The word "defense" was first used by Freud in 1894 in his work "Neuropsychosis of Defense". There he developed the idea of neurotic symptoms as a consequence of the ego's defensive activity against undesirable ideas and impulses. Two years later, Freud hinted at the idea of unconscious repression as a defense against unpleasant affect, instead of the idea of intentional, voluntary forgetting that had been present until then. Freud's daughter Anna in her work "Ego and Defense Mechanisms" in 1936 expands his work and describes individual defense mechanisms: regression, repression, reactive formation, isolation, annulment, introjection, identification, projection, turning against oneself, reversing and sublimation (for which she says belongs to the domain of normality rather than neurosis), and she described in detail the identification with the aggressor.
What is the goal of defense mechanisms?
The goal is to neutralize unacceptable urges and painful emotions in order to protect the established image of oneself. The effects of defense mechanisms are manifold:
- keep affects within tolerable limits,
- enable psychological homeostasis,
- help to resolve unresolved conflict (with living and dead people)
Are defense mechanisms constructive or destructive?
We talk about the pathological quality of some of the defense mechanisms mainly when it is so dominant in the defense organization of a person that it significantly impoverishes his mental economy, leads to rigidity of personality functioning, "blurs" the judgment of reality and leads to insufficiently realistic perception of self, ie external environment. In other words, each mechanism can be constructively destructive, depending on what at what point in a person's life, to what extent and in what way, he does for him, not only individually but also in cooperation with all other mechanisms. In a short period of time, defenses can be successful in relieving or correcting intolerant anxiety and in implementing the highest possible level of adaptation. In the long run, those same defenses can hinder successful adaptation. Even the most immature, the most pathological defenses in certain situations serve to calm down.
When do defense mechanisms appear and how long do they last?
Some defenses appear early in life, and leave later, while some appear later in life. Primitive ego defenses appear early in life and concern fundamental anxieties about the self and object relationships. However, if they continue to persist throughout life and point to serious pathology. The dominance or fixation of immature mechanisms can have undesirable consequences - neurotic character or personality disorders.
Different types of psychological danger motivate different defense mechanisms. Eg. in personality disorders the danger of losing identity is mobilized by splitting, negation, or somatization. In neurotics, guilt mobilizes repression, reactive formation, or rationalization.
A person suffering from anorexia uses manic defenses by denying the need for others, controlling ambivalence, but also dependence on other important people. Manic defenses allow him to mentally withdraw and distance himself from anxiety, depression and unbearable pain. That is why he feels independent, self-sufficient, omnipotent and in control of the object, because he treats it with a feeling of "triumph and contempt so that the loss of the object will not lead to feelings of guilt or pain."
How are defense mechanisms divided?
Defense mechanisms can be classified according to the degree of their maturity:
psychotic defense mechanisms, crazy projection, psychotic negation, depersonalization, psychotic dissociation, regression. In children up to the age of five, in psychosis, or in adults in dreams and fantasy.
immature defense mechanisms, projection, schizoid fantasy, hypochondriasis, passive aggression, acting-out, negation, idealization-devaluation. They are found in depression, personality disorders and addiction.
neurotic defense mechanisms, intellectualization, displacement, reactive formation, isolation, annulment, rationalization. In neurotic but also adults in general during life.
mature defense mechanisms, (pseudo) altruism, humor, attenuation, anticipation, sublimation, suppression.
How can we briefly define individual defense mechanisms?
1) sublimation - the discharge of unacceptable instincts, thoughts or emotions into constructive, usually socially acceptable activities;
2) humor - open expression of ideas, especially unpleasant ones, focusing on parties or ironic aspects of stress / conflict;
3) anticipation - resolving conflicts by experiencing emotional reactions in advance, planning and preparing for possible future unpleasant situations;
4) suppression - a semi-conscious decision to exclude an impulse or conflict from consciousness;
5) annulment - behavior that partially "annuls" previous unacceptable thoughts or actions;
6) altruism - resolving emotional conflict by constructively helping others;
7) idealization - creating an ideal impression of a person, object or oneself, neglecting the negative ones;
8) reactive formation - manifestation of feelings or impulses opposite to the original ones;
9) projection - attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others;
10) passive aggression - suppression of aggressive or hostile feelings towards others and expression in a passive way;
11) acting out - expression of unconscious desires and impulses through action in order to avoid awareness of associated affect;
12) isolation - separation of unpleasant ideas or associated affect from other thoughts by repression;
13) devaluation - creating excessively negative qualities for oneself or other persons;
14) autistic fantasy - the tendency of excessive retreat into fantasy in order to resolve internal or external conflicts;
15) denial - refusing to accept reality or fact because it is too threatening, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling does not exist;
16) transfer - emptying of thoughts, feelings and instincts from one object or person to another person or object that is less threatening;
17) dissociation - temporary significant modification of identity, neglect of the emotional part of the personality that would normally be activated in a given situation, but its effect would be so overwhelming that it would prevent the normal functioning of the personality;
18) splitting - negative and positive impulses are separated and non-integrated, the object is either completely good or completely bad (black or white);
19) rationalization - socially acceptable cognitive reinterpretation of unpleasant experiences and memories so that they become less threatening per person;
20) somatization - expression of psychological conflict through the production of bodily symptoms
21) manic defenses - turning the feeling of helplessness and anger when rejected by a beloved object into a feeling of hatred, control, triumph.