Defence Mechanisms

Proposed in 1984 by Sigmund Freud an important aspect of Freudian theory which has become widely recognised and accepted in mainstream psychology; the idea of psychological defences was brought to light. Known as defence mechanisms these are mental strategies we use to protect ourselves from painful, frightening or guilty experiences.

There are many different types of defence mechanisms and these defence mechanisms are used for different situations in a person’s life:-

Defence	Description	Example
Repression	Forgetting an unpleasant memory or the strong emotion connected to the event.	Sexual abuse when a child, can be rediscovered in adulthood
Denial	Refuse to admit an unpleasant fact	When patients deny the fact that they are seriously ill as they cannot accept it.
Reaction	Having an attitude that is opposite to what they actually feel.	People who are afraid they are gay might then act homophobic.
Projection	Moving an undesirable emotion onto someone else.	People who envy someone then claim that they envy them.
Displacement	Using an emotion directed at someone then moving it towards another person or object.	Coming home angry from school then being angry with your parents.
Intellectualisation	Using flawed logic to convince oneself there isn’t a problem.	Smokers often argue that there is no proof that smoking is bad for them.
Regression	Using the comforting behaviours typical of an earlier age.	People often cry, eat comfort food and become helpless in response to stress.
Sublimation	Using the energy of negative emotion to achieve something positive.	Artist and musicians often create their best work when desperately unhappy.

Video on defence mechanisms - warning there is some bad language in the clip

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