1. FREUD’S DEFENCE MECHANISMS

2. ANXIETY
 According to Freud, anxiety (intense feelings
of nervousness, tension or worry) occurs
because the unacceptable impulses are
getting closer and closer to consciousness,
as well as closer and closer to the limits of
the ego to hold them in check

3. REDUCING/AVOIDING ANXIETY
 Unconscious themes: aggressive thoughts,
incestuous thoughts, memories of traumatic
childhood experiences, etc.
 Freud believed it was so threatening, that the
main goal of the ego is to actively keep these
thoughts in the unconscious to avoid/reduce
anxiety.
 Anxiety is similar to nervousness, worry,
agitation or panic.
 Awareness of particular unacceptable material =
anxiety.

4. FREUD’S THREE TYPES OF ANXIETY
 Reality Anxiety : the most basic
form, rooted in reality. Fear of a
dog bite, fear arising from an
impending accident. It is considered
to be an Ego based anxiety. The
most common tension reduction
method is to remove oneself from
the harmful situation.
 Neurotic Anxiety : Anxiety which
arises from an unconscious fear
that the impulses of the Id will take
control at an inappropriate time.
This type of anxiety is driven by a
fear of punishment that will result
from expressing the Id's desires
without channeling it through some
socially acceptable action.
 Moral Anxiety : Anxiety which results
from fear of violating moral or
societal codes; moral anxiety
appears as guilt or shame.

5. DEALING WITH ANXIETY-PROVOKING MATERIAL
 The ego uses many different techniques
 Collectively known as defence mechanisms
 Used to deal with unwanted thoughts and
desires.
 All Defense Mechanisms share two common
properties :
1) They can operate unconsciously
2) They can distort, transform, or falsify
reality is some way.

6. MAIN DEFENCE MECHANISMS
 Denial
 Sublimation
 Repression
 Rationalization
 Displacement
 Projection
 Regression
 Reaction Formation
 Intellectualisation

7. DENIAL
 Refusing to admit that something unpleasant
is happening, or that a taboo emotion is
being experienced
 E.g. 16-year old Buster Baxter was using
drugs, but his parents didn’t believe the
principal when he/she told them about the
problem.
 The more we use is, the less we are in touch
with reality and the less likely we are to
function fully.

8. SUBLIMATION
 Rechannels an unacceptable impulse into a
more socially desirable outlet
 According to Freud, the only truly successful
defence mechanism.
 Freud suggested that sublimation was crucial to
the development of culture and civilization.
 E.g. sexual activity may be redirected into
athletics
 May explain why some people choose certain
occupations.

9. REPRESSION
 Active effort by the ego to block a threatening
memory from consciousness
 E.g. People held in concentration camps may
not be able to remember what happened while
there
 Freud believed that all of us use repression,
however, the more repression, the less
remaining energy for our egos to function.
 Without a strong ego, a stable personality is at
risk

10. RATIONALISATION
 Justifying one’s failure with socially
acceptable reasons instead of the real
reasons.
 E.g. After Blair rejected him, Chuck told
friends he didn’t think she was attractive, and
he wasn’t crazy about her anyway.

11. DISPLACEMENT
 Redirecting an emotional response from a
dangerous object to a safe one
 E.g. After her new baby brother came home
from the hospital, the parents discovered Cheryl
had dismembered her favourite doll
 Freud noted that many irrational fears or
phobias are merely symbolic displacements.
 E.g. a fear of one’s father might be displaced to
something that symbolically represents the
father, such as strong and powerful horses.

12. PROJECTION
 Transferring unacceptable motives or
impulses to others
 E.g. a man who feels strong hostility toward
a neighbour as being hostile to him

13. REGRESSION
 Returning to a more primitive level of
behaviour when a person felt safe and
secure
 E.g. After Sue Ann’s baby brother was born,
she began to suck her thumb

14. REACTION FORMATION
 The individual attempts to hide from a
threatening idea/urge by becoming
overzealous in the opposite direction.
 E.g. Treating someone whom you intensely
dislike in a friendly manner.

15. INTELLECTUALISATION
 Removal of emotional content from the idea.
 Examining the idea in a strictly intellectual,
unemotional manner
 E.g. a wife with a dying husband tries to
learn all she can about the disease,
prognosis, treatment options. By doing this
she can help repress the emotional
onslaught of feelings of loss and anger which
can accompany the death of a loved one.