Notes

Ego Defense Mechanisms


.     The ego acts in all conflict situations to get rid of a part of its parts. Therefore, defensive mechanisms and pent-up forces become one thing. The changing factors are the motivations that force the ego to resort to defensive mechanisms. Ultimately, all these mechanisms aim to protect the ego and prevent it from feeling pain.


.     Defense mechanisms are a type of process or coping that results in automatic psychological responses exhibited as a means of protecting the individual against anxiety and use it by ego..
Identification and notation of defense mechanisms can be an important part of the psychological assessment and influence on the treatment process.

.     The list of defense mechanisms is huge and there is no theoretical consensus on the exact number. Different theorists have different categorizations and conceptualizations of defense mechanisms.
In 1936, Anna Freud enumerated the ten defense mechanisms that appear in the works of Sigmund Freud.
But i will explain five types of defense mechanism :

1.Repression: Pulling into the unconscious.
Example: When a person is insulted by his boss because of his shortness, he hides his anger and prevents him from appearing in his words and actions.

2.Rationalization: Supplying a logical or rational reason as opposed to the real reason.
Example: A student who fails the exam is justified by his or her parents' illness or by the difficulty of the teacher's questions.

3.Projection: Placing unacceptable impulses in yourself onto someone else.
Example: The miser says that another is stingy and denies that about himself.

4.Sublimation: Acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way.
Example: Sublimation of the motives of aggression and violence to some sports such as boxing and wrestling.

5.Suppression: Pushing into the unconscious.
Example: Trying to forget something that causes you anxiety.

.     Defense mechanisms (or coping styles)  are automatic psychological processes that protect the individual against anxiety and from the awareness of internal or external dangers or stressors. Individuals are often unaware of these processes as they operate. So we should know more about this mechanisms and our self to control our behavior and coping style.