Psychological Defense Mechanisms

A defense mechanism is an unconscious mental process aimed at minimizing negative experiences. There is no single classification of defense mechanisms, but they can generally be divided into four groups.

First Group: Lack of Information Processing

• Repression is the process by which an individual rejects certain experiences, emotions, memories, thoughts, or psychological states, which continue to influence their behavior and psyche. Repression distorts and pushes away unpleasant information, affecting a person’s self-perception.
• Blocking involves the temporary suppression of negative, distressing thoughts, emotions, or actions.
• Denial is a process where a person expresses previously repressed desires, thoughts, or feelings, while still seeking protection from them and denying that these are their own. Denial is considered the most primitive type of defense. It develops to restrain emotions when others show emotional indifference or rejection. Denial involves an immature substitution of acceptance by others with their attention, while any negative aspects of attention are blocked at the perception stage. As a result, the person can painlessly express a sense of acceptance of the world and themselves, but must attract attention by any means. Features of defensive behavior in denial include egocentrism, suggestibility, emotionality, and easy tolerance of criticism.
• Suppression is a defense mechanism where unwanted thoughts, urges, and emotions that have reached consciousness are eliminated. Suppression develops when fear is restrained, especially when its expression is unacceptable for positive self-perception and threatens dependence on an aggressor. Fear is blocked by forgetting the real stimulus and related objects. Normally, this defensive behavior appears as careful avoidance of situations that could become problematic and provoke fear of being unable to defend one’s position, leading to compliance and submissiveness.

Second Group: Transformation (Distortion) of Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior

• Transference is the influence of previously formed skills on new actions. For example, if someone had tense relations with their father and their boss reminds them of him, the same attitude is reproduced.
  • Displacement is a common type of transference, where aggression or resentment is directed at objects that are not the original source of irritation. For example, an employee scolded by their boss may take it out on a subordinate. Displacement can be directed outward (toward others or objects) or inward (self-harm, self-punishment). People using displacement often put themselves at risk or become aggressors if possible.
  • Substitution involves symptoms or behaviors (mistakes, character traits, etc.) that replace unconscious desires. It can be directed at oneself, which is called narcissism. Substitution helps restrain anger. Typical behaviors include impulsiveness, irritability, demandingness, unusual guilt, and risk-taking activities.
• Avoidance (Escape) occurs when a person’s perception of their own incompetence leads them to retreat to an area where they maintain control over reality. Avoiding problem-solving may be justified by being busy or lacking necessary skills. Avoidance often involves “escaping” into fantasy.
• Rationalization arises when a person needs to justify behavior that is unacceptable to them. Rational explanations as a defense mechanism are not aimed at resolving the situation, but at relieving tension. Rationalization may occur:
  • when information is lacking and a person starts forming their own hypotheses;
  • when unexpected or absurd actions occur, either by themselves or others;
  • when there are conflicting views on the same subject;
  • when there is a lack of meaning in activity.

  People who use rationalization tend to have rigid, regulated, and rational behavior, which can lead to obsessive states. Rationalization primarily serves to maintain personal status. By rationalizing, a person blocks self-reflection and new choices, and may damage relationships by blaming others for their failures. Irony can also be a form of rationalization, turning anxiety and fear into humor, making them less threatening.

• Intellectualization involves deliberately schematizing events to develop a sense of subjective control over any situation. In behavior and communication, this mechanism is seen in the dominance of abstract thinking over emotional experience and the denial of feelings and fantasies.
• Projection develops to restrain feelings of self-rejection or rejection by others. Projection is used to suppress one’s own desires and impulses. It is easier to project onto someone whose situation or personality is similar to the projector’s. Types of projection include:
  • Attributive – unconsciously rejecting one’s own negative qualities and attributing them to others;
  • Rationalistic – recognizing qualities in oneself and projecting them as “everyone does it”;
  • Complimentary – interpreting one’s shortcomings as virtues;
  • Similative – attributing shortcomings by similarity, such as parent to child.
• Identification is a defense mechanism involving the association of oneself with a certain image (imago). As children grow, they form ideas about their immediate environment, which become criteria for evaluating their social surroundings. Identification typically involves:
  • a hierarchical relationship (the person identified with is above, the identifier is below);
  • the identifier is strictly dependent on the higher-up;
  • the higher-up sets strict behavioral rules and punishes deviations.

  Identification also forms the basis for transference, as described above.

• Alienation (Isolation) is a defense mechanism that leads to the separation within consciousness of areas associated with traumatic factors. Unified consciousness splits into separate parts, each with its own perception, memory, and attitudes. Some events are perceived separately, and emotional connections between them are not reproduced. This results in detachment from the part of the personality that provokes unbearable experiences. Isolation often appears in obsessive-compulsive neuroses: isolating a thought or action, breaking its connection with other thoughts or aspects of life.
• Reaction Formation is expressed as a psychological attitude or habit that is the direct opposite of a repressed desire, reacting to it with an “inversion of desire.” For example, shame instead of an unconscious desire to show off. This mechanism involves developing and maintaining behavior that is the exact opposite of the repressed urge.
• Compensation and Overcompensation are the latest defense mechanisms, intended to restrain feelings of sadness, anxiety, grief over real or imagined loss, inferiority, or inability to possess something. They are usually used consciously. If a person develops in an area where they believe they can achieve the most success after encountering problems elsewhere, this is called compensation. If they develop in the area where they feel unsuccessful, this is overcompensation.

Third Group: Discharge of Negative Emotions

• Acting Out involves emotional discharge through expressive behavior. It often appears under the influence of psychoactive substances and can lead to various types of addictive or aggressive behavior.
• Somatization of Anxiety (symptom formation) is more likely to occur the stronger and longer the internal and external blocks to desire, and the less possible it is to remove these blocks. It arises when it is impossible to eliminate the source of frustration or direct aggression at the culprit or a substitute. The person becomes the object themselves. On a physical level, this can manifest as rashes, spots, blindness, deafness, or loss of sensation.
• Sublimation is the redirection of drive or aggressive energy into socially acceptable channels. Anxiety is reduced and results in socially acceptable outcomes.

Fourth Group: Manipulative Action Mechanisms

• Regression is a return to individually childlike forms of behavior, reverting to earlier stages of psychological development. It is a shift to less complex, less structured, and less differentiated ways of responding, typical of children. Regression develops early in life to restrain feelings of insecurity or fear associated with taking initiative. It includes motor activity-unconscious actions to relieve tension.
• “Retreat into Illness” is a defense mechanism where the presence of a real (psychosomatic disorder) or often imagined illness is used to justify one’s own inadequacy, and the person refuses to solve their problems independently. They seek care and recognition from others for their illness or weakness.
• Fantasizing is an imagined scenario in which a person’s desires are fulfilled, albeit in a distorted, defensive way. The person seeks to increase their own significance, the importance of their life, and their control over others.

Psychological defense contributes to a person’s internal stability and helps normalize their mental state.