and emotional, he resorts to kicking and screaming like a child. At night, he wets his bed because he is feeling so overwhelmed.
Defense mechanism 10: Repression
When someone tries to push away any feelings and thoughts they have just so they do not have to deal with them. Many times this is done because the truth is too threatening to their sense of self. These can be memories, feelings and thoughts. If these are repressed, they enter the unconscious part of the mind.
Example: Jessie has experienced a horrible car crash. While it happened, she was fully conscious and aware it happened. However, as it was so traumatizing she repressed the memory. Now she is unable to remember it.
Defense mechanism 11: Splitting
Sometimes people resort to all-or-nothing thinking as a defense. This basically means that it is difficult for them to see a person or a situation as a mix of positive and negative things. Instead, they see someone as all good or all bad. It does not always have to apply to others, people can also ‘split’ themselves in a good or bad person.
Example: Jeanette had a few fights with a friend and she is feeling kind of lonely. She is reflecting on their issues and starts to believe it is all because of herself. She thinks that she is a bad person and a bad friend not worthy of being loved.
Defense mechanism 12: Sublimation
When people try to satisfy their impulses, intense emotions and negative behavior by channeling it in a more socially acceptable way. This means that based on societal norms a more useful way of expressing emotions is chosen.
Example: Jacob is dealing with feeling a lot of aggression lately. He has been picking fights with people and is getting into trouble. His parents and teachers want him to do better, so they make him play rugby instead. Here he finds a way to deal with his aggression better as he has an outlet.
As a psychologist it is important for me to keep up with the latest insights and key points written by fellow mental health professionals and bestselling authors. But, like many others I am often very busy and not able to keep up with the many interesting books that come out. Luckily, I have discovered Shortform.
Shortform produces uber-high-quality guides to non-fiction books. They’re like book summaries on steroids. They’re super detailed so you get the book’s key points at a deep level. I am very happy with Shortform as I can keep up with great psychologists and mental health experts like Bessel van der Kolk, Esther Perel and Brené Brown.
I would highly recommend you to get access to the world’s best book guides on Shortform and you’ll receive 5 days unlimited access and an additional 20% discount on the annual subscription if you click the button! This will give you access to Shortform.com/thepresentpsychologist, with thousands of book guides for the price of one book a month and definitely worth it.
Poll Time! ⏰
Help me raise awareness 💌
My name is Alf Lokkertsen and I am a psychologist and writer, creating mental health content for you. My passion is to raise awareness about topics related to psychology, as it has helped me greatly in my personal life. I strongly believe that many problems could be avoided or dealt with better if everyone had some in-depth psychology knowledge.
Will you help me achieve my goal by spreading this newsletter? 4150 mental health advocates already have subscribed. Help me out by sharing this subscription link either within your network or mention/tag me on social media!
Not subscribed to The Present Psychologist Paper yet yourself? Please click the button below to ensure you will receive the next edition in your inbox:
If you have any questions, please comment here and I am happy to respond!
This is so freaking good and informative 👏