Defense Mechanisms

Stress is ubiquitous in our lives. We counter the stressors in our life through defense mechanisms. For a high adaptive level of life, there should be an optimal handling of stressors through mature defense mechanisms. These defenses usually maximize gratification and allow the conscious awareness of feelings, ideas and their consequences. They also promote an optimum balance among conflicting motives. Examples of defense mechanisms at this level are anticipation, affiliation, altruism, humor, self-assertion, self-observation, sublimation and suppression. Anticipation means realistically anticipating or planning for future inner discomfort. There is goal- directed careful planning or worrying and premature but realistic emotional anticipation of dire and potentially dreadful outcomes. For e.g. if you have speculated on the stock market and are expecting a huge loss on the next day when the market opens up, then a somber mood or a withdrawal for the entire evening or weekend may be an effective defense to protect oneself against the anxiety generated by the loss. Preparing for the loss and making the necessary arrangements so that the loss is taken care of completes the defense. Affiliation is where the individual deals with the emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by turning to others for help or support. This involves sharing problems with others but does not imply trying to make someone else responsible for them. Altruism is using constructive and emotionally gratifying service to others to undergo a vicarious experience. Altruism is distinguished from altruistic surrender, in which surrender of direct gratification or of emotional needs takes place in favor of fulfilling the needs of others to the detriment of the self, and the satisfaction can only be enjoyed vicariously. For e.g. working very hard to obtain donations for a non-governmental organization that specializes in charity and upliftment work instead of using those talents for one’s own furtherment is altruism. Altruistic surrender would be if you worked very hard, got a lot of favors and then attributed the success to a friend or a colleague or boss whom you think should be appreciated. Asceticism is eliminating the pleasurable effects of experiences. There is a moral element in assigning values to specific pleasures. Gratification is derived from renunciation and asceticm is directed against all base pleasures perceived consciously. For e.g giving up eating in restaurants even though you can afford it, there is no health problem, it is easy to obtain reservations but simply because eating out causes guilt. Sublimation is achieving impulse gratification and the retention of goals but altering a socially objectionable aim or object to a socially acceptable one. Sublimation allows the drives to be channeled, rather than blocked or diverted. Feelings are acknowledged, modified and directed towards a significant object or goal and modest satisfaction of the drive occurs. For e.g. sexual feelings towards a friend’s wife or friend’s sister can be expressed through a talk about movies with her. This allows the drive to be with her to be fulfilled while avoiding the anxiety of having sexual feelings towards her. Here the sexual strivings are sublimated to the presence with the object. Suppression is consciously or semi consciously postponing attention to a conscious impulse or conflict. Issues may be deliberately cut off, but they are not avoided. Discomfort is acknowledged but minimized. For e.g. not wanting to talk about a divorce because it is too painful. The act is acknowledged but the talk is avoided as it generates more pain. Humor is using comedy to overtly express feelings and thoughts without personal discomfort or immobilization and without producing an unpleasant effect on others. It allows the person to tolerate and yet focus on what is too terrible to be borne; it is different from wit; a form of displacement that involves distraction from the affective issues. For e.g. making a joke out of the economic conditions of the country so that one can avoid the grimness of its affectivity on one’s own self. Intellectualization is where the individual deals with conflict by the excessive use of abstract thinking or the making of generalizations to control or minimize disturbing feelings. A few more defensive mechanisms are like displacement, dissociation, reaction formation and repression. These are not healthy defenses but which reflect compromises in life. Other defenses which reflect pathology are devaluation, idealization, omnipotence, denial, projection, rationalization, passive aggression, apathetic withdrawal, distortion and acting out. Defense mechanisms  are used outside the person’s conscious awareness and do not merit any attribution of blame.