In the category of Helping Relationships on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), or another counseling exam, you’ll want to have a good understanding of the basics of defense mechanisms. Here, we cover what defense mechanisms are, Freud’s view of them, the more modern views that professionals have, and more!
At their most basic, defense mechanisms are unconscious processes that happen within a person to protect them themselves. This might be to protect themselves from anxiety, or to safeguard their self-esteem. Generally, a defense mechanism is protecting the person from something they don’t want to deal with related to themselves.
Defense mechanisms were made popular by Sigmund Freud. His view was that defense mechanisms were a way to reduce tension on the personality of the person. Specifically, he felt that the ego would use defense mechanisms (or what Freud called Ego Defense Mechanisms) to reduce the tension on the personality.
Today, many in the field agree that defense mechanisms are a relevant topic and are pertinent to the our understanding of personality. However, the influence of the id, ego, and superego that Freud theorized are not as agreed upon.
Whether you take a more Freudian view of defense mechanisms or approach them through other theories, there are some things that are consistent. For starters, this includes that defense mechanisms occur unconsciously (for the most part). They are also seen to protect one’s self-image, which is done when the defense mechanisms distort the reality of the situation. In other words, defense mechanisms involve self-deception.
Denial – Also called suppression, denial is the first defense mechanism to highlight. This defense mechanism is actually a unique one in that it’s considered to be more conscious than others, with some even saying it’s deliberate. With denial, the person will refuse to see something or look at something about themselves or the situation. In other words, they won’t look at the reality of things. An extreme example of this may be having a loved one pass away but refusing to acknowledge their death.
Compensation – The second defense mechanism is compensation. In this case, a person will work to build or strengthen a trait they see as positive, specifically (but unconsciously) in an attempt to make up for a perceived shortcoming or limitation. With compensation, the person may unconsciously hope that others will focus on the positive trait they’ve developed and not see or notice the negative traits they have. As an example, if a person feels they do not have a good personality, they may become perfectionistic in their academic work to compensate.
Displacement – The third defense mechanism is displacement. With this defense mechanism, the person will have some feeling, emotion, or reaction built up that they then take out on another person who they view as safe or unthreatening. An example might be a person having a disagreement with a co-worker and being extremely upset with them, but saying nothing. Instead, going home and exploding at their child who did nothing wrong or who only made a minor mistake.
Reaction Formation – Fourth is reaction formation. With this defense mechanism, the person will act opposite to internal impulses they feel. For example, if there is a person who has an internal interest in fires, this would be their unwanted or undesirable trait. Since their trait is that they feel driven to start fires, so they could act opposite to this by becoming a firefighter. This allows them to work with the things they’re internally attracted to.
Rationalization – The fifth defense mechanism we’ll discuss is rationalization. In this case, the person uses logic or intellectualization to justify poor behavior or to minimize how they’ve hurt others. There are two other forms of this that are often discussed. One is called the sour grapes rationalization where a person says that they really didn’t want the thing they wanted. Think of this as the person saying that they didn’t actually want the grapes because they were probably too sour anyway. The second is the sweet lemon rationalization. In this case, the person tries to say that an uncomfortable or unpleasant situation is somehow enjoyable. Think of this one as the person saying that the sour lemon is actually wonderfully sweet and delicious.
Introjection – The sixth defense mechanism is introjection. This is where the person takes on the values of someone who is more powerful than them or who is aggressive toward them. An example of this may be of someone who is taken captive and starts to align themselves with the values of the person holding them captive.
Projection – The seventh of the defense mechanisms is projection. This is where a person will have feelings or qualities they find unacceptable, and rather than acknowledging these in themselves, they see them in other people instead (even though the other person may not actually have that quality). In the Encyclopedia of Counseling, this is described as “like looking in a mirror but thinking you’re looking out a window” (p. 166). An example of this might be a person who has a tendency to lie then thinking that everyone else is lying to them.
Identification – The eighth defense mechanism we’ll discuss is identification. For the identification defense mechanism, a person will closely align or associate themselves with a successful person to be perceived as successful or more worthy. An example of this might be an everyday person who is always talking about all the celebrities that they’ve met.
Repression – The ninth defense mechanism is repression. This is one of the more well-known defense mechanisms and is also the one Freudians view as most important. With repression, the defense mechanism works by unconsciously blocking unpleasant information from one’s conscious mind. Repression is thought to be involuntary, and is also thought to happen automatically. An example of repression might be a child who was abused not remembering the abuse. Keep in mind, this is different from denial/suppression. Repression is unconscious whereas denial/suppression is seen to be a more conscious response.
Sublimation – The last of the defense mechanisms we’re highlighting here is sublimation. When it comes to sublimation, the person will have an unconscious impulse or urge that they then act out in a way that is seen as socially acceptable. For example, let’s say a person tends to be an aggressive and violent. If they unconsciously channel this into a sport, such as boxing, this would be seen a the sublimation defense mechanism.
Note: These are ten common discussed defense mechanisms, but there are more we could have talked about. They are listed in no particular order.
