By

Dr. Soheir H. ElGhonemy Assistant Professor of Psychiatry- Ain Shams

UniversityMD in Psychiatry and Addiction

Arab Board in PsychiatryMember of International Society of Addiction Medicine

(ISAM)

Defense Mechanisms

Id: a selfish, primitive, childish,

pleasure-oriented part of the

personality with no ability to delay

gratification. "The Child".

Superego: internalized societal and

parental standards of "good" and

"bad", "right" and "wrong" behavior.

"The Parent".

Individual psyche structures:

Ego: the moderator between the id

and superego which seeks

compromises to pacify both. It can

be viewed as our "Sense of Self."

"The Adult".

1. Primary and secondary processes.Ego: 1st & 2nd

2. The reality principle.ID: requirements of external world

3. Formation of the superego.Conscience: stores information about what is "bad" and what has been punished.Ego ideal: stores information about what is "good" and what one "should" do or be.

I. Neurotic anxiety: is the unconscious worry

that we will lose control of the id's urges,

resulting in punishment for inappropriate

behavior.

II. Reality anxiety: is fear of real-world events.

The cause of this anxiety is usually easily

identified. The most common way of reducing

this anxiety is to avoid the threatening object.

III.Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our

own moral principles.

a. Denial: is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist; early childhood development.

b. Distortion: gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs.

c. Delusional Projection: grossly frank delusions about external reality, usually of a persecutory nature.

d. Fantasy: tendency to retreat into fantasy in order to resolve inner and outer conflicts.

e. Projection: is the misattribution of a person’s undesired thoughts, feelings or impulses onto another person who does not have those thoughts, feelings or impulses.

Primitive Defense Mechanisms: Level I

f. Acting out: is performing an extreme behavior

in order to express thoughts or feelings the

person feels incapable of otherwise

expressing.

g. Idealization: unconsciously choosing to

perceive another individual as having more

positive qualities than he or she may actually

have.

h. Somatization: transformation of negative

feelings towards others into negative feelings

toward self, pain, illness, and anxiety.

a.Displacement: separation of emotion from its real object and redirection of the intense emotion toward someone or something that is less offensive or threatening in order to avoid dealing directly with what is frightening or threatening.

b.Dissociation: temporary drastic modification of one's personal identity or character to avoid emotional distress; separation or postponement of a feeling that normally would accompany a situation or thought.

Neurotic Defense Mechanisms: Level II

c. Isolation: Separation of feelings from ideas and events

d. Intellectualization: concentrating on the intellectual components of a situation so as to distance oneself from the associated anxiety-provoking emotions; separation of emotion from ideas.

e. Reaction Formation: behavior that is completely the opposite of what one really wants or feels; taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety.

f. Repression: Process of pulling thoughts into the unconscious and preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness; the emotion is conscious, but the idea behind it is absent.

g. Regression: Temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way.

h. Rationalization: convinces oneself that no wrong was done and that all is or was all right through faulty and false reasoning.

a. Altruism: Constructive service to others that brings pleasure and personal satisfaction

b. Anticipation: Realistic planning for future discomfort

c. Humor: Overt expression of ideas and feelings (especially those that are unpleasant to focus on or too terrible to talk about) that gives pleasure to others. Humor, which explores the absurdity inherent in any event, enables someone to "call a spade a spade.

Mature Defense Mechanisms: Level III

d.Identification: The unconscious modeling of one's self upon another person's character and behavior.

e.Sublimation: Transformation of negative emotions or instincts into positive actions, behavior, or emotion.

f. Suppression: The conscious process of pushing thoughts into the preconscious; the conscious decision to delay paying attention to an emotion or need in order to cope with the present reality.

g.Assertiveness: the emphasis of a person’s needs or thoughts in a manner that is respectful, direct and firm.

Good luck