Some Dynamic Elements in Mental Illness / Wellness: Defence Mechanisms

Defence Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms involve mild distortions or reality, but they are functional and necessary. DM are developed and used to avoid painful or threatening information. It is in order to maintain repression and to try to protect the ego from anxiety. Anxiety is a signal of danger from within. If the defenses become too rigid or overused they may constrict the individual's functioning. DM is outlets for unconscious impulses. Any group of mental processes that enable the mind to reach compromise solutions to problems that it is unable to resolve. This mostly unconscious process produces the compromises needed to conceal from one internal drives or feelings that threaten to lower self-esteem or to provoke anxiety. These then are the forces in the mind that battle and oppose one another. In psychoanalytic theory, any of a group of mental processes that enables the mind to reach compromise solutions to problems that it is unable to resolve. The process is usually unconscious and the compromise generally involves concealing from oneself internal drives or feelings that threaten to lower self-esteem or provoke anxiety

A number of phenomena are used to aid in the maintenance of repression. These are termed Ego Defense Mechanisms (the terms “Mental Mechanisms” and “Defense Mechanisms” are essentially synonymous with this). The primary functions of these mechanisms are:

1. To minimize anxiety

2. To protect the ego

3. To maintain repression

Repression is useful to the individual since:

1. It prevents discomfort

2. It leads to some economy of time and effort

In regard to the latter (#2 under Repression), the exclusion of conflictual material from conscious thought simplifies decision-making since some alternate courses of action are automatically excluded from consideration. This unconscious economy can be illustrated by an analogy to a conscious process, prejudice. (Prejudice is often conscious though the reasons for it may be outside awareness.) Suppose a man is in a restaurant. He knows that he "does not like" seafood. There is a part of the menu he need not read, some options he need not consider. The disadvantages of repression include:

1. Interference with rational decision-making

2. Complications in living resulting from defense mechanisms used to maintain the repression

3. Utilization of energy

The last point is based upon the Libido Theory. This story is less widely accepted than is the Theory of Instincts and the Theory of the Unconscious. Libido is described as the energy associated with the life instinct. This energy is utilized in attaining instinctual goals; that is, portions of it may be "cathected" to the objects by which an instinctual need may be satisfied.

According to the Libido Theory, some of this energy may be diverted in order to maintain repression. The more that is repressed, the less energy there is for goal-seeking activity. It has not been possible to identify and measure the energy components of repression, and the theory remains unproven. However, the concept of repression, per se, and of the defense mechanisms does not require this particular construct anyway. Ego Defense Mechanisms are:

1. Unconscious (i.e., the person utilizing them is not aware of doing so; however, most of them have conscious analogs.

2. Not in themselves pathological (most of them are used regularly by health people; desirable or undesirable consequences depend on the circumstances, manner, and extent of use).

Exceptions to these two generalizations will be noted. A listing of defense mechanisms is an attempt to classify complex patterns of activity. The infinite varieties of human behavior make any classification, by necessity, incomplete. Definitions of various mechanisms overlap. The same observed behavior may apparently be explained by more than one mechanism, and often several mechanisms are used in combination. In addition, the mechanisms may serve other purposes besides the primary ones

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Ego Defense Mechanisms include:

Acting Out: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by actions rather than reflections or feelings. This definition is broader than the original concept of the acting out of transference feelings or wishes during psychotherapy and is intended to include behavior arising both within and outside the transference relationship. Defensive acting out is not synonymous with “bad behavior” because it requires evidence that the behavior is related to emotional conflicts.

Affiliation: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by turning to others for help or support. This involves sharing problems with others but does not imply trying to make someone else responsible for them.

Aim inhibition: Placing a limitation upon instinctual demands; accepting partial or modified fulfillment of desires. Examples: (1) a person is conscious of sexual desire but if finding it frustrating, "decides" that all that is really wanted in the relationship is companionship. (2) A student who originally wanted to be a physician decides to become a physician's assistant. Aim inhibition, like the other mechanisms, is neither healthful nor pathological, desirable nor undesirable, in itself. It may be better to have half a loaf than no bread, but an unnecessary aim inhibition may rob one of otherwise attainable satisfactions. Note that the first example could include the mechanism of displacement, and the second, rationalization. Up to a point, mutual idealization can make for a happy relationship; however, unrealistic expectations of another person based upon this mechanism can lead to serious disappointment.

Altruism: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by dedication to meeting the needs of others. Unlike the self-sacrifice sometimes characteristic of reaction formation, the individual receives gratification either vicariously or from the response of others.

Anticipation: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by experiencing emotional reactions in advance of, or anticipating consequences of, possible future events and considering realistic, alternative responses or solutions.

Autistic Fantasy: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by excessive daydreaming as a substitute for human relationships, more effective action, or problem solving.

Avoidance: A defense mechanism consisting of refusal to encounter situations, objects, or activities because they represent unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses and/or punishment for those impulses; avoidance, according to the dynamic theory, is a major defense mechanism in phobias. [Symbolization] [Displacement]

Compensation – The individual deals with their frustration and inadequacy in one area by investing in another. Encountering failure or frustration in some sphere of activity, one overemphasizes another. The term is also applied to the process of over-correcting for a handicap or limitation. Examples: (1) a physically unattractive adolescent becomes an expert dancer. (2) A youth with residual muscle damage from poliomyelitis becomes an athlete.

Conversion: Conflicts are presented by physical symptoms involving portions of the body innervated by sensory or motor nerves. This mechanism and Somatization are the only ones that are always pathological. Examples: a man's arm becomes paralyzed after impulses to strike another (2) regular heavy drinking limited to weekends; (3) long periods of sobriety interspersed with binges of daily heavy drinking lasting for weeks or months. [Somatization]

Deflection: Also detected when the individual is in group therapy and consists of redirecting attention to another group member.

Denial: Like all defense mechanisms keeps fear and anxiety at bay. Failing to recognize obvious implications or consequences of a thought, act, or situation. Examples: (1) a person having an extramarital affair gives no thought to the possibility of pregnancy. (2) Persons living near a volcano disregard the dangers involved. (3) A disabled person plans to return to former activities without planning a realistic program of rehabilitation.

The defense of numbness anesthetizes the pain, allowing the Psych a little time to absorb the magnitude of what has happened. Numbness can come and go.

Using denial guards against the fear that if they stop denying what they feel, the lid will come off the emotional tornado.

Denial is born out of the desire to feel better fast, to be done with the pain. Puts the pain off until we can deal with it. Denial is one of the earliest forms of ego defense.

Is the simplest of all the defense mechanisms. . It is the conscious refusal to recognize the real nature of one’s behaviour, or that painful facts exist. By denying the true facts, the individual can escape intolerable thoughts, feelings, or events.

Devaluation: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by attributing exaggerated negative qualities to self or others. [Idealization]

Displacement: – We deflect our feelings onto another target, often this is done consciously. In true displacement it is done unconsciously. A change in the object by which an instinctual drive is to be satisfied; shifting the emotional component from one object or idea to another. Examples: (1) a woman is abandoned by her fiancé’; she quickly finds another man about whom she develops the same feelings; (2) a salesman is angered by his superior but suppresses his anger; later, on return to his home, he punishes one of his children for misbehavior that would usually be tolerated or ignored. Displacements are often quite satisfactory and workable mechanisms; if one cannot have steak, it is comforting to like hamburger equally well. As the March Hare observed, "I like what I have is the same as I have what I like." However, the example of displaced anger illustrates a situation, which, if often repeated, could cause serious complications in the person’s life. Conscious acceptance of a substitute with full recognition that it is a substitute for something one wants is an analog of displacement.

[Avoidance] [Symbolization]

Dissociation: Splitting-off a group of thoughts or activities from the main portion of consciousness; compartmentalization. Example: a politician works vigorously for integrity in government, but at the same time engages in a business venture involving a conflict of interest without being consciously hypocritical and seeing no connection between the two activities. Some dissociation is helpful in keeping one portion of one's life from interfering with another (e.g., not bringing problems home from the office). However, dissociation is responsible for some symptoms of mental illness; it occurs in "hysteria" (certain somatoform and Dissociative disorders) and schizophrenia, the dissociation of hysteria involves a large segment of the consciousness while that in schizophrenia is of numerous small portions. The apparent splitting of affect from content often noted in schizophrenia is usually spoken of as dissociation of affect, though isolation might be a better term.

Fixation: The cessation of the process of development of the personality at a stage short of complete and uniform mature independence is known as fixation. [Regression]H

Complaining: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by complaining or making repetitious requests for help that disguise covert feelings or hostility or reproach toward others, which are then expressed by rejecting the suggestions, advice, or help those others offer. The complaints or requests may involve physical or psychological symptoms or life problems.

Humor: The individual deals with emotional conflict or external stressors by emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the conflict or stressors.

Idealization: -- Overestimation of the desirable qualities and underestimation of the limitations of a desired object. Examples: (1) a lover speaks in glowing terms of the beauty and intelligence of an average-looking woman who is not very bright.

(2) A purchaser, having finally decided between two items, expounds upon the advantages of the one chosen. [Devaluation]

Many people avoid painful memories and feelings by idealizing the deceased. In most cases, Idealization is strong at first but then tapers off. People over idealize because it is unacceptable to them to feel ambivalent or negative feelings. But when it continues, it's a problem. Idealization creates a totally unrealistic image, a fantasy that prevents people from going on. They become stuck, immobilized by the fantasy and by guilt about their anger. They become depressed. They have difficulty connecting with other people because the more someone is idealized the more everyone is measured against them.

Identification: Similar to introjection, but of less intensity and completeness. The unconscious modeling of one's self upon another person. One may also identify with values and attitudes of a group. Examples: (1) without being aware that he is copying his teacher, a resident physician assumes a similar mode of dress and manner with patients. (2) A school girl wants her mother to buy her the same kind of shoes her classmates are wearing; she angrily rejects the idea that she is trying to be like the other girls and insists that the shoes are truly the best available and are the style she has always wanted. Conscious analogs of identification are intentional imitation of others and volitional efforts to conform to a group. [Incorporation] [Introjection]

Incorporation: The assimilation of the object into one's own ego and/or superego. This is one of the earliest mechanisms utilized. The parent becomes almost literally a part of the child. Parental values, preferences, and attitudes are acquired. [Introjection] [Identification]

Intellectionalization – The individual “understands” and acknowledge that he “must have certain repressed impulses” but only goes that far. The affect/impulses is not brought into consciousness only the thought. The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by the excessive use of abstract thinking or the making of generalizations to control or minimize disturbing feelings.

Isolation: The splitting-off of the emotional components from a thought. Example: a medical student dissects a cadaver without being disturbed by thoughts of death. Isolation may be temporary (affect postponement). Example: a bank teller appears calm and cool while frustrating a robbery but afterward is tearful and tremulous. Obsessive compulsives commonly over utilize the mechanism of isolation.

Omnipotence: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by feeling or acting as if he or she possesses special powers or abilities and is superior to others.

Passive Aggression: The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by indirectly and unassertively expressing aggression toward others. There is a facade of overt compliance masking covert resistance, resentment, or hostility. Passive aggression often occurs in response to demands for independent action or performance or the lack of gratification of dependent wishes but may be adaptive for individuals in subordinate positions who have no other way to express assertiveness more overtly.

Projection - is one of the primitive defenses another is Introjections. The ego uses both to relocate objects outside or inside its boundaries depending on whether this is helpful in alleviating anxiety. Projection is used as early as 3 years of age to lighten the load the burden of ones aggressive wishes. Projection is a form of defense in which unwanted feelings, wishes, aims and motives are displaced onto another person, where they then appear as a threat from the external world. The person simply cannot accept them, as belonging to himself a common example is when the individual is threatened by his own internal hostile feelings. To discharge these feelings/energies accuses another of harboring these very hostile thoughts. Someone with a lot of repressed hostility will see others as hostile and dangerous. They adopt a defensive, suspicious style to protect themselves from all the malicious others. Protects the individual by ascribing them to other people.

Attributing one's thoughts or impulses to another person. In common use, this is limited to unacceptable or undesirable impulses. Examples: (1) a man, unable to accept that he has competitive or hostile feelings about an acquaintance, says, “He doesn’t like me.” (2) A woman, denying to her that she has sexual feelings about a co-worker, accuses him, without basis, of flirt and described him as a “wolf.” This defense mechanism is commonly over utilized by the paranoid. A broader definition of projection includes certain operations that allow for empathy and understanding of others. Recognition that another person is lonely or sad may be based not upon having seen other examples of loneliness or sadness and learning the outward manifestations but upon having experienced the feelings and recognizing automatically that another person’s situation would evoke them. [Projective identification]

Introjection: The process of assimilation of the picture of an object (as the individual conceives the object to be). For example, when a person becomes depressed due to the loss of a loved one, his feelings are directed to the mental image he possesses of the loved one.

[Identification] [Incorporation

Object relation theory looks at the processes as a projective and introjective cycle. Each cycle a new re-drawing of the boundary of the self to relieve anxiety yet sets off another, which is slightly less strong. Objects are seen as good or bad. They become the basic building blocks of the mind with which to operate resulting in a particular version of self and reality. In the beginning they are thought to be feeling states associated with attachments to real people and are gradually taken to be associated with representations in the mind of external objects. This is the self-structures a product of the internalization of attachments in the form of object relationships. Internal objects can be good or bad. Through projective identification the person can externalizes their internal conflicts. Their bad are projected outwardly. This is a defensive strategy against internal anxiety of annihilation or persecution, which help to stabilize the ego. The ego is the manager stabilizing the internal states. By projection the bad introjected is externalized and is now contained inside the other person or institution. Similarly good objects are introjected into the person to control anxiety and thus deal with it when it threatens to destroy the self from the inside. Containment is of enormous importance to the nurturing, helping and therapeutic relationship as it tames anxiety and enables its toleration.

Objects can go both ways across this space, mediated by the ego. This is an intricate interplay over boundaries of the self. In a coercive environment the balance between good and bad objects is disrupted and consequently the ego strength and the development of the super-ego.

High levels of ambivalence develops during the separation-individuation process is especially weighted with high levels of rage and hate, defenses against its expression towards primary love objects become virtually obligatory and range from denial to splitting to internalization (turning the hated against the self, hate-imbued identification and identification with the aggressor. And eventually regression and guilt, and to externalization (projection, projective identifications and commonly displacement).

Projective Identification – wherein there is an internal split and projection, the person retains and becomes the good self who can pronounces judgment on and attacks the split-off bad self externally towards others. Discharging the aggression through the aggression towards others. As in projection, the individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by falsely attributing to another his or her own unacceptable feelings, impulses, or thoughts. Unlike simple projection, the individual does not fully disavow what is projected. Instead, the individual remains aware of his or her own affects or impulses but mis-attributes them as justifiable reactions to the other person. Not infrequently, the individual induces the very feelings in others that were first mistakenly believed to be there, making it difficult to clarify who did what to whom first. [Projection]

Reaction Formation – Is the fixation in consciousness of an idea, affect or desire that is opposite to a feared unconscious impulse. Actions are diametrically opposite to want the person unconsciously wants. Example, repressed dependency needs in a person, may displays toughness, independence. One notes a rigidity of belief systems is an indicator of level of defensiveness and the degree of emotions invested in the belief system. A well person can tolerate other people’s points of view. Going to the opposite extreme; overcompensation for unacceptable impulses. Examples: (1) a man violently dislikes an employee; without being aware of doing so, he "bends over backwards" to not criticize the employee and gives him special privileges and advances. (2) A person with strong antisocial impulses leads a crusade against vice. (3) A married woman who is disturbed by feeling attracted to one of her husband's friends treats him rudely.

Rationalization – Is the substitution of safe and reasonable explanation for the true (but threatening) cause of behaviour in order to hide one’s true motives. It is simply the excuse. Massive Denial and Obfuscation (to confuse, bewilder, stupefy, to darken, in the way of) for years to something they didn’t want to admit to. Famous myths such as Homer’s “Odyssey” push us forward by inspiring us to be courageous in the face of difficult decisions. But all myths aren’t created equal. Some myths simply rationalize our situation and in doing so help us to accept our fate. That is they tell us that we don’t have to face up to life’s challenging situation. These rationalizations them become half-truths or even less. A man’s opinion is only as good as his honesty. Offering a socially acceptable and apparently more or less logical explanation for an act or decision actually produced by unconscious impulses. The person rationalizing is not intentionally inventing a story to fool someone else, but instead is misleading self as well as the listener. Examples: (1) a man buys a new car, having convinced himself that his older car won't make it through the winter. (2) A woman with a closet full of dresses buys a new one because she doesn't have anything to wear.

Regression is a return to earlier stages of development and the earlier forms of gratification that were a part of this stage. This occurs when dangers or conflicts arise at later developmental stages. By another anxiety-evading mechanism known as regression, the personality may suffer a loss of some of the development already attained and may revert to a lower level of adaptation and expression. [Fixation]

Repression – Is the withdrawal from consciousness of the unwanted idea, affect or desire by pushing it down or repressing it into the unconscious part of the mind. Emotional conflicted material is excluded from consciousness because of its painful nature. The involuntary exclusion of a painful or conflictual thought, impulse, or memory from awareness. This is the primary ego defense mechanism; others reinforce it. "A conception developed initially by Freud and the psychoanalysts, to a mental process arising from conflict between the 'pleasure principle' and the 'reality principle', as when impulses and desires are in conflict with enforced standards of conduct; as a result such impulses and desires with the associated memories and ideal systems, and the painful emotions arising out of the conflict, are actively or automatically thrust out of consciousness into the unconscious, in which, however, they still remain active, determining behavior and experience, for the most part indirectly and producing neurotic symptoms of various kinds, as well as determining dreams, both night and day, and underlying many types of deviations from normal behavior." (Drever, 1952)

Resistance: This defense mechanism produces a deep-seated opposition to the bringing of repressed (unconscious) data to awareness. Through its operation, the individual seeks to avoid memories or insights, which would arouse anxiety.

Restitution: The mechanism of relieving the mind of a load of guilt by making up or reparation (paying up with interest). [Reaction formation] [Undoing]

Self-Assertion: The individual deals with emotional conflict or stressors by expressing his or her feelings and thoughts directly in a way that is not coercive or manipulative.

Somatization: Conflicts are represented by physical symptoms involving parts of the body innervated by the sympathetic and parasympathetic system. Example: a highly competitive and aggressive person, whose life situation requires that such behavior be restricted, develops hypertension. [Conversion]

Substitution: Through this defense mechanism, the individual secures alternative or substitutive gratification comparable to those that would have been employed had frustration not occurred.

Suppression: Usually listed as an ego defense mechanism but actually the conscious analog of repression; intentional exclusion of material from consciousness. At times, suppression may lead to subsequent repression. Examples: (1) a young man at work finds that he is letting thoughts about a date that evening interfere with his duties; he decides not to think about plans for the evening until he leaves work. (2) A student goes on vacation worried that she may be failing; she decides not to spoil her holiday by thinking of school. (3) A woman makes an embarrassing faux pas at a party; she makes an effort to forget all about it. In the first example, suppression was probably a desirable mechanism since it permitted concentration on work and deferred dealing with plans for the evening until a more appropriate time. In the second instance, suppression would have been undesirable if failing work could have been corrected during vacation or if a realistic appraisal of probable consequences of the school situation would have permitted battery planning.

Sublimation – is the diversion or deflection of instinctual drives, usually sexual ones, into new instinctual channels such as artistic or scientific endeveavours. Attenuating the force of an instinctual drive by using the energy in other, usually constructive activities. This definition implies acceptance of the Libido Theory; the examples do not require it. Sublimation is often combined with other mechanisms, among them aim inhibition, displacement, and symbolization. Examples: (1) a man who is dissatisfied with his sex life but who has not stepped out on his wife becomes very busy repairing his house while his wife is out of town. Thus, he has no time for social activities. (2) A woman is forced to undertake a restrictive diet; she becomes interested in painting and does a number of still life pictures, most of which include fruit. The conscious use of work or hobbies to divert one’s thoughts from a problem or from a rejected wish is an analog of this. Sublimation is often a desirable mechanism. However, the consequences may, in addition to preventing instinctual satisfaction, interfere with the person's life in other ways if disproportionate time, money, or effort is used in the activity.

Splitting – is the severance of mental connections between two representations. If the connection brings too much anxiety or pain, splitting will bring temporary relief. This defense usually is used along with other defenses such as projection, denial and repression. Freud first described it in his paper, ‘The splitting of the ego in the process of defense’. Simply called defensive splitting. This term is widely used today to explain the coexistence within the ego of contradictory states, representative of self and others, as well as attitudes to self and others; other individuals or the self is perceived as "All good or all bad

Symbolization: An object or act represents a complex group of objects and acts, some of which may be conflictual or unacceptable to the ego; objects or acts stand for a repressed desire. Examples: (1) a soldier, when asked why he volunteered, he said, "To defend the flag." He rejects as irrelevant a question about the purpose of the war. (2) A boy asks for a girl's hand (in marriage). As in the second illustration, symbolization is often combined with displacement. It is one of the mechanisms usually involved in phobias. [Avoidance] [Displacement]

Undoing: An act or communication which partially negates a previous one. Examples: (1) two close friends have a violent argument; when they next meet, each act as if the disagreement had never occurred. (2) When asked to recommend a friend for a job, a man makes derogatory comments, which prevent the friend's getting the position; a few days later, the man drops in to see his friend and brings him a small gift. In a conscious analog of this, Napoleon made it a practice after reprimanding any officer to find some words of praise to say at their next meeting. [Reaction formation] [restitution]