Defence

mechanism
Prepared by:
Meera Gautam
Lecturer
Rupandehi, Nepal
Defense Mechanism
Introduction
•Defense mechanisms (or coping styles) are automatic psychological
processes that protect the individual against anxiety and from the awareness
of internal or external dangers or stressors.

•They are unconscious, specific intrapsychic ways of coping which are

employed by the person to resolve emotional conflicts and to cope with
anxiety. They are means to defend a person against impact of conflict and
frustration by modifying one's behavior.
Contd…..

• Individuals are often unaware of these processes as they operate.

• Defense mechanisms mediate the individual's reaction to emotional

conflicts and to internal and external stressors.
Definitions :
DMs have six definitional characteristics:

1. They usually operate unconsciously (outside of awareness).

2. They operate to protect self-esteem by keeping unacceptable
thoughts, impulses and wishes out of awareness.
3. They function to protect the person from experiencing excessive
anxiety.
4. They are part of normal personality functioning.
5. They can lead to pathology if one or more is used excessively.
6. They are distinguishable from one another.
Classification of Defense Mechanisms
 Classification of Defense mechanism
Primary defense mechanism

1. Repression: The involuntary blocking of unpleasant feelings and experience

from one's awareness is repression. According to Freud, repression is basic to
all other forms of defense mechanism. It refers to the process by which an
individual strives to keep unacceptable, painful, unpalatable and anxiety
provoking needs, urges and feelings associated with them in unconscious layer
of mind.
For example: A boy cannot remember driving a car that was accident, in which
his best friend was killed.
Secondary defense mechanisms
1. Compensation: In this mechanism, the individual who finds himself weak in
certain qualities of life compensates for it by developing other qualities or traits.
The person tries to overcome a failure in one area through achieving recognition
in another area and is able to enhance his self esteem which has been threatened.
• For example: A student who got poor result in science may study hard to
perform well in geography.
• A man is jealous of his good friend’s success but is unaware of his feeling of
jealousy.
2. Rationalization: Rationalization is the attempt to make
excuses or formulate logical reasons to justify unacceptable
feelings or behavior. In such situation the person does not offer
actual reason which prompted his behavior, as the actual
reason are too painful to acknowledge.
 Rationalization
• It operates in two forms
a) Sour grapes: An excuse in which one minimizes the value of some objects
which he is unable to achieve. Here we should remember a proverb "grapes
are sour."
• for e.g.: A young man who fails to get beautiful wife may remark that a
beautiful wife is liable.
b) Sweet lemon: This is opposite of sour grapes mechanism, in which one
justifies the lower achievement by pointing out their merits. The central theme
is that whatever happens, happens for the best.
• for e.g.: A husband who fails to get highly educated wife may
enumerate a number of virtues in an uneducated women.
3. Projection: Projection is an attempt to deal with one's own shortcomings by
seeing them in other and denying them in oneself. The person "possess the
blame" for the undesirable feelings to another, thereby providing relief from
anxiety associated with them.
• For e.g.: A student whose handwriting is very bad may say that it is due to
the pen having thick nib that he could not write well.
Contd…

4. Identification: When we join ourselves to the achievement, success

and qualities of another individual or group and get a feeling of pleasure
and joy we are identifying ourselves.
• For e.g.: Parents may identify by their children.
 Contd…..

5. Substitution: It is the process where original goals are too difficult

to achieve, the person substitute this goal into another, which is less
difficult to achieve, remaining the ultimate goals the same.
• For e.g.: A man wants to be a manager of the big factory but
discovers that he cannot do that work, so he becomes the manager
of a small factory.
Contd……

6. Sublimation: It is the form of substitution in which our unacceptable,

unfulfilled desires or activities are redirected into socially desirable
channels.
• For e.g.: A young unmarried women with a strong desire for
marriage and family achieves satisfaction and success in establishing
operating day care center for pre- school children.
Contd……

7. Regression: Regression is the mechanism of going from the present

pattern to the past level of behavior. Regression simply means to behave in
less mature way, " go backwards".

• For e.g.: A child starts bed wetting again on the age of 5 years because
he cannot cope with new school.
8. Sympathism: In Sympathism, the individual avoids the necessity of
solving his problems by obtaining sympathy of others. They try to gain
attention and secure expression of concern over their difficulties.

• For e.g.: A student nurse is not doing well in her studies. Instead of
finding out the cause realistically and making effort to improve herself,
she may be satisfied with others sympathy which she may evoke by
telling them how difficult things are for her, how her family is in great
trouble, and how unlucky she is.
9. Withdrawal: Some people tend to withdraw from the situation in which
they experience difficulty. This is an adjustment mechanism where the
person avoids taking responsibility in work, home etc. because he or she
fears criticisms from others and he feels threatened by them.
• It is a device by which the individual prevents further hurt and damage to
his security by withdrawing from people and avoiding all close
interpersonal relationship.
10. Day dreaming/ fantasy: It is a kind of withdraw when faced with real
problem of life as instead of solving the problems realistically the person
includes himself in imaginary activities, feeling of fantasy. Day dreaming is
pleasant thing. It may help us to escape during the times of stress.

For example-when one is having financial problem, one can escape from
them temporarily by planning how to spend an imaginary fortune.
Contd………
11. Denial: Denial is the refusal to acknowledge the existence of a real
situation or feeling associated with it. One uses denial most often when
faced with death, serious illness or something painful and threatening. A
patient often practices denial at least for a period of time when he knows
he has a fatal illness but cannot accept his impending death. Many old
people do not easily accept that their mental or physical powers are on
the decline as they advance in age.
Contd…………
12. Reaction formation: Reaction formation is the prevention of
unacceptable thought or behavior from being expressed by exaggeration,
opposite thoughts or type of behavior. It is changing an unacceptable impulses
to its opposite. The mother of unwanted child may feel guilty, so becomes
overprotective of the child to assure herself that she is a good mother. People
who are extremely friendly, over polite and very socially correct frequently
have unconscious feeling of anger and hatred towards many people.
13. Intellectualization: It is an attempt to avoid expressing actual emotions
associated with a stressful situation by using the intellectual process of logic
reasoning and analysis. It is the distancing form an emotional or threatening
situation by talking or thinking about it in intellectual terms.

• For example: as a student nurse, probably many of us use this defense

mechanism when working with patient who is severely ill. At this time, we
may speak calmly and intellectual way rather than emotionally.
Contd………..
14. Conversion: Conversion is a defense mechanism, by which an
emotional conflict is expressed as physical symptoms for which there is no
demonstrable organic basis.

• For example, a student very anxious about her exam may develop severe
headache.
 Contd………….
15. Suppression: Suppression is the voluntary blocking of unpleasant
feeling and experience from one's awareness.
For example , a young women who is depressed about a pending divorce
proceeding tells the nurse " I just don’t want to talk about divorce. There is
nothing I can do about it any way".
 Contd..
16. Displacement:
Displacement is the transferring of the feelings from one target
to another that is considered less threatening or neutral.

For e.g. a boy who is teased and hit by the class bully on the playground
comes home after school and kicks his dog.
Contd………….
17. Negativism: Some people react to frustration by becoming negative.
They become opposite and uncooperative to what should be done.

For e.g.: Children whose reasonable needs are not properly met are
likely to develop negative attitude and become uncooperative.
 Contd…
18. Isolation:
Isolation is the separation of the thought or memory from the
feeling tone or emotions associated with it (sometimes called emotional
isolation).

For e.g. a young woman describes being attacked and raped by a street
gang. But she displays an apathetic expression and no emotional tone.
Classification
Positive and Negative aspects of Defense
Mechanisms:
 Positive aspects of defense mechanism

a. Defense mechanism usually make unconscious attempt on the part of

individual to solve his problems.
b. These preserve ego integrity of the personality.
c. These help to overcome conflict, anxiety and stressful situations in daily
life.
Contd……….

d. This enables one to adjust in any new situation and maintain optimum
mental health.
e. It helps to maintain the sense of personal worth.
f. It helps to find out mental illness timely and consult with doctors.
g. It helps us to take into account our limitation while setting our goals
like in substitution.
a. If there is too much superego activity, which causes the use of too
many defense mechanisms, may distort the reality.
b. Excessive and persistent use of defense mechanisms is harmful as
these do not solve conflicts and frustrations.
c. These are means of compromising with forbidden desires, feelings of
guilt or an admission that one is adequate in facing certain problems.
d. Mentally ill beings use them too frequently and inappropriately.
e. Use of extreme forms and degrees of defense mechanisms
(regression, denial, day dreaming) result in psychosis.
f. Using some kinds of defense mechanism (displacement, isolation,
conversion and fantasy) may decrease the qualities of rational views.
g. Some defense mechanisms (projection, reaction formation, denial,
withdrawal ) may spoil the interpersonal relationship
Defense mechanisms can be divided into successful
and unsuccessful mechanisms as given below:
Knowledge of defense mechanism in clinical
application
 Contd……

• To protect themselves from anxiety that arises from stress and conflict
• Help the mind cope with uncomfortable or traumatic situations or
emotions..
• Help clinicians progress through treatment and avoid pitfalls.
• The identification of defense mechanisms against illness is of the
utmost importance: on the one hand, these mechanisms represent a
way of coping with anxiety triggered by threat, on the other hand, they
allow people to establish new ways of relating with the world and with
themselves.