DEFENSE MECHANISMS OF FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS (EXAMPLES) - ARTE - 2025

The defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological mechanisms of self that reduce anxiety arising from stimuli potentially harmful to the human body, the personality and the body in general.

Sigmund Freud, from psychoanalysis, was one of the main defenders of defense mechanisms. Developed more extensively by Anna Freud and consequently the psychology of the ego, they have their basis in Freudian theory.

Examples of specific defense mechanisms of the human organism or body are: regression, negation, dissociation, projection, reactive formation, displacement, rationalization, isolation, identification, sublimation, nullification or compensation.

Psychoanalysis is a praxis formulated by Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) for the treatment of psychopathological disorders based on the dialogue between the patient and the psychoanalyst. More than a century old, it has left indelible marks on the history and culture of mankind.

However, psychoanalysis is not without controversy and its development has had various bifurcations and influences on other psychological theories such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or the psychology of the self.

Among the most recognized and prolific psychoanalysts are Sigmund Freud (its founder), Melanie Klein, Anna Freud, Donald Winnicott and Jaques Lacan, among others.

At the beginning of his theory, Freud conceives the splitting of consciousness (theoretical elaboration prior to the conception of the unconscious) as a defense mechanism and argues that the psychic apparatus lives under a defense principle in which it uses different mechanisms to defend itself from the unconscious. displeasure.

This is the basis of the defense mechanism concept. Anna Freud would review it years later, adding that they are different partially unconscious modalities that the Ego carries out to suppress its internal excitations, memories and fantasies.

List of defense mechanisms and what they consist of

Generally, several defense mechanisms are used simultaneously and for different memories and fantasies. It is also important to mention that the mechanisms are “secondary” defenses, because before the repression occurred, which makes forgetting those unpleasant memories and experiences of which, in the face of the danger of re-emerging into consciousness, the self defends itself by making use of these tools psychic.

Fantasy

When a representation - memory or knowledge - becomes intolerable for the ego, the psychic apparatus represses it, making it unconscious, so the subject "forgets" it (or, rather, does not know that he remembers it).

The ego acts as if this event had never occurred until the failure of the defense, after which it tries again to repress the representation or uses other mechanisms to subdue it and keep it forgotten.

Dissociation

Dissociation allows people to momentarily separate or disconnect from reality. Helps the subject to endure some uncomfortable situations. They daydream, they travel between their thoughts no matter what is around them.

Freud studied Daniel Paul Schreber's case of dissociation with interest. Schreber described in his autobiography that he felt separated from the world, as if a veil was between him and his surroundings.

This defense mechanism can transform into a disorder that prevents the person from leading a normal life. Examples are dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.

Reactive training

The subject, faced with the return of a repressed representation, manifests its total opposite as a way of defending itself against this conflict or threat.

For example, a child hates his younger brother but feels guilty about these feelings and represses them. Since the repression fails, the younger brother manifests an intense love and overprotection towards his brother although his actions towards him will continue to be marked by hatred.

Another well-known example is found in the movie "The sixth sense." In it, a teenage girl dies from a long and unknown illness. However, it is later revealed that it was the stepmother who made her sick, the same one who manifested enormous love and care for the child.

Regression

It occurs when faced with the anguish of an emotional conflict or a representation, the subject returns to previous or infantile behaviors, as a consequence of the drive, returning to previous satisfactions, to which they have been fixed by their childhood history.

For example, an adult who is in a conflict situation at work becomes ill. Consequently, she cannot go to work, at the same time that she needs to be cared for and cared for in a way similar to a child who cannot take care of herself.

Projection

It occurs when a repressed representation is projected outward in a disfigured way. The subject, instead of recognizing said perception or thought, attributes it to an external agent.

Projection occurs, for example, when a person who has low self-esteem laughs at all people who show symptoms of low self-esteem. Also when a person with overweight problems laughs at people who also have physical or health problems.

Rationalization

It consists of the justification of those actions that we carry out and whose repressed motive we do not want to recognize. The subject gives various reasons (often half-truths) to explain his behavior, hiding his unconscious and repressed motivation from others and from himself.

For example, a person with an unconscious suicide desire might commit dangerous actions and justify them by not recognizing the desire to hurt himself, such as crossing the street when the traffic light is green and rationalizing it by saying that he is in a hurry or late.

Delirium

For both Lacan and Freud, delirium, far from being the manifestation of a symptom, is a defense and an attempt to cure. For Freud, delusion is the reconstruction of the world in such a way that what has been expelled from consciousness can be accepted.

Delusion is the way in which the subject justifies those hallucinatory events or representations. Intimately related to foreclosure, delusion is the way of "accepting" those foreclosed signifiers that the subject perceives as external agents and not as stimuli caused by himself.

Condensation

It is one of the processes of the unconscious and occurs mainly in dreams. Repressed fragments are joined with conscious thoughts, in such a way that the new figure / representation does not resemble the repressed content and only contains a fragment of these.

Condensation is evident in the symptoms, as this is overdetermined by various unconscious contents, which are partially expressed by condensing with conscious contents.

For example, the symptom of a person with the compulsion to check that the lock of his house is closed could have several explanations; the fear of having their privacy invaded but also of exposing their repressed unconscious desires. The door would represent the entrance and exit to the unconscious by condensation.

Denial

This mechanism occurs as a way of expressing a repressed representation or thought in a conscious way. It is already a cancellation of the repression - the unconscious has become conscious - but not yet an acceptance of the repressed. The intellectual function is separated from the affective process.

For example, as a result of an emotional dream and its subsequent interpretation, the subject affirms: "That woman is not my mother." Said negation constitutes the manifestation of a repressed content - the woman in the dream represents the mother - and the subject can enunciate it, on condition of denying it.

A very common example of denial is when a person who has lost someone - either due to the death of a relative or a couple breakdown - denies that the other person's relationship or life has ended.

Intellectualization

Intellectualization works as a rational and logical mechanism that leaves emotions in the background, focuses on study and critical reflection. It allows to reduce anxiety and stress through the impulse to gain knowledge of the problem.

The person's thoughts and actions are controlled and cold. An example of this is when a person is diagnosed with a serious illness; You can search for everything related to it, allowing you to endure this situation.

Displacement

It could also be called substitute training, since it constitutes the psychic displacement from an important unconscious element to an unimportant one. In this way, the unconscious and repressed contents by the subject are presented as alien. You cannot recognize yourself in your thoughts or actions due to displacement.

The common example is found in dreams. When people wake up and evoke a dream that happened, they feel its contents as alien to their life and they do not know where these images would come from since the important elements have been displaced towards the irrelevant ones.

Hysterical conversion

Elisabeth Von R

Very similar to the current hypochondria, the subject represses the representation in exchange for manifesting a physical symptom such as the inability to speak or move certain parts of the body. This disability generally has a logical link with what is repressed.

A famous case of Freud, at the beginning of his theory, is that of Elizabeth von R., who suffered from paralysis in the legs. Through analysis, Freud discovers in her desires to marry her brother-in-law and guilt as a result of said desire for having had that thought at her sister's funeral.

Once the memory is "relived" and Elizabeth admits what she feels, her paralysis is cured.

Membership

In this type of defense, the individual seeks to take refuge in other people after a traumatic or stressful event. This behavior can be observed in people who are cheated on by their partners or who have lost a loved one.

Support usually comes from close people like friends and family. However, sometimes they also seek refuge from strangers.

Altruism

The definition of the word explains this defense mechanism and it is the tendency to help other people, but unconsciously what you really want is to satisfy internal needs.

For example, if a person meets another that they do not like, that person can use kind words and smile to avoid the tension and stress of the encounter.

Passive aggression

It is a type of indirect aggression in response to an event, action or event that caused anger. With this type of mechanism, the person defends and attacks at the same time.

The subject behaves passively and avoids an outbreak of anger, but still subtly exposes his disgust. The person will deny at all times that they are upset or offended. Some of the actions they use to show their anger are exclusion, silence, sarcasm, or banging on books or doors.

Compensation

Compensation is a defense mechanism that is reflected in the emphasis or excessive performance in one area with the purpose of compensating for the flaws or weaknesses present in others.

With this, the subject relies on their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses. For example, when the subject expresses that he is not able to paint the walls well, but he can wash the brushes well. However, if it is presented in excess it can cause problems for the individual, an example is the promiscuity of someone looking for love.

Humor

Humor deflects or minimizes the magnitude of the problem by identifying the funny, humorous, and ironic elements of it. Humor helps to cope with situations out of control, and is sometimes seen as an altruistic act, allowing others to cope with problems

By reducing the intensity of the problem, laughter helps the subject not act impulsively, avoiding attacks of anger. An example of this is when parents reduce their anger by laughing at their young son when she has done something wrong at home.

Foreclosure

According to Jacques Lacan, this mechanism is like a repression but much more radical and is at the same level (that is, prior to the returns of the repressed).

Foreclosure occurs when the subject encounters a representation or signifier that generates so much anguish that he is unable to repress it, because to do so he needs to previously accept its existence.

In other words, the subject rejects this representation in such a way that it refuses its very existence, producing the foreclosure of that signifier, which never enters the accumulation of unconscious representations, unlike those repressed contents.

Sublimation

Little is known about this mechanism, as it is mentioned by Freud briefly in various writings. Unlike the other mechanisms, in this there is no conflict between the ego and the repressed, but rather a pleasant way through which the unconscious can manifest itself.

The paradigmatic example is found in art, where oedipal, incestuous or sexual drives are expressed through artistic objects. Although they do not cease to be unconscious contents, the subject does not suffer from their manifestation or the defense that acts against them, in turn producing an object in which others can also express their unconscious by identifying themselves.

References

1. Freud, S.: The interpretation of dreams, Amorrortu Editores (AE), volume IV, Buenos Aires, 1976.
2. Freud, S.: Denial, AE, XIX, idem.
3. Freud, S.: Drives and drive destinations, AE, XIV, idem.
4. Freud, S.: Repression, idem.
5. Freud, S.: The unconscious, idem.
6. Freud, S.: Psychoanalytic remarks on a case of paranoia (Dementia paranoides) described autobiographically, XII, idem.
7. Freud, S.: A childhood memory of Leonardo da Vinci, XI, idem.
8. Lacan, J.: The Seminary. Book 3: The psychosis, Paidós, Buenos Aires, 1994.
9. Freud, S.: Defense neuropsychoses, III, idem.
10. Freud, S.: Defense neuropsychosis, Amorrortu Editores (AE), volume III, Buenos Aires, 1976.
11. Freud, S.: Studies on hysteria, II, Buenos Aires, 1976.