Defense Mechanisms

Everyone uses defense mechanisms. They are one of the tools the human mind utilizes to deal with everyday and out of the
ordinary life stressors. Freud theorized that human beings use defense mechanisms to cope with anxiety. Almost all defense
mechanisms are unconscious, meaning we do not purposely use them; they just seem to occur. It is possible through
careful introspection to become aware of the various defense mechanisms we use and to adopt newer, healthier
alternatives. The use of defense mechanisms alone is not unhealthy. Overuse of particular defense mechanisms can be
maladaptive. The defense mechanisms are categorized into levels 1 through 4, with one being pathological and 4 being
mature. We will look at each of the levels, the different defense mechanisms that fall into them, and some specific examples
to aid in understanding.

Level 1: Pathological
Defense
Definition Example
Mechanism

A woman witnesses her spouse engaging in an

Converting anxiety or internal conflict into a
Conversion affair and converts the anxiety of seeing that into
physical symptom
blindness. The blindness alleviates the anxiety.

A father witnesses his child being killed in a car

Unconsciously refusing to accept what has accident, but repeatedly says, That wasnt my
Denial
happened that is too difficult to bear son. No, no, it couldnt have been my son. He was
at soccer practice.

A woman enters a new relationship and believes

her partner to be perfect. When the partner does
The inability to see gray areas. A person who uses
something wrong, the same woman immediately
Splitting splitting sees things as all good or all bad. This
believes the partner to be horrible. She is unable
often is seen in borderline personality disorder.
to see that sometimes good people make
mistakes.

Literally, projecting onto another ones own

Commonly, people who are cheating on a partner
unacceptable thoughts or feelings. Projection is
Projection make false accusations of cheating against the
sometimes listed as an immature defense
faithful partner.
mechanism, depending on the severity.

The use of these defense mechanisms appears irrational to the observer and can even be present in various forms of
psychosis.

Level 2: Immature
Defense Mechanism Definition Example
Idealization Believing another person is A battered woman describes
far better than they truly are in detail how her abusive
 Defense Mechanism Definition Example
boyfriend is an amazing
partner. She believes this to
be true.
Indirectly getting back at
someone. Often, this is seen An administration assistant
in humorous sarcasm that gets back at her boss for
Passive aggression
has an element of cruelty and yelling at her by being late to
in procrastination and work each day for a week.
tardiness.
A man is angry with his
partner for being
inconsiderate, but rather than
Transferring negative feelings
consciously acknowledging
Somatization about others into negative
the anger, he experiences
traits in oneself
back pain. The back pain is
very real to the person
suffering from it.
While these defense mechanisms are not necessarily pathological in nature, they are very socially unacceptable. If they are
overused, they can cause a great deal of problems in personal and professional life.

Level 3: Neurotic
Defense Mechanism Definition
Shifting unacceptable feelings
Displacement from a person that feels
dangerous to a safer alternative
Separating oneself from a
Dissociation feeling through unconscious
detachment
Focusing on facts, figures,
statistics, and scientific, rational
Intellectualization
data rather than experiencing
unpleasant emotions or feelings
Example
Commonly, the boss yells at a worker, who feels
he cannot yell back, so he goes home and yells
at his wife and kicks the family dog.
During a school shooting, a student looks to be
zoned out. After the shooting, the student has
no recollection of the event.
A patient diagnosed with terminal cancer
answers the question, How are you feeling? by
describing what she has had to eat, the amount
of weight she has lost, and how many injections
of medication she has had.

A student earns a failing grade on a paper and

Basically, making excuses for
says to her classmates, I only got this grade
behavior or feelings. This
Rationalization because the teacher doesnt like me. The
overlaps strongly with blaming.
student believes this to be true.

Believing or behaving the

opposite of the way one actually
Reaction formation does. This is commonly seen in
individuals recovering from
addiction.
Reverting back to less mature
Regression
ways of dealing with a situation
Repression Unconsciously blocking
A man suffers from alcoholism and has entered
rehabilitation. What he really wants is to drink,
but he expresses that he hates alcohol.
A child who has been potty-trained for 5 years
begins wetting the bed when her parents are
arguing.
An adult who was molested as a child has no
 Defense Mechanism Definition Example
unacceptable thoughts or
feelings. Without understanding
recollection of the event and believes the parent
the underlying feelings, it is
who molested her was wonderful.
difficult to differentiate
repression from dissociation.
Trying to fix something one has
A woman yells at her husband. Later, she makes
Undoing done wrong by making up for it
his favorite dinner for him.
in other ways

Level 4: Mature
Defense Mechanism Definition Example

A member of a self-help group improves

Through helping others, one feels better about
Altruism her self esteem by helping other
oneself
members deal with their problems.

A teacher makes an error on the test and

Making light of serious problems in a way that
says to the class, Gosh, you all are
brings happiness to others. This is often called
Humor smarter than me! I cant even make a
self-depracating humor. Overuse certainly can be
test, and laughs about it with the
maladaptive.
students.

One friend observes another exerting

Modeling ones behavior and/or character after
Identification strong willpower over diet and exercise,
someone else
then models this behavior.

Identifying with another so strongly that one

A child has a parent who is very spiritual.
absorbs that aspect into his/her own personality.
Introjection The child incorporates spirituality into
This often is observed in children as they introject
himself.
aspects of the parent into themselves.

A man becomes angry with his boss, but

Substituting a socially acceptable, unhealthy
Sublimation rather than lashing out, he goes to the
response with a healthier alternative
gym after work and exercises.

A college student comes home from

Consciously ignoring troubling thoughts or feelings
Suppression
so that more pressing matters can be dealt with
school and finds many bills that need
paid in the mail. The student consciously
ignores the bills until after she has
studied for the next days exam.

These defense mechanisms generally result in a benefit to self or others, though they can be overused and become
maladaptive, depending on circumstances.