ARRGGHHH! I had dyspepsia!!! And I blame it on Freud!!! Remember last time? He served us a delicious lecture?? Oh but some of his words were too solid for me to digest. I hope you guys didn’t suffer the same fate. You know, I’m trying to keep his mouth shut but the guy won’t stop. He can go on 24/7 sometimes ( I just guess that). But, hey, he promised to keep it light this time.

Defense what?!

He is gonna talk about defense mechanism. No, not our body’s immune system but the mind’s immune system. Yeah, something like that I think. So, just like the body that has all its intricacies so too is the mind. Anyway

Defense mechanism or the ego’s technique to deal with unwanted thoughts. This mechanism operates at a level below consciousness. According to the main man himself, S.F., adult defenses are related to early childhood experiences.

* Interesting Fact*

Researchers found that defense mechanism tend to follow a developmental pattern. That is, some defense mechanisms are more likely to be used by young children, whereas others show up more frequently in older children and adults. Thus, identifying a person’s defensive style may tell us something about his or her general level of development.

TYPES OF DEFENSE MECHANISM

REPRESSION – pushing threatening material out of consciousness.

(there is this case of false memory syndrome due to early

repression. Let’s talk about that in the future)

DENIAL- simply refusing to accept that certain facts exist.

(this is common right?)

RATIONALIZATION- removing the emotional content from the idea.

(when you reason out using your head too much).

REACTION FORMATION- behavior develop that is the opposite of the thought.

(common scenario: girl says I hate this guy soooo much only few

years later you hear they are married )

PROJECTION- act of attributing to another person, animal or object the

unacceptable feelings. ( common scenario: husband is having an

affair but accuses his wife of having an affair)

SUBLIMATION- redirecting the threatening impulses into socially acceptable

actions. ( common scenario: Pacquiao. Too much aggressive

energy so chose boxing to vent out the aggression)

DISPLACEMENT- almost like sublimation, displacement involves channeling

our impulses to non threatening objects. (common scenario:

husband gets a beating from his boss but because boss is powerful

husband choose to vent out his anger towards his helpless

children).

*The list can go on longer. The above mentioned are the original defense mechanism proposed by Freud*