Dozens of different defence mechanisms have been identified till date. Some are used more
commonly than others. In most cases these psychological responses are not under a
person's conscious control. That means you don't decide what you do when you do it.
Displacement
We really use this most of the time when we are angry or disturb. Do you know what
it is about? The name itself says, placing one thing towards another isn't it? Yes, as
we are talking about something related to defence mechanisms, displacement is the
diversion of emotions as if making something or someone the substitution of
releasing your anger.
Let's take an example, imagine you had a bad day at your school/work to release that
frustration you shouted or behaved not as normal as you are to your family/friends or
colleagues. Neither of them were the target of your strong emotions but reacting to
them is less likely problematic than reaction to your boss/teachers.
Projections
We often react very unconsciously when face with a blame or guilt, in this case we
tend to shift our own unacceptable thought or feelings onto someone else in an
attempt to avoid that feeling of guilt, shame or regret
Example to be considered here can be, you dislike your colleague in the first
impression itself but to avoid that feeling you keep thinking that they dislike you. In
this case you are avoiding the feeling of “hating” or “disliking” someone so that you
can behave more politely or nicely towards them because you have to collaborate or
work with them.
Rationalization
It's the attempt to explain or to justify personal behaviour with logical reasoning even
if it sounds inappropriate or absurd.
This is something which we all have been doing in our childhood, when we score
poor grades in our exam we blame our instructor rather than our own lack of
preparation.
Reaction Formation
It's the defence mechanism in which we unconsciously replace an unwanted or
anxiety provoking impulse with its opposite, often expressed on an exaggerated way.
A popular figure of speech is the phrase 'the lady doth protest too much.' Taken from
Shakespeare's “Hamlet”, the saying is often used to refer to people who appear to be
dramatically, and emphatically, opposed to something in an effort to hide their true
feelings or desires
Regression
Regression is used as a defence mechanism when we cope with stressors by acting in a
childish or immature manner, we tend to regress to earlier developmental stages, such as
when it is normal to have excessive dependence or temper tantrums. Not only this it also
functions as a form of retreat, enabling us to psychologically go back in time to a period
when we felt safer.
A common example would be giggling uncontrollably when introduced into a social situation involving the opposite sex.
Repression / Denial
This is very common when we come across behaviour of ours or by someone else which hurts us. In this condition we tend to make ourselves feel about it more positively by pushing or burning the thoughts or feelings that are distressing into our subconscious mind.
Example, you got cheated by your closest friend rather than thinking about you simply
diverting your mind by dragging the feeling of being cheated into a bin.
Sublimations
Sublimations is similar to displacement but takes place when we manage to displace our
unacceptable emotions into behaviours which are socially accepted rather than destructive activities
We look at a drawing of an artist and it's so sensible to us to know what it depicts
similarly. When we listen to a song which has something to say, maybe an unhappy life or
joy or emotions of the musician or singer, we try to understand the feeling. In this case
the artist expressed their feelings in a way which would be acceptable by all.
Dissociations
This sometimes can be considered as an action of extreme stress or sadness where we
detach ourself from reality and from finding of another representation of self to cope up
with stress. This can not only be taken in this way but also taken as an action when we
need peace to overcome the bad happenings of our life by just locking ourself with our
own fantasy world. This type of mechanism may have two impacts on us:- i) we may feel
way better, ii) end up being more stressed. Again this varies from person to person.
Intellectualization
It's the misdirection of focus when we are confronted with unacceptable situations,
feelings/ thoughts or impulses. It involves engrossing ourself so deeply in the reasoning
aspect of a citation that we completely disregard the emotional aspect that is involved.
Examples include a person who loses one of their family members or someone they were
close to instead of being shattered by imagining a life without them the person is
extensively involved in the funerary procedures without shedding a drop of tear. This
helps the person to emotionally distance themselves from the anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Compensation
It's the counterbalancing of perceived flaws or weakness by instead emphasizing it by
one's strength. Suppose you dislike a subject, to increase your grade you express more
your hardwork in a subject you are good at, this not only help you to balance your flaw in
a disliked subject but also helps you to increase your grade by working harder in other
subjects.
Written by Esha Yadav
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