Some defense mechanisms you could use to cope with daily anxiety

A defense mechanism is an unconscious psychological mechanism that reduces anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful stimuli.They operate at an unconscious level and help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e. anxiety) or make good things feel better for the individual. This concept is given by Sigmund Freud. 

In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, defense mechanisms are psychological strategies employed by ego to resolve the conflicts among id and superego. They help an individual in coping with reality and to maintain the self-image. Therefore, they are also called coping styles.

Healthy people normally use different defense mechanisms throughout their life. Following are the few case scenarios related to some defense mechanisms, which we adopt in our daily life.

Displacement

Case Study

Ahmed was very upset because his boss scolded him for not completing the given tasks in time. He felt helpless as he could not reply his boss back. He came back home and started fighting and scolding his wife and kids.

Explanation

Displacement is an unconscious defense mechanism proposed by Sigmund Freud in which a person expresses his feelings, frustrations, and impulses on people or objects that are less threatening.

In this case, Ahmad was scolded by his boss as a result he got angry but he couldn’t express his anger on his boss because of boss’s high authority so he diverted his anger to his wife and kids as they are less threatening.

Projection

Case Study

Salma is a housewife and is not on good terms with her in-laws. She does not like her mother in law, but believes that her mother in law hates her.

Explanation

In projection, a person imputes his or her own thoughts, feelings and emotions to another person.
In this case, Salma has unconscious feelings of hatred for her mother in-law. Instead of accepting this, she is denying their existence in her and attributing this emotion of hate to her mother in-law and believing that it’s her mother in-law who hates her. 

Sublimation

Case Study

Being very angry with his father, Ahsan locked himself in the room and came up with a beautiful painting.

Explanation

In sublimation, a person unconsciously transfers his undesirable, unhealthy and socially unaccepted emotions and impulses to healthy and socially accepted activities, thoughts and impulses.

In this case, Ahsan didn’t argue with his father, instead he diverted this energy of anger towards a more constructive and healthy activity of painting.

Some other commonly used defense mechanisms which I use:

Rationalization

Rationalization is justifying or explaining an undesirable event or feeling in a rational or logical manner. In other words, when something happens that we find difficult to accept, then we make up a logical reason of why it has happened. It’s a most commonly used defense mechanism. 

Example

Few years ago, I started an online business. It wasn’t a success and I failed in it. So, instead of clinging myself to this depressive situation, I diverted my thoughts of failure by rationalizing that situation by saying: “It wasn’t meant for me and it was a will of God”.

Similarly, I bought an expensive mobile phone a year ago. I justify this act by saying that my old phone wasn’t good enough and I didn’t like its software etc. Whereas in reality, it wasn’t like that.

Sublimation

Sublimation means satisfying an impulse e.g. anger, sadness, and aggression with a socially accepted substitute object. In other words, it is the transformation of unwanted impulses or urges into something less harmful or may be useful. Many sports and games activities are sublimation of aggressive urges, as we sublimate the desire to fight into the activities of formal competition.

Example

I use this defense mechanism when I am angry or having negative thoughts about myself or others. I also use it when I am feeling down and doesn’t like to do certain things. For this, I busy myself in something, which I enjoy doing or which occupies my mind for so long that negative thoughts gradually become less and finally it ends.

In my opinion, we can control any negative aspects like anger or aggression by busying ourselves in something constructive. Which also gives us the pleasure of accomplishing something. I usually bake when I feel like that and after the completion of task I feel so relieved and happy by looking at the accomplished product (cookies in my case).

When I am not baking, I play squash and try to lessen my anger by hitting the ball hardly on the wall.

Denial

Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of early childhood development. Many people use denial in their everyday lives to avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas of their life they don’t wish to admit. 

Example

A person who is a functioning alcoholic will often simply deny they have a drinking problem, pointing to how well they function in their job and relationships.

Reaction Formation

Reaction Formation is the converting of unwanted or dangerous thoughts, feelings or impulses into their opposites. 

Example

A woman who is very angry with her boss and would like to quit her job may instead be overly kind and generous toward her boss and express a desire to keep working there forever. She is incapable of expressing the negative emotions of anger and unhappiness with her job, and instead becomes overly kind to publicly demonstrate her lack of anger and unhappiness.