Psychological defense
Psychological defense refers to the process of regulating painful emotions – such as anxiety, depression, and loss of self-esteem. Defense mechanisms are primarily unconscious responses that allow people to protect themselves from anxious thoughts, strong feelings or emotions, unwanted impulses, or painful memories. They are neither good nor bad. Defense mechanisms provide a way to navigate painful memories or hurtful experiences or channel thoughts and energy more productively. They can also cause people to avoid difficult things or relate in unhealthy ways. In classical psychoanalytic theory, an unconscious reaction pattern employed by the ego to protect itself from the anxiety that arises from psychic conflict. According to theories of “psychological defense,” humans are motivated to protect themselves against various types of psychological threat, including death awareness, uncertainty, and other inherently anxiety-provoking experiences. Protective mechanisms include strengthening close relationships; maintaining appraisals of self-worth, accomplishment, and agency; and cultivating meaningful views of the world.
Types of Defense Mechanisms
People use many defense mechanisms to avoid uncomfortable thoughts, emotions, memories, and impulses. Here are the most common types:
Avoidance: Avoid people, places, or things that bring about uncomfortable thoughts and emotions
Compensation: Focus on achievement in one area to make up (or compensate) for struggles, inadequacies, or perceived inadequacies in other areas
Denial: Dismiss or deny reality and focus on internal explanations or mistaken beliefs to avoid uncomfortable realities
Displacement: Transfer emotional reactions from one situation to another (e.g., having a bad day at work and taking it out on family members)
Humor: Make jokes or use humor to deflect negative or uncomfortable emotions
Intellectualization: Overanalyze an uncomfortable or painful situation rather than acknowledging emotions (e.g., getting a cancer diagnosis and learning everything you can about the disease rather than processing what it means or how it makes you feel)
Projection: Attribute your poor choices or behavior to someone else or an external force rather than acknowledging where you may have made a mistake
Rationalization: Justify your behaviors and choices with a rational explanation
Regression: Changes in your behavior to earlier stages of development (e.g., children returning to bedwetting or thumb sucking following a stressful or traumatic event)
Repression: Unconsciously block uncomfortable or painful memories or emotions related to a traumatic or stressful experience
Suppression: Consciously block out painful or uncomfortable emotions
Paulhus, D. L., Fridhandler, B., & Hayes, S. (1997). Psychological defense: Contemporary theory and research. In Handbook of Personality Psychology (pp. 543–579). Retrieved from:https://surl.li/knlbrc.
Hart, J. (2014). Perspectives on Psychological Science. Retrieved from:https://bit.ly/40UyJF7.
Defense mechanism. American Psychological Association. (2018). Retrieved from:https://bit.ly/3PKZB3E.
Gordon, S. (2024, 13 November). Defense mechanisms and why we use them. Retrieved from:https://bit.ly/3E3x3QD.