defense mechanisms .pptx

this topic will be very helpful for B.sc (N) and DGNM students those who are studying psychology. also will be useful for psychology students.

1. EGO DEFENCE MECHANISMS Prof. X. Aron Christy M.Sc (N)., SRMTCON, Trichy .

2. INTRODUCTION We all have thoughts, feelings, impulses, and memories that can be difficult to deal with. In some cases, people deal with difficult feelings by utilizing what are known as defense mechanisms.

3. These defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological responses that protect people from feelings of anxiety, threats to self-esteem, and things that they don't want to think about or deal with.

4. The term got its start in psychoanalytic therapy, but it has slowly worked its way into the parlance of everyday language. Think of the last time you referred to someone as being "in denial" or accused someone of "rationalizing." Both of these examples refer to a type of defense mechanism.

5. In our life we want many things and different goals. But we cannot achieve everything we aspire for. In many instances, we become frustrated when we fail in our attempts. These failures and frustrations hurt our ego and cause a lot of anxiety and feelings of guilt. Under such circumstances, we do not want to accept failure easily. Instead we resort to certain mechanisms by which we can safegaurd our self respect.

6. DEFINITION A defence mechanism is a strategy, unconsciously utilized that serves to protect the ego from anxiety. - Davision and Neale (1978)

7. What Exactly Is a Defense Mechanism? Most notably used by  Sigmund Freud  in his psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism is a tactic developed by the ego to protect against anxiety. Defense mechanisms are thought to safeguard the mind against feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for the conscious mind to cope with.

8. In some instances, defense mechanisms are thought to keep inappropriate or unwanted thoughts and impulses from entering the conscious mind.

9. How Do Defense Mechanisms Work? In Sigmund Freud's model of personality, the  ego  is the aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands of the  id  and the  superego . 

10. The id : The part of the personality that seeks to fulfill all wants, needs, and impulses. The id is the most basic, primal part of our personalities and does not consider things such as social appropriateness, morality, or even the reality of fulfilling our wants and needs.

11. The superego : The part of the personality that tries to get the ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner. The superego is made up of all of the internalized morals and values we acquire from our parents, other family members, religious influences, and society.

12. In order to deal with anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped shield the ego from the conflicts created by the  id, superego, and reality . 2  So what happens when the ego cannot deal with the demands of our desires, the constraints of reality, and our own moral standards? According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant inner state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that things are not going the way they should. As a result, the ego then employs some sort of defense mechanism to help reduce these feelings of anxiety. 2

13. CHARECTERISTICS Defence mechanisms are devices in the form of a certain pattern of behaviour They provide protection against whatever threatens our ego or self esteem. Defence mechanisms help us to defed ourselves from the injury in delicate moments.

14. Unfulfilled desire, need or motive may bring a state of tension leading towards the possible injury to one’s respect. It may be evolved by anything in conflict with our minimum ideal of what the self must be Defence mechanisms are quite temporary defence anxiety and inadequacies. By restoring to them one tries to device himself more than somebody else.

15. Since frustration or conflicts are experienced by everyone and since everyone is compelled to maintain ego or self respect, it follows that the defence mechanisms are used by all of us whether normal or abnormal at sometime or the other.

16. Defence mechanisms are largely unconscious. They tend to operate in a machine like or automatic way. Defence mechanisms should not be confused with symptoms of neuroses or other abnormal conditions. These mechanisms are purely psychic or mental devices or ways of perceiving and desiring.

17. The person employing defence mechanisms can’t be labelled deficient. The fact is otherwise. A person usually resorts to such mechanisms simply for saving himself from the danger of falling in the lap of mental illness or maladjustment with one’s self or the environment.

18. The excessive use or dependence upon the mental mechanisms may lead towards some or the other type of abnormalities in one’s behaviour causing serious disturbances in his physiological as well as psychological functioning.

19. TYPES

20. DIRECT METHODS These are employed by the individual intentionally at the conscious level. It includes: Increasing trails or improving efforts: When one finds it difficult to solve a problem or faces obstacles in the plan, to cope with his/ her environment, he/ she can accept with a new zeal by increasing his/her efforts and improving his/her behavioural process.

21. Adopting compromising means: For maintaining harmony between himself/ heself and the environment he /she may adopt the following compromising postures: He /she may altogether change his her direction of efforts by changing the original goals, i.e an aspirant for IAS may directs his/ her energies to become an officer in a nationalized bank. He may seek partial substitution of goal like selection for the provincial civil services in place of IAS.

22. Indirect methods are those methods by which a person tries to seek temporary adjustment to protect him/her for the time being against a psychological danger. INDIRECT METHODS

23. Adaptive defence mechanisms Repression Rationalization Intellectualization Compensation Sublimation substitution

24. REPRESSION Unconscious and involuntary forgetting of painful ides, events and conflicts. Example : Forgetting a loved one’s birthday after a fight.

25. Over use can lead to… Conscious perception of instincts and feelings is blocked in repression.

26. RATIONALIZATION It is a process in which an individual justifies his/her failures and socially unacceptable behaviour by giving socially approved reasons. Example: A student who fails in the examination may complain that the hostel atmosphere is not favorable and has resulted in his her failure Over use may lead to self deception.

27. INTELLECTUALIZATION Undue emphasis is focused on the inanimate in order to avoid intimacy with people, attention is paid to external reality to avoid the expression of inner feelings and stress is excessively placed on irrelevant details to avoid perceiving the whole.

28. Example: Person shows no emotional expression when discussing a serious car accident.

29. COMPENSATION Consciously covering up for a weakness by over emphasizing or making up a desirable trait.

30. Example

31. A student who fails in his/her studies may compensate by becoming the college champion in athletics. Over use leads to modest instinctual satisfaction.

32. SUBLIMATION Consciously or unconsciously channeling instinctual drives into acceptable activities. Example : Aggressiveness might be transformed into competitiveness in business or sports

33. Sublimation allows instincts to be channeled rather than blocked or delivered.

34. SUBSTITUTION Unconscious replacement of unacceptable impulses, attitudes, needs or emotions with those that are more acceptable. Example: A student nurse decides to work in teaching side because she is unable to master in clinical competencies. Discomfort acknowledged and minimised .

35. MALADAPTIVE DEFENCE MECHANISMS Displacement Denial Isolation Suppression Regression Reaction formation Projection Conversion Dissociation undiong

36. DISPLACEMENT Unconsciously discharging pent up feeling to a less threatening object Example.: A husband comes home after a bad day at work and yells at his wife. Over use may lead to loss of friends and relationships, confusion in communication.

37. DENIAL Unconscious refusal to admit an unacceptable idea or behavior. Example : The mother of a child who is fatally ill may refuse to admit that there is anything wrong even though she is fully informed of the diagnosis and expected outcome.

38. Over use may lead to repression, dissociative disorders.

39. ISOLATION Attempting to avoid painful thought or feeling by objectifying and emotionally detaching oneself from the feeling.

40. Example : Acting aloof and indifferent towards someone when you really dislike that person. Over use may lead to increased stress.

41. SUPPRESSION Voluntary rejection of unacceptable thoughts or feelings from conscious awareness Example : Student who failed in examination states he/she is not ready to talk about his/her marks.

42. REGRESSION Reverting to an older, less mature way of handling stresses and feelings. Example: An adult throws a temper tantrum when he does not get his or her own way.

43. REACTION FORMATION Replacing unacceptable feelings with their exact opposites. Example : A jealous boy who hates his elder brother may show him exaggerated respect and affection towards him. Overuse may lead to failure to resolve internal conflict.

44. PROJECTION Unconsciously or consciously blaming someone else for one’s difficulties. A person who blames another for his own mistakes using the projection mechanism. Example: A surgeon whose patient dose not respond as he anticipated may tend to blame the theater nurse who helped the surgeon at the time of operation.

45. CONVERSION The unconscious expression of intra psychic conflict symbolically through physical symptoms. Anxiety not dealt with can lead to actual physical disorders such as gastric ulcers.

46. DISSOCIATION The unconscious separation of painful feelings and emotions from an unacceptable idea, situation or object. Example: Amnesia that prevents recalls of previous days auto accident. Adult remembers nothing about child hood sexual abuse. Over use leads to dissociative disorders.

47. UNDOING Trying to reverse or undo a thought or feelings by performing an action that signifies an opposite feeling than original thought or feeling. It may convey double message.

48. OTHER DEFENSE MECHANISMS Since Freud first described the original defense mechanisms, other researchers have continued to describe other methods of reducing anxiety. Some of these defense mechanisms include: Acting out : Coping with stress by engaging in actions rather than acknowledging and bearing certain feelings

49. Aim inhibition : Accepting a modified form of their original goal (e.g., becoming a high school basketball coach rather than a professional athlete) Altruism : Satisfying internal needs through helping others Avoidance : Refusing to deal with or encounter unpleasant objects or situations

50. Compensation : Overachieving in one area to compensate for failures in another Fantasy : Avoiding reality by retreating to a safe place within one's mind Humor : Pointing out the funny or ironic aspects of a situation Passive-aggression : Indirectly expressing anger