2. DEFENCE MECHANISMS
• Defence Mechanism are unconscious process which defends
or protects a person against anxiety,shame,loss of self
esteem,conflicts or unacceptable feelings.
• Defence mechanisms enables a person to resolve conflicts and
reduce stress and anxiety.
• All defence mechanism are operated at unconcious level and
most are self deceptive in nature.
3. Classification of defence mechanisms
• Defence mechanisms can be classified as
a) positive defence mechanisms
b) negative defence mechanisms
positive defence mechanisms
1.compensation 6.undoing
2.substitution 7.identification
3.sublimation 8.transference
4.rationalization 9.intellectualization
5.repression 10.introjection
5. COMPENSATION
It is a pattern by which tension or anxiety
relieved by an individual makeup for personal
weaknes.
ex: a student with low academics compensates it
by showing excellence in sports
6. SUBSTITUTION
It is a mechanism by which goals are replaced.
when a person is not able to achieve a goal,it is
replaced by another.
ex: a person who aspired to become a national
level athlete replaces the goal to become
athletics coach.
7. SUBLIMATION
In this mechanism one transfers primitive impulses into socially
useful goal.The un acceptable desires are made to acceptable
form.
ex: a person with aggresive feeling cannot express it in society
but can become a boxer .
8. RATIONALIZATION
It is a defence mechanism in which an individual justifies failures
and socially unacceptable feelings and behaviour by making
excuses or formulate logical reasons or socially approved
reasons.
ex: a person who is not able to get in to a proffesional course
points out the difficulties involved in that proffesion.
9. REPRESSION
Repression is a process of unconcious forgetfulness of unpleasant
experiences.
ex: a person may express fear anxious behaviour towards items
which are associated with paninful memory in past but do not
remember the painful incident.
10. UNDOING
Undoing is act of symbolicaly cancelling or reversing out a
previous act which was unacceptable.it is unconcious act of
taking back an unpleasant incident.
ex: a mother brings food to child after punishing for some
misdeeds.
11. IDENTIFICATION
In this mechanism,an individual attempts to increase self worth
by acquiring certain attributes and characteristics of another
individual one admires.
ex: a teenage boy is admired by the family doctor and adopts the
behaviour and attitudes and also intent to persue similar
aspirations.
12. TRANSFERENCE
In transference,the image of one person is unconciously identified
with that of another.
ex: a patient who is fond of his daughter finds the nurse of same
age as his daughter and shares his positive emitions to nurse as
his daughter.
13. INTELLECTUALIZATION
Intellectualization is an attempt to avoid expressing actual
emotions associated with a stressful situation by using the
intellectual process of logic ,reasoning &analysis.
ex: partner of a person need to shift to a foreign country for job
so they explains about the advantages associated to hide the real
emotions of seperation.
14. INTROJECTION
The values and characteristics of a significant persons are
incorporated in ones personality.
ex:a boy holds the hand of younger sibling while crossing a road
as how his mother used to do.
15. SUPPRESSION
Suppression is a voluntary blocking of unpleasant feeling and
experiences from ones awareness to avoid discomfort and
anxiety.
ex: a student constantly thinks about upcoming exams to avoid
the anxiety just before exams.
16. DISPLACEMENT
In this mechanism a person transfers the feeling to a person who
is less dangerous than the person who aroused the emotion.a
person who uses displacement is unaware at the time but later
recognises it.
ex: a person who is angry with boss cannot express it to boss but
shows it towards wife .
17. PROJECTION
It is the situation in which one places blame for own difficulties
upon others.they confronts other for the discomforts which are of
own causes.
ex: an officer gets late for the meeting and blames the assistant
forgot to remind about time of meeting.
18. REGRESSION
It is an immature way of responding to a stress. a person goes
back to an earlier stage of developmental level in order to deal
with reality.
ex: a student starts sucking thumb due to excessive pressure in
college.
19. FIXATION
Fixation refers to the point where the individual’s development at
which certain aspect of the emotional development donot
advance.
ex: thumb sucking continuing in grown person.
20. FANTASY
It is a defence mechanism in which imaginary achievement and
wishful thinking is used to gratify frustrated desires.
ex: a person who is struggling with debt imagines about winning
lottery and solving all the issues.
21. REACTION FORMATION
It is a mechanism in which unconcious transformation of
unacceptable impulse into exactly opposite attitudes,behaviour or
feelings.the actual feeling is repressed and acceptable opposite
feelings are expressed.
ex: a person behaves nicely to an individual whom they actually
dislike.
22. CONVERSION
The strong emotional conflicts which are not expressed are
converted into physical symptoms.this can resolve the conflict
and it may get great deal of attention and sympathy.
ex: a student may develop headache on the examination .
23. DISSOCIATION
It is involuntary suppression of mental functin from rest of
personality.breaking off part of memory,conciousness or
perception of self or environment.
ex: Amnesia
24. DENIAL
Denial stage is that an individual refuses to face reality. it protects
an individual from shock of reality.
it is harmless in moderation but serious if prolonged.
ex: a person denies the news of death of a closeone.