Psychological defense - what it is, its mechanisms

All mental functions are involved in protective processes, but each time one of them can dominate and take on the bulk of the work of transforming traumatic information. This can be perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, emotions. In this publication we will try to consider the methods of psychological protection of the individual that are most significant for his positive interaction in social groups.

Being a social, conscious and independent being, a person is able to resolve internal and external conflicts, deal with anxiety and tension not only automatically (unconsciously), but also guided by a specially formulated program.

In this publication we will try to consider the methods of psychological protection of the individual that are most significant for his positive interaction in social groups. Here is a classification of the main methods of psychological defense.

Negation

This is the desire to avoid new information that is incompatible with existing ideas about oneself.
Protection manifests itself in ignoring potentially alarming information and avoiding it. It is like a barrier located right at the entrance of the perceiving system. It does not allow unwanted information into it, which is then irreversibly lost for a person and subsequently cannot be restored. Thus, denial leads to the fact that some information, either immediately or subsequently, cannot reach consciousness.

When in denial, a person becomes especially inattentive to those areas of life and facets of events that are fraught with trouble for him. For example, a manager can criticize his employee for a long time and emotionally and suddenly discover with indignation that he has long been “switched off” and does not react “in any way” to moral teachings.

Denial can allow a person to preventively (proactively) isolate himself from traumatic events. This is how, for example, fear of failure works, when a person strives not to find himself in a situation in which he could fail. For many people, this manifests itself in avoiding competition or giving up activities that one is not good at, especially in comparison to others.

The stimulus for triggering denial can be not only external, but also internal, when a person tries not to think about something, to drive away thoughts of unpleasant things. If you can’t admit something to yourself, then the best way out is, if possible, not to look into this terrible and dark corner. Often, having done something at the wrong time or in the wrong way, but nothing can be corrected, “defense” forces a person to ignore a dangerous situation and behave as if nothing special is happening.

A generalized assessment of the danger of information is made with its preliminary holistic perception and a rough emotional assessment as “the maturation of something unwanted.” Such an assessment leads to a weakening of attention when detailed information about this dangerous event is completely excluded from subsequent processing. Outwardly, a person either fences himself off from new information (“It is there, but not for me”), or does not notice, believing that it does not exist. Therefore, many people, before starting to watch a movie or read a new book, ask the question: “What is the ending, good or bad?”

The statement “I believe” denotes some special state of mind in which everything that comes into conflict with the subject of faith tends to be denied. Sincere and sufficiently strong faith organizes such an attitude towards all incoming information when a person, without knowing it, subjects it to careful preliminary sorting, selecting only what serves to preserve faith.

Faith tends to be much more universal and definitive than understanding. When you already have faith in something, there is no room for a new one. A person rejects new ideas, often without even trying to give a rational explanation for this behavior. Any attempt on an object of veneration evokes the same reaction from the individual as if it were an attempt on her life.

MECHANISMS OF PROTECTION OF THE PSYCHE A little about the complex in simple words

And now I want to write about the protective mechanisms of the psyche. Our psyche is structured very wisely. And that material that we cannot immediately integrate into life and that can interfere with life or is even life-threatening passes through various protective mechanisms of the psyche so that life can continue. And it is possible to demolish all the protective mechanisms at once, but it is not necessary, because all these mechanisms arose for a reason, but for a reason. And this was our way to save ourselves, to take care of ourselves. Such mechanisms arise and operate against our will.

Therefore, sometimes it makes sense to examine each specific mechanism separately, observe it, see whether it is needed now or can already be released. understanding who once upon a time this very mechanism helped us maintain our sanity and possibly our lives. The defense mechanisms of the psyche are located on the border of the conscious and unconscious, and in fact are a kind of filter between them. The tasks of this filter are to protect against negative emotions, feelings that cannot be integrated now, and to maintain a certain level of self-esteem. Often such mechanisms take many years to form. Therefore, I am always surprised by psychologists, healers and other figures who, without knowing how the psyche works, promise quick results, getting rid of all problems in a short time and rapid growth. Breaking is not building... Defense mechanisms were formed for a reason. This is our adaptation to the existing reality and any changes must occur according to internal readiness, with support, if necessary, and in resources. And in the rhythm in which a person has the opportunity to adapt to changes in life.

I want to talk about some of the defense mechanisms that I often see in my work, in simple, understandable words. For those who need more serious explanations, a psychological dictionary and books on psychology will help you.

So, here we go:

REPLACEMENT OR SUPPRESSION

When a conflict situation arises at the level of consciousness and we cannot come to a common decision, this situation is repressed into the unconscious. However, she is not going anywhere. It carries its own energy charge and continues to influence our lives from the unconscious. Remember the picture with the iceberg? What is visible above the water is consciousness, and under water what is hidden and much larger in size is the unconscious. Painful, traumatic, unpleasant experiences are repressed, for which there were not enough resources to live and integrate them.

2. DENIAL.

"That didn't happen." There is an elimination of complex, painful events that a person does not want to live through. He doesn't want to hear about events that are painfully gripping to him. Sometimes it feels like escaping into fantasy, into illusion, into an imaginary world where all our desires come true. Sometimes all this happens in the inner world, sometimes outside. I often see that when some difficult traumatic episode comes up in holotropic sessions, especially related to sexual violence, the person refuses to admit it: No, it didn’t happen, I made it up” or “It didn’t happen to me.”. And it takes some time to accept this fact and live it. The body does not lie and stores all the evidence of experience... In holotropic sessions, dramatic experiences rise from the unconscious ONLY when there is a willingness and resource to work with them, and then acceptance of this experience and healing occurs.

3. RATIONALIZATION

This protective mechanism of the psyche is very similar to the sweet packaging of bitter medicine. When we encounter difficult experiences and it is very difficult for us to be in contact with them. We begin to explain to ourselves why this is happening to us and why, why the other person did this and we explain everything to ourselves perfectly, we understand that we rightly deserve this experience and we calm down on this and can no longer be in contact with difficult experiences: “I realized that is happening and why, why continue to procrastinate on this?” Being in contact with what is happening is unbearable, very painful, scary, alarming... if we have the courage and resources to look there and be with what is happening, we can learn a lot of interesting things and something will begin to change.

4. DISSOCIATION

This mechanism of the psyche acts as splitting. There are such difficult experiences and there is absolutely no resource for them now, it is unbearable to be with this experience, so splitting and separation from this experience occurs. Often it looks like a person lives his experiences without being in contact with them, but as if observing them from the outside, as if watching a film. Does he encapsulate his feelings into separate internal spaces, boxes, capsules and it is quite difficult to get to them. Or sometimes in personal sessions we run into some kind of fog or cotton wool and at that moment all feelings turn off and the client stops understanding and feeling something. For me, this is a sign that we have approached some complex and painful process and a little more and something will happen and I need to be very attentive in order to gently accompany the person in this process. Because if the process has begun, it means something inside is already ready to change, heal, become different.

5 PROJECTION

The protective mechanism of projection allows a person to ensure the preservation of the idea of himself, of his psychological integrity, of attributing his own feelings, thoughts, desires to other people. What catches and irritates others is in us, we just don’t want to see it in ourselves. Those around us are our mirrors, they help us see what is happening inside us. Therefore, we say all the time: Remember, your loved ones are from the support group, they help you lift the material, be better and see what is happening inside. We also unconsciously project internal images of our parents, partners, and loved ones onto other people we meet every day. And understanding this and returning inside ourselves and working on ourselves helps us see people as they are and accept ourselves as we are.

6 SUBSTITUTION or displacement from one object to another.

For example, my beloved dog died in childhood, I couldn’t grieve, and now whenever I talk about animals, tears begin to flow. There has been a shift from the beloved dog to animals in general. Or, for example, in teenagers there is a shift in sexual energy to dance. Therefore, teenagers and young people are very fond of discos - a limited way to drain energy and touch the other sex. . Or it often happens to people with addictions: I lack warmth and love and I will fill this emptiness with food, alcohol, sex, etc.

7 CONTROL

Very often clients come who want to stop controlling everything; there are a lot of practices now to be out of your mind. And people try to stop controlling what is happening, not realizing that this once became their way to survive. You cannot turn off control, you can little by little explore and heal what caused this control. And very often when working with such clients, we come up with the theme of distrust, constant tension in anticipation of a catch and a blow of fate. If we recall the theory, then basic trust is formed in early childhood in contact with our mother and what we received from our mother, whether she was there when needed, whether she covered our needs depends on how much we can trust the world. These are the origins.

Then there may be situations where it seemed to us that if we control everything, think it through, plan ahead, then everything will be fine. This became our fulcrum, which helped us survive. And this strategy also works in adulthood. Often clients come who reach the process when we go to pre-verbal levels and they experience incomprehensible fears and doubts, they cannot explain what is happening to them and this worries them even more. That’s what they say: Something is happening, but I don’t understand what.” Most often, such experiences are associated with early childhood, when speech has not yet been formed and how to speak, if it is difficult to translate into words and it is useless to try to understand them. Here you just need to be in contact with it and live it. You can use creativity or ready-made pictures to reflect what is happening inside.

When basic trust in the world slowly returns, we begin to trust ourselves, the world, people more and control what is happening less, the level of tension decreases greatly and more energy appears.

8 DEPRESSION

The process when we cannot get something and we devalue it for ourselves. Or when the result is so important and so painful that it is very difficult to be in contact with it and then we devalue it. For example, we devalue what someone does for us. Personally, I had this experience a couple of years ago. I went to personal therapy and worked with my parents. And I understood that this was an important topic and I needed to work with it, but I considered everything that happened at each meeting to be unimportant and that we were doing some kind of nonsense. Since I already understood a little about the theory and understood that something was happening, I came to one of the sessions with the question: “Why do you do so much for me, but I don’t feel gratitude. What is wrong with me?" And we came up with the topic of the projection of the maternal figure onto the psychologist and devaluation because the death of my mother caused a lot of experiences that I did not give room for at the time. Then I had a powerful holotropic experience, I once wrote about it. and now I see that we have done a tremendous amount of work together and I am very grateful for it. But then it was easier to devalue it, because if you feel this pain, you can also die.

9 REGRESSION

Sometimes in difficult situations, we unconsciously move to a simpler level of functioning and “fall into childhood” or behave like teenagers. Most often, hysterical individuals have this mechanism, because for them infantilism and immaturity are very natural.

10 COMPENSATION

Sometimes - overcompensation - when dissatisfaction, underdevelopment, lack of dynamics in one of the parts of life is filled, replaced by development in another. One of the advantages of this process is that it develops skills and increases self-esteem through success in compensatory areas. For example, a typical situation now is when failures in your personal life are compensated by a good career. Or when one relationship is replaced by another to fill the void, or when a child dies and they immediately try to adopt or give birth to a new one. Constant compensation can lead to dependence on another person, an activity that is skewed in one direction. Contact with the problematic side of life leads to partial maladjustment, painful experiences, and feelings of discomfort. Compensatory behavior disappears, or becomes uninteresting and unnecessary when the reason for compensation goes away.

Another mental defense includes RESISTANCE

Resistance arises when we approach something very important, something that can really change life, and fear arises, a desire to turn back, stop, hide, when there is a feeling that nothing will work out. In psychology, this is a clear sign that we are on the right path and we need to continue working in this direction.

I hope that what I wrote was useful to you and brought a little understanding to what is happening in life. If you have a desire and willingness to share, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write. This can be done through the application form. Comments are disabled because there was a lot of spam.

I wish everyone good contact with themselves and readiness for change. After all, we are alive when we follow what is happening and change.

Suppression

Protection, manifested in forgetting, blocking unpleasant, unwanted information either when it is transferred from perception to memory, or when withdrawn from memory to consciousness.
Since in this case the information is already the content of the psyche, since it was perceived and experienced, it is, as it were, supplied with special marks, which then allow it to be retained. The peculiarity of suppression is that the content of the experienced information is forgotten, and its emotional, motor, vegetative and psychosomatic manifestations can persist, manifesting themselves in obsessive movements and states, errors, slips of the tongue, and slips of the tongue. These symptoms symbolically reflect the connection between actual behavior and suppressed information. To secure traces in long-term memory, they must be emotionally colored in a special way—labeled.

To remember something, a person needs to return to the state in which he received the information. If then he was angry or upset (for example, by a request to do something), then in order to remember this, he must return to this state again. Since he doesn't want to feel that bad again, he's unlikely to remember. When a person eliminates the thought that he does not want or cannot do something, he says to himself: “It wasn’t really necessary,” “I’m not interested in this, I don’t like it,” thereby revealing a negative emotional labeling.

crowding out

Unlike suppression, repression is not associated with turning off information about what happened as a whole from consciousness, but only with forgetting the true, but unacceptable for a person, motive for an action.
(Motive is an incentive to perform a specific activity). Thus, it is not the event itself (action, experience, situation) that is forgotten, but only its cause, the fundamental principle. Having forgotten the true motive, a person replaces it with a false one, hiding the real one from himself and from others. Recall errors, as a consequence of repression, arise due to internal protest that changes the course of thoughts. Repression is considered the most effective defense mechanism because it can cope with such powerful instinctual impulses that other forms of defense cannot cope with. However, repression requires constant expenditure of energy, and these expenditures cause inhibition of other types of vital activity.

Repression is a universal means of avoiding internal conflict by eliminating socially undesirable aspirations and drives from consciousness. However, repressed and suppressed drives make themselves felt in neurotic and psychosomatic symptoms (for example, phobias and fears).

Repression is considered a primitive and ineffective psychological defense mechanism for the following reasons:

the repressed still breaks through into consciousness;
unresolved conflict manifests itself in a high level of anxiety and a feeling of discomfort.

Repression is activated when a desire arises that conflicts with other desires of the individual and is incompatible with the ethical views of the individual.
As a result of conflict and internal struggle, thought and idea (the carrier of incompatible desire) are repressed, eliminated from consciousness and forgotten. Increased anxiety resulting from incomplete repression, therefore, has a functional meaning, since it can force a person either to try to perceive and evaluate the traumatic situation in a new way, or to activate other defense mechanisms. However, usually the consequence of repression is neurosis - a disease of a person who is unable to resolve his internal conflict.

Types of protection

In a critical situation of intense emotions, our brain, based on previous experience, turns on one or another mechanism. By the way, a person can learn to manage his defenses. What psychological defense mechanisms exist?

crowding out

Replacing thoughts about the conflict with other hobbies, activities, thoughts and emotions. As a result, the conflict and its cause are forgotten or not realized. A person really forgets unwanted information and true motives. But at the same time he becomes anxious, fearful, withdrawn, and timid. Self-esteem and level of aspirations gradually decrease.

Rationalization

A revision of values, a change in attitude towards the situation in order to maintain dignity (“she left me, but it is not yet known who was luckier”).

Regression

This is a passive defensive tactic, dangerous due to low self-esteem. Involves a reversion to behavior patterns of an earlier age. This is helplessness, uncertainty, surprise, tearfulness. As a result, the personality becomes infantile and stops developing. Such a person is not able to independently and constructively resolve conflicts.

Discredit

Belittling the dignity of the one who criticizes (“who would talk!”). The other side of the coin is idealization. Gradually, a person switches to alternating the first and second. This is dangerous because of instability in relationships.

Negation

Restraining negative emotions, denying until the last moment, hoping for an unexpected result and change is the essence of this mechanism. Included in situations of conflict between personal motives and external conditions (information, beliefs, requirements). Because of this mechanism, an inadequate understanding of oneself and the environment develops. The person becomes optimistic, but disconnected from reality. He may get into trouble due to a reduced sense of danger. Such a person is self-centered, but at the same time sociable.

Separation

“I don’t even want to think about it.” That is, ignoring the situation and possible consequences, emotional alienation. A person withdraws from the outside world and interpersonal relationships into his own world. To others he looks like an unemotional weirdo, but in reality he has highly developed empathy. And avoiding stereotypes allows you to see the world in an unconventional way. This is how artists, poets, and philosophers are born.

Compensation or replacement

Search for self-determination and success in another area, group of people. Transfer from an inaccessible to an accessible object.

Overcompensation

Exaggerated behavior that is the opposite of an undesirable phenomenon. Such people are characterized by instability and ambiguity. You can say about them: “from love to hate there is one step.”

Aggression

Attacks on the one who criticizes. “The best defense is attack.”

Split

Sharing by a person of his experience for the sake of creating an inner world. Angel and devil, alternative personalities (who are sometimes given names), images help a person stay healthy. But on the other hand, he is seen as a different person. They say about such people: “Yes, he is, what are you talking about?!” He couldn't do that! You are a liar! And again, perfect ground for conflict.

Identification

Transferring your unwanted feelings, thoughts, qualities, desires to others, which often results in aggression. In addition, a person gradually attributes more and more positive qualities to himself. From a conflict point of view, this is the worst defense.

Sublimation

Transferring the material and everyday to the level of the abstract and creative. It brings pleasure and joy. This is the optimal and safest option for psychological protection. Gradually, the personality self-realizes creatively and protection, like uncertainty, disappears by itself. Any unmet needs can be transformed into creativity. This is the healthiest type of psychological defense.

Rationalization

This is a defense mechanism associated with the awareness and use in thinking of only that part of the perceived information, thanks to which one’s own behavior appears as well controlled and does not contradict objective circumstances.
The essence of rationalization is to find a “worthy” place for an incomprehensible or unworthy impulse or action in a person’s existing system of internal guidelines and values without destroying this system. For this purpose, the unacceptable part of the situation is removed from consciousness, transformed in a special way, and only after this is realized in a changed form. With the help of rationalization, a person easily “closes his eyes” to the discrepancy between cause and effect, which is so noticeable to an external observer.

Rationalization is a pseudo-rational explanation by a person of his own aspirations, motives for actions, actions that are actually caused by reasons, the recognition of which would threaten the loss of self-esteem. Self-affirmation, protection of one’s own “I” is the main motive for updating this mechanism of psychological protection of the individual.

The most striking phenomena of rationalization were called “green (sour) grapes” and “sweet lemon”. The phenomenon of “green (sour) grapes” (known from Krylov’s fable “The Fox and the Grapes”) is a kind of depreciation of an unattainable object. If it is impossible to achieve a desired goal or take possession of a desired item, a person devalues them.

Rationalization is actualized when a person is afraid to realize the situation and seeks to hide from himself the fact that in his actions he was guided by socially undesirable motives. The motive that underlies rationalization is to explain behavior and, at the same time, to protect the self-image.

Mechanisms of psychological defense of the individual

The famous psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud, first used the phrase “psychological defense mechanisms” when describing the behavior of patients exposed to negative factors from the social environment.

Attention! He found a connection between the impact of information on the human brain and changes in behavior.

Definition in psychology

The protective mechanisms of the psyche are a shield that allows you to maintain emotional stability and not fall into despair under unfavorable conditions. In healthy people, these mechanisms do not cause inappropriate behavior, but only help to cope with problems.

Conditions that trigger protection

Negative news that throws you out of emotional balance can significantly undermine the nervous system, cause psychological trauma, and provoke a mental disorder. The deepest imprint on a person is left by the bitterness of loss associated with the death of a loved one or the breakup of a relationship. A major material loss also triggers defense mechanisms in the subconscious, especially if it was caused by a natural disaster - a circumstance that could not be influenced in advance. The most complex consequences are generated by circumstances that reduce the thought process to the conclusion of hopelessness.

Loss of property due to a natural disaster

In psychology, defense mechanisms are called brain activity that protects a person from negative consequences that injure the nervous system. After learning shocking news, everyone can:

loose the temper;
lose adequate perception of the world;
lose consciousness.

To prevent this from happening, a person’s inner world tries to protect itself from possible consequences associated with a mental disorder, distorting the perception of the surrounding reality.

Reactive formations

This is the replacement of undesirable tendencies with the exact opposite.
For example, a child's exaggerated love for his mother or father may be the result of preventing a socially undesirable feeling - hatred of his parents. The child who was aggressive towards his parents develops exceptional tenderness towards them and worries about their safety; jealousy and aggression are transformed into selflessness and concern for others.

Certain social and intrapersonal prohibitions on the manifestation of certain feelings (for example, a young man is afraid to show his sympathy for a girl) lead to the formation of opposite tendencies - reactive formations: sympathy turns into antipathy, love into hatred, etc.

This inadequacy, often excessiveness of feeling, its emphasis is an indicator of reactive formation. If I show the same avalanche of feelings towards my boss as I do towards my family and friends, then this is a signal that this excessive attitude towards the boss is fundamentally reactive. The appropriate question here is: “Why do I want to sympathize with the leader so much and support him, what negative feelings are hidden behind this?”

Or the opposite situation: “Why do I look so ironically and coldly at the person I love? Why am I showing distance towards him (her)?”

And the “sweet lemon” type of defense is an exaggeration of the value of what you have (according to the well-known principle - “a bird in the hand is better than a pie in the sky”).

Most often, rationalization is achieved using two typical options for reasoning: 1) “green grapes”; 2) “sweet lemon”. The first of them is based on underestimating the value of an action that could not be performed, or a result that was not achieved.

Substitution

This is a mechanism of psychological defense from an unpleasant situation, which is based on transferring a reaction from an inaccessible object to an accessible one or replacing an unacceptable action with an acceptable one.
Due to this transfer, the tension created by the unsatisfied need is discharged. Substitution is a defense that all people (both adults and children) necessarily use in everyday life. Thus, many people often do not have the opportunity not only to punish their offenders for their misdeeds or unfair behavior, but also to simply contradict them. Therefore, pets, parents, children, etc. can act as a “lightning rod” in a situation of anger.

Whims that cannot be directed at the leader (an unacceptable object for this) can perfectly well be directed at other performers as an object that is quite acceptable for this (“that’s who is to blame for everything”). In other words, substitution is the transfer of needs and desires to another, more accessible object. If it is impossible to satisfy a certain need with the help of one item, a person can find another item (more accessible) to satisfy it.

So, the essence of substitution is to redirect the reaction. If, in the presence of any need, the desired path to satisfy it is closed, human activity seeks another way out to achieve the goal. Protection is carried out through the transfer of excitation, unable to find a normal output, to another executive system. However, a person’s ability to reorient his actions from personally unacceptable to acceptable or from socially disapproved to approved is limited. The limitation is determined by the fact that the greatest satisfaction from an action that replaces what is desired occurs in a person when the motives for these actions are consistent.

Conscious self-defense mechanisms

Psychologists in their individual sessions insist that everyone needs to learn to fully express their feelings and emotions. It is not necessary to do this in a conversation with a live listener. Sometimes it is enough to express your feelings in a letter, describing in the most complete way the causes and consequences of what happened. Without being embarrassed or afraid of criticism from the paper, you will be able to lay out all the negativity, this helps free your soul from the weight of anxiety. The problem itself will not go away or be solved, but psychologically it will be easier to survive.

Self-massage

Anxious personality disorder

You can successfully eliminate nervous tension with self-massage. Psychotherapists characterize it as a relaxing manipulation of the body that helps relieve muscle tone, which often occurs in stressful situations. If shocking news that spasms the muscles prevents you from getting out of a dangerous situation, hindering your movements, even a short massage will quickly normalize the coordination of movements.

Relaxation

Any stress, even short-term, disrupts the functioning of the nervous system. You definitely need to find half an hour of relaxation in your daily rhythm. During this period, you can simulate the desired outcome of events, dream about travel or pleasant meetings. It is important that there is no bright light, noise or unpleasant odor in the room. You can use your favorite low-energy music as the background.

Breathing exercises

Breathing has a special characteristic among specialists in the field of psychology. An example of mandatory breathing exercises is providing travelers experiencing anxiety or stress with paper bags to inhale and exhale with limited air volume. In other cases, it is useful to take a habitual, but slow inhalation, followed by a slow and drawn-out exhalation.

Additional Information. If it is difficult to implement this type of gymnastics, you can use the technique of quiet singing. It doesn’t matter whether a person has hearing and a voice or not, you need to sing in a whisper, barely audible. This will relieve the psychosomatic effects of stress.

Singing in a whisper

It is important to be able to develop your hidden emotional abilities for their full use and rationalization. Psychotherapists do not advise keeping any experiences, even minor ones, to yourself. If you don’t have a close friend who you can trust with mental torment, you shouldn’t neglect paper and pen as a way of self-purification.

Irony

In ancient Greek, “irony” means “to tell a lie,” “to mock,” or “to pretend.”
An ironist is a person who “deceives with words.” The modern understanding of the dual nature of irony is as follows:

Irony is an expressive technique that is opposite to the idea being expressed. I say the opposite of what I mean. I praise in form, but in essence I blame. And vice versa: in form I humiliate, in essence I exalt, I praise, I “stroke”. Ironically, my “yes” always means “no,” and behind the expression “no” looms a “yes.”
No matter how noble the goal of irony may be, for example, to generate a high idea, to open eyes to something, including oneself, this idea is nevertheless affirmed in irony through negative means.
Despite the generosity of irony's intentions, or even despite its selflessness, irony provides self-satisfaction.
A person who uses irony is credited with the traits of a subtle mind, observation, slowness, and the inactivity of a sage (not instant reactivity).

As a mental state, irony is a changed sign of my experience of a situation from “minus” to “plus”.
Anxiety gave way to confidence, hostility to condescension... A person is in states that are autonomous relative to a situation, another person, an object: I am already a subject rather than an object of these situations, and therefore I have the ability to control these states. Irony as a mental process transforms what is terrible, scary, intolerable, hostile, alarming for me into the opposite.

Dream

These are unconscious actions of the “I” in a dream state, which may be accompanied by emotional experiences.
A dream can be considered as a special type of substitution, through which an inaccessible action is transferred to another plane - from the real world to the world of dreams. Suppressing the inaccessibility complex, it accumulates energy in the unconscious, threatening the conscious world with its invasion. Secret repentance, remorse, subconscious fears lead to their breakthrough in a dream.

The task of a dream is to express complex feelings in pictures and give a person the opportunity to experience them, thereby replacing real situations. However, feelings cannot be depicted directly. Only the action that reflects this feeling is visually representable. It is impossible to depict fear, but it is possible to depict such an expression of fear as flight. It is difficult to show the feeling of love, but demonstrating closeness and affection is quite achievable. Therefore, the actions unfolding in its plot have a substitutive character in a dream.

From the point of view of psychology, a dream is a message or reflection of the situations that a person faces, his history, the circumstances of his life, his inherent methods and forms of behavior, the practical results to which the choice he makes has led. In a dream, mistakes in a person’s behavior are reflected not only in relation to himself, but also towards others, including any organic failure from the point of view of physical health.

Mental activity is continuous, so the process of generating images during dreams does not stop.

Sleep can focus attention:

on a current situation or problem (a photographic snapshot of reality);
on the causes of the problem;
on ways out of the problem (its resolution).

Dreams allow you to bring out passions; in a dream, release, purification, and discharge of out-of-control emotions can occur; in a dream, you can realize the desired behavior, assert yourself and believe in yourself.
Dreaming is an alternative way to satisfy desires. In dreams, unfulfilled desires are sorted, combined and transformed in such a way that the dream sequence provides additional satisfaction or reduction of tension. It is not always important whether the satisfaction occurs in the physical and sensory reality or in the internal imaginary reality of sleep, if the accumulated energy is sufficiently discharged. Such a dream brings relief, especially when you are constantly thinking about something and worrying.

Psychological defenses. Primary defenses.

Abstracts from the book N. McWilliams “Psychoanalytic Diagnostics”.

McWilliams considers the term “defense” extremely unfortunate. In Freud's time, the term "defense" had a negative connotation, the epithet "defensive" sounded like criticism.

What we today call defense in an adult develops as a global, inevitable and adaptive way of understanding the world.

Protections have many useful functions . They begin as healthy creative adaptive responses and continue to work adaptively throughout life.

Types of primitive protections (first order protections):

1.Primitive isolation (detachment). 2. Denial. 3.Omnipotent control. 4.Primitive idealization and devaluation. 5.Projection, introjection and projective identification. 6. Ego splitting. 7. Somatization. 8. Acting out externally (defensive response). 9.Sexualization (instinctualization). 10. Primitive dissociation.

Protection functions

A person using defense is usually trying to unconsciously implement one of two functions: (1) to avoid or cope with some powerful feelings (anxiety, grief, shame, envy), (2) to maintain self-esteem.

Primary defenses, also called “primitive”, “immature”, presuppose a boundary between a person and the surrounding world.

Secondary defenses - "more mature", "advanced", "higher order" - work with the boundaries between the Ego and the Superego and the Id , or between the observing and experiencing parts of the Ego.

What are primary defenses

For a defense to be classified as a primary defensive process, it must have two qualities associated with the preverbal phase of development :

insufficient contact with the reality principle and
insufficient awareness of the separation and constancy of the surrounding world.

Primitive defenses are the processes through which a child naturally perceives the world. These ways of living life are characteristic of all of us, we all deny , we split , we all have aspirations for omnipotence. Borderline or psychotic personality structure is caused by the absence of mature defenses , and not by the presence of primitive ones.

Up Defense 1.

1.Primitive isolation (detachment)

(Extreme Withdrawal)

A child who is overstimulated or distressed often falls asleep .

An adult version of the same phenomenon can be observed in people who withdraw from social or interpersonal situations and replace the tension that comes from interactions with others with stimulation that comes from the fantasies of their inner world . Some experts prefer the term “ autistic daydreaming .”

The tendency to isolate may be exacerbated by emotional intrusion or confrontation with people caring for the infant and leads to the emergence of a schizoid personality type.

Example:

A common complaint from those who experience this behavior is: “He just fiddles with the TV remote in his hands and refuses to answer me.”

The main advantage of this defensive strategy is that it does not require distortion of reality; the person simply withdraws from the world.

To the surprise of those who consider such people indifferent, they turn out to be extremely sensitive.

Defense 2.

2.Denial

(Denial)

Another way for children to cope with troubles is to deny that they are happening.

The first reaction of a person who is informed about the death of a loved one is: “No!” This reaction is an echo of an archaic process rooted in childhood egocentrism, when cognition is controlled by a prelogical conviction: “If I don’t admit it, then it didn’t happen.”

People for whom denial is a fundamental defense are reminiscent of the heroine of the book “Polyanna.”

The parents continued to have one child after another, although three of their offspring had already died from what any other parents not in a state of denial would understand as a genetic disorder. They refused to mourn their dead children, ignored the suffering of two healthy sons, rejected advice to seek genetic counseling, and insisted that what was happening to them was the will of God, who knew their good better than themselves.

Most people whose feelings are hurt, in a situation where it is inappropriate or unwise to cry, would rather give up their feelings than, fully aware of them, suppress the tears with a conscious effort.

Positive Examples : Through denial, we can realistically take the most effective and even heroic actions. Every war leaves us with many stories about people who “kept their heads” in terrible, deadly circumstances and, as a result, saved themselves and their comrades.

Negative examples : A wife who denies that her husband who beats her is dangerous; an alcoholic who insists that he has no problem with alcohol; a mother who ignores evidence of her daughter being sexually abused; an elderly person who does not think about giving up driving a car, despite the obvious weakening of his ability to do so.

In a more mature defensive form, denial, for example, makes one think that the man who rejected the girl actually wanted her, but was not ready to devote himself completely (rationalization is added).

The clinical version of denial is mania . While in a manic state, people can be in incredible denial about their physical needs, their need for sleep, their financial difficulties, their personal weaknesses, and even their mortality. While depression makes it completely impossible to ignore the painful facts of life, mania makes them psychologically irrelevant. People for whom denial is their main defense are manic in nature. Read more about hyperthymov.

Defense 3.

3.Omnipotent control

(Omnipotent Control - English)

For a newborn, the world and his own “I” form a single whole. The newborn perceives the source of all events in a sense as internal: if the baby is cold and the person caring for him notices this and somehow warms him up, the child has a pre-verbal experience of the magical production of heat by himself. The awareness that control resides in others separate from him, outside himself, has not yet emerged.

In the infantile stage of primary omnipotence, or grandiosity , the fantasy of having control over the world is normal. As the child grows up, it naturally transforms at the next stage into the idea of secondary, “dependent” or “derived” omnipotence, when one of those who initially cares for the child is perceived as omnipotent (Sandor Ferenczi, 1913).

Some healthy remnant of this infantile sense of omnipotence persists in all of us and maintains a sense of competence and effectiveness in life.

For some people, the need to feel a sense of omnipotent control and to interpret what happens to them as due to their own unlimited power is completely irresistible. If a personality is organized around the search and experience of pleasure from the feeling that he can effectively exercise and use his own omnipotence , and therefore all ethical and practical considerations fade into the background, there is reason to consider this personality as psychopathic (“sociopathic” and “antisocial” - synonyms of later origin). Sociopathy and criminality are overlapping but not identical concepts (Ben Boorsten, 1973).

Victory over one's neighbor at any cost is the main activity and source of pleasure for individuals whose personality is dominated by omnipotent control. These people appear, for example, in key positions in business where risk is required: in the political system, the army, the CIA and in other organizations of hidden influence (in commerce, among cult leaders and evangelical leaders, in the advertising and entertainment industries and in all areas where there is a lot of power in its pure form).

Defense 4.

4.Primitive idealization and devaluation.

(Extreme Idealization and Devaluation - English)

It is vital for a small child to believe that his mommy and daddy can protect him from all the dangers in the world.

As adults, we want to believe that the people who rule the world are wiser and more powerful than ordinary, fallible and frail human beings, but life shows that this is just a wish, not a reality.

The conviction of young children that their mother or father is capable of superhuman feats is the great blessing and at the same time the bane of parenthood.

Example McWilliams: A daughter at the age of 2.5 years made a real scandal when her mother tried to explain to her that it was impossible to stop the rain so that she could go for a swim.

We are all prone to idealization. We carry with us remnants of the need to attribute special virtues and power to people on whom we are emotionally dependent. Normal idealization is an essential component of mature love (Bergmann, 1987).

Deidealization and devaluation are a normal and important part of the separation-individuation process (otherwise children would not leave their parents’ house).

In some people, however, the need to idealize remains more or less unchanged from infancy. They counter their inner panic with the belief that someone they are attached to is omnipotent, omniscient, and infinitely benevolent, and psychological fusion with this supernatural Other provides them with security. They also hope to free themselves from shame: a by-product of idealization and the associated belief in perfection is that one's own imperfections are especially painful to bear; merging with the idealized object is a natural remedy in this situation. More details: narcissistic personality type.

Primitive devaluation is the inevitable flip side of the need for idealization. Since nothing is perfect in human life, archaic ways of idealization inevitably lead to disappointment .

Example: A man who believed that his wife's oncologist was the only cancer specialist who could cure her would be most likely to sue the doctor if his wife's illness prevailed over the doctor's efforts.

Defense 5.

5.Projection, introjection and projective identification.

Projection, Introjection and Projective Identification

In normal infancy, the child has a generalized sense of “himself,” which is identical to the experience of “the whole world.” It is likely that a colicky baby subjectively experiences it as “Pain!” rather than as “Something inside me hurts.” He is not yet able to distinguish between internal pain (colic) and external discomfort (pressure from diapers tied too tightly). At this stage of undifferentiation, processes begin to operate, which later, in connection with their protective function, we will call projection and introjection.

When these processes work together, they combine into a single defense called projective identification (=projection + introjection).

Projection is the process by which the internal is mistakenly perceived as coming from the external. In its benign and mature forms, it serves as the basis for empathy . Since no one can penetrate the psyche of another, to understand the subjective world of another person we must rely on the ability to project our own experience .

In cases where the projected positions seriously distort the object, or when the projected content consists of negated and strongly negative parts of the self, all sorts of problems arise.

If for a person projection is the main way of understanding the world and adapting to life, we can talk about a paranoid personality type.

Introjection is the process by which what comes from outside is mistakenly perceived as coming from within. In its benign forms it leads to primitive identification with significant others. Young children absorb all sorts of attitudes, affects, and behaviors of significant people in their lives.

An example of a negative form of introjection is “ identification with the aggressor ” (A. Freud, 1936). In situations of fear or abuse, people try to master their fear and suffering by adopting the qualities of their tormentors. “I am not a helpless victim; I strike myself and I am powerful.”

This mechanism manifests itself especially clearly with characterological predispositions to sadism, explosiveness and what is often called impulsivity.

Introjection can also lead to pathology associated with grief and its relationship to depression (Freud, 1917). When we love someone or are deeply attached to someone, we introject that person (“I am Tom’s son, Mary’s husband, Sue’s father, Dan’s friend,” and so on). If the person we have internalized is dead, separated from us, or rejected, we feel not only that the world around us has become poorer, but also that we ourselves have somehow diminished, some part of our own self has died.

People who systematically use introjection to reduce anxiety and maintain the integrity of their own “I” by maintaining psychological connections with unsatisfactory objects of early life can with good reason be considered as characterologically depressive (the person is not able, over time, to internally separate from the beloved being whose image he is introjected, and cannot emotionally shift to other people, he continues to feel “reduced,” unworthy, exhausted and lost).

In projective identification, not only does the patient perceive the therapist in a distorted way, conditioned by the patient's early object relations: in addition, the therapist is pressured to also experience himself in accordance with the patient's unconscious fantasy (Melanie Klein, 1946).

Defense 6.

6. Ego splitting

Splitting of the Ego

The origins of splitting are in the preverbal period, when the infant cannot yet realize that the people caring for him have both good and bad qualities, and both good and bad experiences are associated with them.

In everyday adult life, splitting remains a powerful and attractive means of making sense of complex experiences, especially when they are unclear or threatening. Political scientists can attest to the appeal of any dysfunctional group to the idea of finding a specific villain against whom its “good” members must fight.

Splitting mechanisms can be very effective in their protective function of reducing anxiety and maintaining self-esteem.

Sublimation

It is one of the highest and most effective human defense mechanisms.
It implements the replacement of unattainable goals in accordance with the highest social values. Sublimation is the switching of impulses that are socially undesirable in a given situation (aggression, sexual energy) to other forms of activity that are socially desirable for the individual and society. Aggressive energy, being transformed, can be sublimated (discharged) in sports (boxing, wrestling) or in strict methods of education (for example, with too demanding parents and teachers), eroticism - in friendship, in creativity, etc. When the direct discharge of instinctive (aggressive) , sexual) desires is impossible, there is an activity in which these impulses can be discharged.

Sublimation realizes the replacement of an instinctive goal in accordance with the highest social values. The forms of substitution are varied. For adults, this is not only a retreat into a dream, but also a retreat into work, religion, and all kinds of hobbies. In children, regression reactions and immature forms of behavior are also accompanied by replacement with the help of rituals and obsessive actions, which act as complexes of involuntary reactions that allow a person to satisfy a forbidden unconscious desire.

According to S. Freud, relying on sublimation, a person is able to overcome the influence of sexual and aggressive desires seeking a way out, which cannot be suppressed or satisfied by directing them in another direction.

When a person feels weak and helpless, he identifies himself with successful or authoritative people. Thanks to subconscious protective processes, one part of the instinctive desires is repressed, the other is directed to other goals. Some external events are ignored, others are overestimated in the direction necessary for the person.

Protection allows you to reject some aspects of your “I”, attribute them to strangers, or, on the contrary, supplement your “I” at the expense of qualities “captured” from other people. This transformation of information allows us to maintain the stability of ideas about the world, about ourselves and about our place in the world, so as not to lose support, guidelines and self-esteem.

The world around us is constantly becoming more complex, so a necessary condition for life is the constant complication of defense and the expansion of its repertoire.

Identification

A type of projection associated with the unconscious identification of oneself with another person, the transference to oneself of feelings and qualities that are desired, but unavailable.
Identification is the elevation of oneself to another by expanding the boundaries of one’s own “I”. Identification is associated with a process in which a person, as if including another into his “I,” borrows his thoughts, feelings and actions. This allows him to overcome his feelings of inferiority and anxiety, to change his “I” in such a way that it is better adapted to the social environment, and this is the protective function of the identification mechanism.

Through identification, symbolic possession of a desired but unattainable object is achieved. By voluntarily identifying with the aggressor, the subject can get rid of fear. In a broad sense, identification is an unconscious desire to inherit a model, an ideal. Identification provides the opportunity to overcome one's own weakness and feelings of inferiority. With the help of this psychological defense mechanism, a person gets rid of feelings of inferiority and alienation.

An immature form of identification is imitation. This defensive reaction differs from identification in that it is holistic. Her immaturity is revealed in her expressed desire to imitate a certain person, a loved one, a hero in everything. In an adult, imitation is selective: he singles out only the trait he likes in another and is able to identify separately with this quality, without spreading his positive reaction to all other qualities of this person.

Typically, identification manifests itself in the performance of real or imagined roles. For example, children play mother-daughter, school, war, transformers, etc., consistently play different roles and perform various actions: punish child dolls, hide from enemies, protect the weak. A person identifies with those whom he loves more, whom he values more highly, thereby creating the basis for self-esteem.

The benefits and harms of psychological protection

We have figured out why psychological defenses are needed, now we need to consider the pros and cons of such behavior.

Benefit

keep the personality intact, protect from disintegration;
help to believe in yourself and resist diseases;
protect against negative characteristics that a person does not actually possess, but mistakenly attributes to himself;
restore self-esteem, promote acceptance of a negative situation without affecting self-esteem;
maintain friendly, friendly relations between people.

Harm

do not eliminate the cause of discomfort, they save you from anxiety only for a certain period of time;
distort reality, so a person cannot really assess the situation;
displace certain facts, events, words from a person’s consciousness.

Important! In adulthood, a person tries to cope with a negative situation with the help of tears, sleep, sweets, transforming negative experiences into other activities, humor, and the desire to help other people.

Fantasy (dream)

It is a very common reaction to disappointments and failures.
For example, an insufficiently physically developed person can get pleasure from dreaming of participating in the World Championship, and a loser athlete can get pleasure from imagining all sorts of troubles happening to his opponent, which makes his feelings easier. Fantasies serve as compensation. They help maintain weak hopes, soften feelings of inferiority, and reduce the traumatic impact of insults and insults.

Freud said that a happy person never fantasizes, only a dissatisfied person does this. Unsatisfied desires are the driving forces of fantasies; each fantasy is a phenomenon of desire, a correction of reality, which does not satisfy the individual in some way.

In ambitious fantasies, the object of a person's desire is himself. In erotically colored desires, the object can become someone from a close or distant social environment, who in reality cannot be the object of desire.

And finally, fantasy plays the role of a substitute action, since a person cannot solve the real situation or believes that he cannot. And then, instead of a real situation, an imaginary, illusory situation is imagined, which is resolved by the fantasizing person. If it is difficult to resolve a real conflict, then a substitute conflict is resolved. In defensive fantasy, inner freedom from external coercion is palliatively experienced. The result of the psychoprotective use of fantasy can be living in a world of illusions.

Transfer

This is a defense mechanism that ensures the satisfaction of desire on substitute objects.
The simplest and most common type of transfer is displacement - substitution of objects for the outpouring of accumulated negative energy of “thanatos” in the form of aggression and resentment.

The boss, in the presence of other colleagues, gave you a dressing down. You cannot answer him the same. You understand the situation: if I respond to my boss in the same way, stop him, besiege him, then the consequence could be even greater trouble. Therefore, your “wise self” is looking for objects on which you can take out your resentment, your aggression. Fortunately, there are many such objects “at hand”. The main property of these objects should be their silence, resignation, and inability to besiege you.

They should be as silent and obedient as you silently and obediently listened to reproaches and humiliating characteristics (“Lazy!” “Mediocr!” “Insolent!”) from your boss and, in general, anyone who is stronger. Your anger, unreacted to the true culprit, is transferred to someone who is even weaker than you, even lower on the ladder of the social hierarchy, to a subordinate, who, in turn, transfers it further down, etc. The chains of displacement can be endless. Its links can be both living beings and inanimate things (broken dishes during family scandals, broken windows of train cars, etc.)

When the mental defense mechanism turns on

The psyche, like any system, strives for stability. Therefore, if a person himself cannot consciously cope with the negativity that has fallen on him (fear, guilt or shame, anger, aggression and much more), he turns on unconscious defenses, thereby saving himself.

The activation and deactivation of defense mechanisms occurs unconsciously, against the will of the person. As a short-term help, this option for our psyche comes in very handy (everyone has defense mechanisms, it’s normal to turn them on). However, if a person finds himself in traumatic circumstances too often, then defense becomes his usual behavior, and this is no longer normal. For example, regression turns into infantilism, replacement transforms into alcoholism or workaholism, etc.

Z. Freud believed that only sublimation is a positive mechanism of psychological defense and is not fraught with danger. All other mechanisms are dangerous and, if used frequently, destructive. They need to be replaced with conscious behavioral strategies.

Projection

A psychological defense mechanism associated with the unconscious transfer of one’s own unacceptable feelings, desires and aspirations to another person.
It is based on the unconscious rejection of one’s experiences, doubts, attitudes and attributing them to other people in order to shift responsibility for what happens inside the “I” to the outside world. For example, if the subject or object with which the satisfaction of your needs and desires was associated is inaccessible to you, then you transfer all your feelings and opportunities to satisfy your needs to another person. And if your dream of becoming a writer has not come true, then you can choose the profession of a literature teacher as a substitute, partially satisfying your creative needs.

The effectiveness of substitution depends on how similar the replacement object is to the previous one, with which the satisfaction of the need was initially associated. Maximum similarity of the replacement object ensures that more of the needs that were first associated with the previous object will be satisfied.

No matter how wrong a person himself is, he is ready to blame everyone except himself. Declares that he is not loved, although in reality he does not love himself, reproaches others for his own mistakes and shortcomings and attributes to them his own vices and weaknesses. By narrowing the boundaries of the “I,” this allows the individual to treat internal problems as if they were happening outside, and to overcome displeasure as if it came from outside, and not due to internal reasons.

If the “enemy” is outside, then more radical and effective methods of punishment can be applied to him, usually used in relation to external “harmful” people, rather than gentle, more acceptable methods for oneself.

Thus, projection manifests itself in a person’s tendency to believe that other people have the same motives, feelings, desires, values, and character traits that are inherent in himself. At the same time, he is not aware of his socially undesirable motives.

Such, for example, is the mechanism of religious-mythological worldview. Primitive perception is characterized by a person’s tendency to personify animals, trees, and nature, attributing to them their own motives, desires, and feelings. The writer transfers his own needs, feelings, and character traits to the heroes of his works.

Projection is carried out easier on someone whose situation, whose personal characteristics are similar to the projector. A person using projection will always see an offensive hint in a harmless remark. He can even see evil intent and intrigue in a noble act. A person who is immensely kind, the one who is popularly called “holy simplicity,” is not capable of projection. He does not see malice or ill will in actions towards himself, because he himself is not capable of this.

Take a hit: methods of psychological defense

Psychological security is a property of a mature personality, which depends on intelligence, attentiveness, a penchant for analysis, critical thinking and emotional stability. We offer you several practice-tested psychological defense techniques.

Getting stung by one or even several bees can be good for your health. But if you are attacked by a swarm of wasps or find yourself the victim of a poisonous snake bite, then you will be in trouble. Your competitors, ill-wishers or enemies are capable of causing you no less harm simply by using words that hurt your soul as a psychological weapon. And the longer you worry about this, the more likely you are to end up among the losers.

“If a person shows that he is irritated and is not able to control his emotions, he needs to do something other than work with people,” confidently stated the Frenchman Michel Fadoul, who has achieved brilliant success in business at the world level.

Psychological security is a property of a mature personality. It consists of a whole complex of characteristics such as level of intelligence, worldview, attentiveness, tendency to analysis and reflection, critical thinking, emotional stability.

Ask yourself and others more often magical questions: what, where, when, how, why and why? Try to imagine the entire panorama and dynamics of the event, see the whole picture and note contradictions, inconsistencies and blind spots, pay careful attention to the details. They are the necessary material for assessing the reliability of information.

We offer you several psychological defense techniques developed by us and tested in our trainings.

Reception "Fan" . Analyze what you react to most painfully. What irritates you? What makes you mad or sad? Remember the specific words, intonations, gestures of your opponents or offenders.

Close your eyes and remember again all the most offensive, biting, burning words that make you feel confused and worthless or cause powerful outbursts of aggression.

Now imagine that you are sitting opposite the person who is inflicting these psychological blows on you. He is the one who says cruel, hurtful words to you. And you feel how you are already beginning to “revenge” the offender.

Open your eyes, and you will probably feel that you are now able to withstand such a psychological blow.

Reception "Aquarium" . If, when communicating with people who are negatively disposed towards you, you continue to react painfully to their attacks, use this technique. Imagine that between you and your offender there is a thick glass wall of an aquarium. He says something unpleasant to you, but you only see him and don’t hear the words, they are absorbed by the water and only bubble with foam on the surface. That's why they don't affect you. And you, without losing your composure and peace of mind, do not succumb to provocation, do not react to offensive words. And thanks to this, you turn the situation in your favor.

Disneyland reception . The painfulness of a psychological blow can be softened, or even completely eliminated, if you treat all people like little children. You don't take offense at stupid children, do you?

Imagine that you find yourself alone against a whole group of people who are negatively disposed towards you. The preponderance of forces is on their side. And you have only one chance to turn the tide: imagine them as a group of children on the playground. They get angry, act up, scream, wave their arms, throw toys on the floor, and trample them underfoot. In general, they try in every possible way to piss you off. But you, as an adult, wise person, treat their antics as childish pranks and continue to remain calm until they fizzle out. You do not perceive their words as insults, you do not react to their attacks. It’s funny for you to watch all this as an adult...

Reception "The Fox and the Grapes" . If there have been cases in your past when someone managed to annoy you so much that the experience of defeat remains to this day, use the technique of rationalization, removing negative “anchors.” Remember the fable “The Fox and the Grapes”: not reaching the bunch of grapes, the fox said that she didn’t really want grapes - they were sour and green.

Reception "Ocean of Calm" . Imagine yourself as the main character of the parable: “The ocean receives the waters of many stormy rivers, but at the same time remains motionless. The one into whom all thoughts and emotions flow in the same way remains dispassionate in peace.”

Reception "Theater of the Absurd" . You can use such a psychological defense technique as bringing the situation to the point of absurdity. This is basically the same as making a molehill out of a molehill. That is, to hyperbolize out loud beyond recognition what someone is only hinting at, and thus unexpectedly knock psychological weapons out of the hands of one’s enemies or ill-wishers. Your goal is to make sure that any attacks from an ill-wisher no longer cause anything but laughter. This is the solution to the problem of how to protect yourself from psychological attack.

Reception "Puppet Theater" . If you find it difficult to communicate with people who are emotionally significant to you, use this technique. Imagine that they are just caricatured characters from the TV show “Dolls”. And let them say nonsense when communicating with each other. And you just watch it from the outside and make your own assessments. Like, this smart guy pretends to be a superman, and the other one pretends to be a strong personality, a professional, and he himself is a weakling, just bluffing. Play this show until you laugh. Your laughter is an indication that the technique worked.

From the site Elitarium.ru

Introjection

This is the tendency to appropriate the beliefs and attitudes of other people without criticism, without trying to change them and make them your own.
A person endows himself with traits and properties of other people. For example, he takes on the functions of an annoying mentor, because the manifestation of such a trait in other people annoys or traumatizes him. In order to relieve internal conflict and avoid psychological discomfort, a person appropriates the beliefs, values and attitudes of other people. The earliest introject is parental teaching, which is absorbed by a person without critically thinking about its value.

An example of introjection: an impressionable man tries to hold back his tears because he has learned from his parents that an adult should not cry in the presence of strangers. Or a person constantly criticizes himself because he has internalized (introjected) his parents’ attitude towards him.

The likelihood of this method of protection occurring is the higher, the stronger and (or) longer the influence of external or internal blockers of desires, on the one hand, and the more impossible it is to remove these blockers and more fully fulfill one’s desires and achieve one’s goals, on the other. In this case, the impossibility of eliminating the frustrator is accompanied by the displacement of negative energy on the replacement object.

The subject's turning against himself results in the formation of physical and mental symptoms, i.e., signs of illness. Physical bodily symptoms include: cold feet and hands, sweating, cardiac arrhythmia, dizziness, severe headaches, high or low blood pressure, muscle spasms, dermatitis, bronchial asthma, etc.

What is psychological protection

For the first time, different types of psychological defense and their action were described by S. Freud

An important place in his theory is occupied by the problem of the conflict between “It” and “I”, between the suppressed or unconscious desires of the unconscious and the social control of consciousness. The inability to satisfy these desires, their contradiction to the norms of society or objective reality causes a person to feel discomfort, anxiety, and often even stronger experiences

Increasing dissatisfaction and internal conflict can lead to serious psychological problems and even diseases.

In this situation, the means of psychological defense developed over millennia of evolution come into force. This is an unconscious and poorly controlled reaction to internal destabilization. Defensive behavior often looks strange and illogical even to the person himself, not to mention those around him. But for some time it helps to ease unpleasant experiences, block internal conflict and stabilize the psyche.

Depersonalization

This is the perception of other people as impersonal, devoid of individuality, representatives of a certain group.
If the subject does not allow himself to think of others as people who have feelings and personality, he protects himself from perceiving them on an emotional level. With depersonalization, other people are perceived only as the embodiment of their social role: they are patients, doctors, teachers. The act of depersonalizing other people can “protect” the subject to a certain extent. This makes it possible, for example, for doctors to treat their patients without experiencing their suffering. In addition, this allows them to hide their real feelings (like or dislike) behind a professional mask.