Defence Mechanisms free essay sample

Freud believed that there are times when our sense of self faces a crisis. This is our ego. Ego is a term used by Sigmund Freud for the part of the unconscious mind that encourages us to do good things. It is the part of the mind most closely linked to our sense of self. â€Å"We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts. † Freud believes in order to protect our ego is to you defence mechanisms. Defence mechanisms are techniques that the human mind uses to deal with frustration, tension and worry. Those defences mechanisms help maintain our self-esteem by protecting our ego against negative feelings. It alters our view of reality and makes excuses for our failures and blame others for our mistakes. Denial is of the most known defense mechanisms. Denial is used often to describe situations in which people seem unable to face reality or admit an obvious truth. We will write a custom essay sample on Defence Mechanisms or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Denial is an outright refusal to admit or recognize that something has occurred or is currently occurring. Denial functions to protect the ego from things that the individual cannot deal with. It also requires a substantial investment of energy. Other defence mechanisms are also used to keep these unacceptable feelings from consciousness. Rationalization is excuses we make up to explain a failure, loss or bad behavior. An example of rationalization if you lost a hockey game and blamed the refs for you loss. The refs are not the reason you lost the hockey game. We rationalize our failure by making up an excuse blaming the refs for losing the hockey game. It protects our self-esteem and self-concept. When confronted by failure, people tend blamed on other people or outside forces. Rationalization is an external defence towards others to protect yourself and make up for something you did. Displacement is when we lash out at someone because of anger or frustration from an earlier situation. We express our anger in ways that could lead to negative consequences, instead express our anger towards a object that poses no threat It shifts to aggressive impulses to a less threatening target, separating emotion and redirection of the intense emotion.. Let’s say if you got a bad mark on a test in a previous class and come to you next class being hostile with everyone because of your anger, your friends have nothing to do with your test mark. Repression is a common defence mechanism and is key to psychoanalysis. Repression is when we push unpleasant urges or thoughts out of our conscious minds and into our subconscious. It’s the rejection from consciousness of painful or disagreeable ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses. We are unaware of these repressed thoughts. These thoughts resurface as physical problems or unkind behavior directed at others. Example of repression, a woman who found childbirth particularly painful continues to have children. Projection is when we see negative traits and feelings in other people that we sense in ourselves but cannot openly admit. All the anger, rage, jealousy, fear, and emotions can be hard to incorporate into our own self-image. If someone drives you crazy it is likely that the person exhibit’s personality characteristics that you possess but worked hard to hide. The difficulty with projecting our feelings and thoughts around others is that this causes conflict in our relationships and our way of being. Sublimation allows us to act out unacceptable impulses by converting these behaviors into a more acceptable form. If a person experiencing extreme anger might take up martial arts, boxing or football in order to vent this frustration. Freud believed that sublimation was a sign of maturity that allows people to function normally in social situations. Not all defence mechanism are a result in anger for our excuses for something that went wrong. Humor is pointing out something funny in ironic situations and laughing with others. Affiliation helps us turn to other for support. Acting out helps people deal with stress by engaging in actions rather than viewing personal feelings. Aim inhibition is our goal is life and motivation to become successful in what we love. Altruism satisfies personal needs to help others. While all defense mechanisms can be bad they can help be adaptive and allow us to function normally. The greatest problems arise when defense mechanisms are overused in order to avoid dealing with problems. It is our natural instincts to you defence mechanisms to protect our ego, self-concept. Sigmund Freud was a genius at discovering the truth of the conscious and unconscious mind. With all these defence mechanisms you can relate to when you used certain defence mechanisms in social situations. It’s just the way of life in the mind we create. Sigmund Freud â€Å"What we call happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree.