A person constantly faces a conflict between his inner world and the surrounding reality. The human psyche is designed in such a way that it protects itself from the negative consequences of this collision. Thanks to certain mechanisms, anxiety is weakened, frustration, tension and anxiety are reduced.
Psychological protection is automatically triggered when exposed to negative factors, leveling the psycho-emotional background. It regulates a person’s reactions, helps to adapt to the situation, and normalizes the state of the individual. Scientists believe that defense mechanisms that bring the psyche into a stable state can be involved not only at the unconscious level.
Methods of psychological defense are not used one at a time, but act in combination. The fight against internal and external conflicts occurs through the work of imagination, memory, emotions, thinking, perception and attention. The techniques described below can be used to reduce emotional stress.
Projection
It manifests itself in the fact that a person projects his own negative traits onto the people around him. For example, an individual may explain his own aggression as a fair reaction to the aggressive behavior of others. Something like: as you are with me, so am I with you.
Most often, projection acts as a defensive reaction against awareness of one’s own problems. It covers negative character traits. There is also another type of psychological defense.
In some cases, a person transfers positive emotions and achievements to others, thereby subconsciously asserting himself at the expense of others. For example, when a student achieves success in some matter where his teacher never shone, the latter is secretly proud of his own merit. After all, it was he who was able to instill in the pupil the necessary skills.
Rationalization
This psychological defense is based on a pseudo-rational approach. A person uses logical and understandable conclusions to explain his own failure. That part of the situation that is negatively valued in the internal system of values is unconsciously removed from consciousness. A person does not perceive the connection between cause and effect and replaces it with a false judgment.
An example of rationalization is the fable about the fox and the grapes. The animal was unable to eat the berry. The fox convinced herself that she could not taste the grapes because they were not ripe, and not because they were growing at an unattainable height.
Reactive education
It is based on the substitution of feelings and emotions for the exact opposite. For example, fear of showing sympathy creates strong antipathy, and hatred of parents creates boundless love and care. A person changes his feelings to polar ones unconsciously, often due to fear of not being understood or as a result of other reasons.
This type of psychological defense can be calculated by the intensity of the emotions shown. Let's say, if anger towards a person obscures the eyes and does not manifest itself in other cases, then this is a clear signal. Just like endless love for your boss can be a consequence of intense negative emotions.
Image as part of psychological security
A psychologically protected person necessarily thinks about the impression he makes on those with whom he has to interact. This applies to both relatives, friends and people who are neutral, as well as enemies and ill-wishers, either constantly present in one way or another in life, or meeting from time to time - in various life situations. Moreover, the topic of image concerns to a greater extent precisely the last category of people - those who arise in life situationally - with the intersection of interests, divergence of opinions, and so on.
To ensure that there are as few unfriendly people in life as possible, a protected person pays attention to his image, which he creates in the outside world. So, based on the characteristics of his character and temperament, such a person has a choice of several image options that contribute to psychological security:
- the image of an unpredictable person with whom it is better not to mess with, because you can expect anything from him;
- the image of an imperturbable person, whom it is simply impossible to hurt or prick because of his “thick skin” - self-confidence and calmness;
- the image of a modest person who always remains, as it were, in the background, minding his own business, but at the same time behaves confidently;
- the image of a wit who does not mince his words and is able to outshine any bully with his sharp mind and tongue;
- the image of a benevolent and charming person, radiating warmth and pleasant to communicate with, on whom there is simply no desire to put pressure;
- the image of a powerful and authoritative person, to whom it is better not to cling, so as not to get yourself into even greater trouble.
It’s not difficult to guess why image can serve as an excellent protective tool. But you need to choose it only in accordance with the characteristics of your personality, otherwise the behavior will look unnatural. The image must be complemented by a certain manner of speech and behavior in specific situations, a variety of non-verbal signals and other components. Together with the qualities and traits of a psychologically protected person, the image can and should become the foundation of behavior on which interaction with other people will be built.
As for the acquisition of all the qualities that contribute to psychological security, it will not be possible to acquire them overnight, and this must be accepted. They will all come over time, and this will be facilitated by an eventful, varied and interesting life with many difficulties and trials. This is the only way you will be able to strengthen your character, strengthen your spirit and form an unbending inner core.
But even here you need to be careful and attentive. Remember: if the ends of a branch are pressed sharply together, it will break, but if you connect them smoothly, it will withstand the tension. It’s the same here: you shouldn’t rush headlong into all serious things. Simply put, the pressure of your life must be somehow controlled so as not to break down, and the desired qualities must be acquired not only through experience, but also through such things as self-education, self-education, self-discipline and the development of a strong character. Therefore, in conclusion, here are some tips on this topic.
We wish you peace of mind and strength of spirit!
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Regression
This protective mechanism returns the adult individual to childhood. At an unconscious level, each person has a script for the child’s behavior written down. When things are bad or something doesn’t go according to plan, you can slip into crying, hysteria, and whims. Then others will come to the rescue and solve all the problems.
A similar scenario worked with parents in childhood, so many adults, with the help of regression, try to regain that psychological comfort and remove the burden of responsibility. Often such behavior can be observed during illness. Constant use of this type of psychological defense can lead to psychosomatic illnesses and difficulties in relationships with society.
Mechanisms of psychological defense of the individual
A special system of personality regulation aimed at protecting consciousness from negative, traumatic, unpleasant experiences caused by contradictions, anxiety and a state of discomfort is called psychological protection, the functional purpose of which is to minimize intrapersonal confrontation, relieve tension, and relieve anxiety. By weakening internal contradictions, psychological hidden “safeties” regulate the behavioral reactions of the individual, increasing its adaptive ability and balancing the psyche.
Freud had previously outlined the theories of the conscious, unconscious and the concept of the subconscious, where he emphasized that defensive internal mechanisms are an integral part of the unconscious. He argued that the human subject is often confronted with unpleasant stimuli that are threatening and can generate stress or lead to a breakdown. Without internal “safeties,” the ego of the individual will undergo disintegration, which will make it impossible to make decisions in everyday life. Psychological protection acts as shock absorbers. It helps individuals cope with negativity and pain.
Modern psychological science identifies 10 internal defense mechanisms, which are classified according to the degree of maturity into defensive (for example, isolation, rationalization, intellectualization) and projective (denial, repression). The first ones are more mature. They allow negative or traumatic information to enter their consciousness, but interpret it for themselves in a “painless” way. The second ones are more primitive, since traumatic information is not allowed into consciousness.
Today, psychological “safeties” are considered reactions that an individual resorts to unconsciously in order to protect his own internal mental components, the “Ego,” from anxiety, confrontation, frustration, feelings of shame, guilt, and feelings of anger.
The fundamental mechanisms of psychological defense are differentiated by such parameters as the level of processing of the conflict internally, the reception of reality distortion, the level of the amount of energy spent on maintaining a certain mechanism, the level of infantilism of the individual and the type of probable mental disorder that appears as a result of addiction to a certain defense mechanism.
Freud, using his own three-component model of the structure of the psyche, suggested that individual mechanisms arise in childhood.
Psychological protection, examples of it are found all the time in life. Often, in order not to vent anger on the boss, a person pours out streams of negative information on employees, since they are less significant objects for him.
It often happens that the safety mechanisms begin to work incorrectly. The reason for this failure lies in the individual’s desire for peace. Hence, when the desire for psychological comfort begins to prevail over the desire to comprehend the world, minimizing the risk of going beyond the boundaries of the familiar, well-functioning defense mechanisms cease to function adequately, which leads to self-deception.
Protective defense mechanisms constitute the security complex of the personality, but at the same time they can lead to its disintegration. Each individual has his own favorite variation of protection.
Psychological defense is an example of this: the desire to find a reasonable explanation for even the most ridiculous behavior. This is how the tendency towards rationalization manifests itself.
However, there is a fine line that runs between adequate use of the preferred mechanism and a violation of the equivalent balance in their functioning. Troubles arise for individuals when the chosen “fuse” is absolutely inappropriate for the situation.
crowding out
All types of psychological defense help cope with negative feelings, but repression works even with the most powerful impulses. This method is characterized by removing a traumatic event from consciousness. However, it still remains in memory at an unconscious level and influences the individual’s behavior.
The human psyche actively supports repression, spending a large amount of resources. An unresolved internal conflict breaks to the surface in a dream, with reservations. Repression is quite dangerous, as it can lead to serious neurosis.
What is psychological protection
The human psyche is characterized by the ability to protect itself from negative surrounding or internal influences.
Psychological protection of the individual is present in every human subject, but varies in degree of intensity.
Psychological protection guards the mental health of people, protects their “I” from the effects of stress, increased anxiety, anxiety, negative, destructive thoughts, and from confrontations leading to poor health.
Psychological defense as a concept was born in 1894 thanks to the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who came to the conclusion that a subject can show two different responses to unpleasant situations. He can either detain them in a conscious state, or distort such circumstances in order to reduce their scope or deviate them in a different direction.
All protective mechanisms are characterized by two features connecting them. First of all, they are unconscious. The individual activates defense spontaneously, without understanding what he is doing. Secondly, the main task of protective tools is to distort reality as much as possible or completely deny it, so that the subject stops perceiving it as alarming or unsafe. It should be emphasized that human individuals often use several protection mechanisms simultaneously in order to protect themselves from unpleasant, threatening events. However, such a distortion cannot be considered a deliberate lie or exaggeration.
At the same time, despite the fact that all available protective acts are aimed at protecting the human psyche, preventing him from falling into depression, and helping him endure stress, they often cause harm. The human subject cannot exist constantly in a state of renunciation or blaming others for his own troubles, replacing reality with a distorted picture that has fallen from the subconscious.
Psychological defense, in addition, can hinder personal growth and human development. It can become an obstacle to the path of success.
The negative consequences of the phenomenon under consideration occur with the stable repetition of a certain defense mechanism in similar situations of life, however, individual events, although similar to those that initially provoked the activation of the defense, do not need cover-up, since the subject himself can consciously find a solution to the problem that has arisen.
Also, defense mechanisms turn into a destructive force when a person uses several of them at the same time. A subject who frequently resorts to defense mechanisms is doomed to be a failure.
Psychological protection of the individual is not an innate skill. It is acquired during the child’s socialization. The main source of the formation of internal defense mechanisms and examples of their use are parents, who “infect” their own children with their example of using protection.
Substitution
In some situations, a person experiences strong negative emotions, but cannot throw them out for fear of consequences. In this case, the individual replaces the object for venting his feelings with something safer for himself. Most often we are talking about anger, and it can manifest itself in rudeness, rudeness, irritation, etc.
For example, at work, a boss yelled at a subordinate. He understands that entering into conflict is dangerous for his own well-being. Arriving home, he takes out his anger on the child, who is not able to give a worthy rebuff.
Types of defense mechanisms according to S. Freud
Psychological defense never solves the problems that have arisen; it helps to avoid them and creates the illusion that everything is normal. However, this is suitable for the temporary harmonization of a person’s relationship with the world and himself. And Freud described 8 types of psychological defenses that manifest themselves in different conditions and work differently.
crowding out
This is one of the most common psychological defenses. If thoughts seem unlawful and frighten the person himself, and desires cannot be satisfied, then they are suppressed and repressed to the level of the unconscious. A person, as if demonstratively, does not want what he strived for, but could not get.
A hopelessly in love young man can happily and often tell his friends about the shortcomings of his (as he believes to be his ex) lover. The child, who had a hard time experiencing his mother’s departure, pushed her image out of consciousness and “forgot” it. And when the mother returns, the baby refuses to recognize her, cries and does not make contact.
The effect of imaginary forgetting quite often accompanies repression. Thus, a person who finds himself at the scene of a disaster or who has lost a loved one may forget the details of this traumatic event, pushing too painful memories to the level of the unconscious.
However, repression is never complete; difficult memories, forbidden desires and thoughts strive to overcome the psychological barrier and break out to the level of consciousness. To contain them, a person has to spend a lot of energy, so he often suffers from various diseases: hypertension, gastritis, neurodermatitis, arthritis, etc. Even more often, repression causes the development of neuroses.
Substitution
This is also a fairly common psychological defense mechanism. It resembles repression, only during replacement the energy of unsatisfied desire is not suppressed, but is transferred to another object, more accessible, less dangerous, and not associated with moral prohibitions.
The effect of substitution is clearly visible in the behavior of children. A child punished by his parents throws toys or pushes his younger sister in irritation. A teenager who received a bad grade angrily tears up his notebook. They are offended by their parents and teacher, but these objects are not available for revenge, so to relieve irritation, another object is selected and replacement occurs. Adults behave in the same way, taking out their dissatisfaction with life, work, and bosses on their loved ones.
S. Freud understood the term “substitution” quite broadly and, as an example of this mechanism of psychological defense, cited dreams in which repressed desires are actualized. They seem to be fulfilled, but illusory, in dreams.
Substitution may have another form, described after Freud. It manifests itself in the transfer of need to another object. Thus, a man can transfer his unfulfilled need for his wife’s love and trust to a car. He looks after her, talks to her, gives her a name. And a single woman satisfies her need for a family by surrounding herself with cats.
Projection
When a desire is too hot to give up and too “wrong” to be satisfied, the mechanism of projection comes into play. This desire is projected onto others, and they become the object of criticism and blame. The person, as in childhood, seems to say: “It’s not me who is bad, it’s them.”
I think everyone knows the picture of grandmothers on a bench, foaming at the mouth, condemning “depraved youth”? This is no longer available to older women, so the bitterness of memories of lost opportunities is removed with the help of projection. And the cheating husband suddenly becomes suspicious and looks for a reason to accuse his wife of cheating.
And often those personality qualities (laziness, lack of commitment, deceit, inconstancy, etc.) that a person actively condemns in others are inherent in himself, but he does not want to admit it. And in order to get rid of the painful feeling of guilt, he projects his “sins” onto others.
Rationalization
How often, having committed an unseemly act, we try to find a compelling justification for it, explain it logically, justify it, citing seemingly very reasonable arguments. This psychological defense mechanism is called rationalization. Such “logical” justifications for an action have nothing to do with the true reason; they were invented by a person after the action was completed. But in fairness, it must be said that usually a person is not aware of the real reason, it is so deeply hidden at the level of the unconscious.
Rationalization can concern not only misdeeds, but also failures. Nobody wants to feel like a loser, so people try to find a rational explanation for this. An unloved and low-paid job is justified by its stability, tranquility, good psychological climate, undemanding boss, and the fact that you don’t have to run around in search of something more prestigious. Yes, anything, just not to admit that you are a loser or lazy.
Inversion (reactive formation)
The result of inversion is a “turnover” desire. If a person cannot get what he wants, then he replaces it with the exact opposite and makes it happen. The illusion is created that the need is satisfied. For example, inversion often occurs in situations of unrequited love.
Inversion is carried out in two stages, the first being displacement. An unsatisfied, forbidden desire or traumatic situation is first hidden at the level of the unconscious. But even there they affect a person, causing unpleasant emotions. Therefore, a replacement occurs for the exact opposite.
Insulation
Unable to cope with an unfavorable situation, a person, as it were, separates himself from it and takes the negativity beyond the boundaries of the individual. This allows you not to worry about being faced with the same unsolvable problem every day, but it can lead to a split personality. And the position of an ostrich with its head in the sand does not help in finding a way out of a difficult situation.
Regression
In difficult situations, defending against the need to resolve unpleasant issues, a person often chooses primitive forms of behavior and communication, reacts like a child: refuses to accept logic, complains, shifts the blame to others, gets offended over trifles, makes scandals, is capricious, etc. Stubbornness, desire subverting authorities and breaking rules is also a manifestation of this psychological defense mechanism.
Regressive forms of behavior also include many bad habits: biting nails, smoking, etc. In severe cases, as a result of psychological trauma, a person can “fall into childhood” - not only behave like a minor, but also feel like one.
Sublimation
This can be said to be the first form of psychological defense described by Freud. It is even difficult to call it a separate species, since it includes characteristics of different mechanisms. Sublimation is the transformation of the energy of an unattainable or forbidden desire into other forms of activity in different areas of life. Thus, sexual desires are often sublimated in creativity: in poetry, painting, sculpture. But the sphere of politics and social activity is also a good area for sublimation, since it requires activity and investment of effort from the individual.
Sublimation not only helps to get rid of obsessive desires, but also prevents the negative influence of their unrealized energy. Otherwise, suppression of needs and instincts manifests itself in neuroses, psychoses, complexes and psychosomatic diseases, for example, cardiovascular diseases.
Z. Freud identified two levels of psychological defenses:
- The first, primitive ones include mechanisms based on repression, concealment, suppression of desires and instincts. They often have a bad effect on a person’s mental state and overall health, as they require large amounts of energy.
- The second, higher level is based on transforming the energy of desires and directing it to another sphere, which makes this group of psychological defenses more acceptable. This level includes, for example, sublimation. And in a situation where it is impossible to cope with a desire or a problematic situation, it is preferable to transfer psychological protection to this level.
Resistance
There are various personality defense mechanisms, and some of them interfere with self-improvement. The person does not want to accept that there is a problem and does not listen to the recommendations of specialists. When working with a psychologist, the client, with expressed resistance, insists that he is being provided with unqualified services, thereby justifying his own inaction.
If you have discovered one of the above types of psychological defense in your behavior, it’s time to understand the reasons for its occurrence. Considering that our subconscious is good at hiding unpleasant and annoying moments, we may have to make a lot of effort to remember them. Of course, you can turn to specialists for help. But, given the variety of ways to solve the problem, it is quite possible to do this yourself.
