The functions of the protective mechanisms of the psyche proposed and developed. General concept of the mechanisms of psychological defenses of the individual

Protective mechanisms work in conditions of conflict of equally strong, but oppositely directed aspirations of the individual, causing "disturbances" in the system of her motivation. Defense mechanisms are a special kind of mental activity implemented in the form of specific information processing techniques that can prevent the loss of self-esteem and avoid the destruction of the unity of the “I image”.

Psychological protection is manifested in the actions of a person to maintain the usual opinion about himself, to reject or change information that is perceived as unfavorable and destroys basic ideas about himself or others. “The mechanism of psychological defense,” writes R.M. Granovskaya, “is associated with the reorganization of the conscious and unconscious components of the value system and the change in the entire hierarchy of personality values, aimed at depriving significance and thereby neutralizing psychologically traumatic moments.” However, psychological defense is predominantly destructive in nature, since, while maintaining the usual level of self-esteem, it blocks an adequate assessment of the real state of affairs in the social environment and in one's inner world, deprives a person of will, courage and responsibility to himself and others.

For the first time, defense mechanisms were identified by Z. Freud; their special study is associated with the name of his daughter - A. Freud. In psychoanalysis, mechanisms such as denial, repression, projection, regression and others. Let us describe the most frequently "working" psychological defense mechanisms, both identified in psychoanalysis and described by other researchers (Fig. 15).

Negation is defined as the process of eliminating, ignoring traumatic perceptions of external reality. This defense mechanism reveals itself in conflicts associated with the appearance of motives that destroy the basic attitudes of the individual; with the advent of information that threatens self-preservation, prestige, self-respect. The basic formula for negation is "there is no danger, there is none"; “I don’t see, I don’t hear”, etc. In everyday life, such a mechanism is referred to as the "position of an ostrich." For example, clinical practice shows that the first reaction of a patient to a doctor's report of a serious illness is a denial of such a diagnosis, disbelief in it.

Psychological defense mechanisms

Negation Substitution

Displacement Isolation

Projection Reactive

Education

Identification……………………………………………… Rationalization

Regression

Rice. 15. Psychological defense mechanisms

crowding out - a mechanism for getting rid of internal conflict by actively excluding from consciousness an unacceptable motive or unwanted information. The phenomena of forgetting something are very often associated with repression. For example, facts that are especially inconvenient for us are easily forgotten. Injured self-esteem, hurt pride, catastrophic message are forced out and masked by other contents acceptable to the subject himself. For example, a mother who received a notice of her son's death is convinced that she did not receive such a notice, she does not remember it. On the contrary, she is ready to talk about where her son is now, what he does, etc.

Projection - the process of attributing (transferring) one's own feelings, desires and personality traits, in which a person does not want to admit to himself because of their unacceptability, to another person. It has been noted that the stingy person is inclined to note greed in other people, the aggressive one - cruelty, etc. A person who constantly attributes his own unseemly motives to others is called a hypocrite.

Identification - a protective mechanism in which a person sees himself as another, transfers to himself the motives and qualities inherent in another person. There is also a positive moment in identification, since it is a mechanism for assimilating social experience, mastering desirable, but missing properties and qualities of an individual. The emotional empathy of the viewer or reader with the heroes of a work of art is based on the mechanism of identification with them. From the practice of upbringing, it is known that in the family the son identifies himself with his father, and the daughter with his mother.

Regression - a protective mechanism through which the subject, in conditions of increased responsibility, seeks to avoid internal anxiety, to lose self-esteem with the help of those modes of behavior that were adequate at earlier stages of development. Regression is the return of a person from higher forms of behavior to lower ones. Infantilism in behavior and relationships is a striking phenomenon of regression.

Jet formations - a protective mechanism for transforming a traumatic motive into its opposite. Unreasonable, unreasonable hostility towards a person can turn into a special precaution towards him, through which the subject tries to overcome his own aggressive feelings. On the contrary, sympathy for a person can often be demonstrated in forms characteristic of a hostile attitude. Teachers in the aggressive pursuit of their classmate by a teenage boy "read" the feeling of first falling in love, they see this as a courtship ritual characteristic of adolescents.

Rationalization is understood as the attribution of logical or plausible grounds to behavior whose motives are unacceptable or unknown, as an excuse to others or to oneself for one's failure. In particular, rationalization is associated with an attempt to reduce the value of the inaccessible. Experiencing mental trauma, a person protects himself by overestimating (devaluing) the significance of the traumatic factor in the direction of its reduction. This mechanism is also called “green grapes” (according to the famous fable by I.A. Krylov “The Fox and the Grapes”).

substitution - a defense mechanism associated with transferring an action from an inaccessible object to an accessible one. Substitution discharges the tension created by an unrealizable need, an unattainable goal. For example, one subject in the experiments of T. Dembo, after long failures in solving an experimental problem consisting in throwing rings on bottles, burst into tears, went out the door and in her hearts put all the rings on a hanger.

Insulation, or alienation, - isolation and localization within the consciousness of traumatic factors. Access to consciousness for traumatic feelings is blocked, so that the connection between a certain event and its emotional coloring is not reflected in consciousness. The phenomena of "split (splitting) personality" can be associated with such protection. According to clinical data, the double embodies that which is alien to the first "I"; at the same time, different "Selves" may not know anything about each other.

In conclusion, we note that work with consciousness, including overcoming psychological defenses in cases where they impede the formation of adequate self-esteem and self-improvement of the individual, is the central subject of psychotherapeutic practice. With good reason, the above can be attributed to pedagogical practice.

Getting rid of negative attitudes, looking at yourself and the world around you more realistically is not so easy, because you may not like the awareness of many things. We all know how hard it is to admit the bitter truth. The bitter truth for many can even be the realization that they can be wrong about something. The most difficult thing to perceive is information that calls into question the worldview of a person. The materials of the section "To understand the nature of man" just belong to the literature of this kind.

Here I am trying to inspire you with the installation that you are responsible for absolutely everything that happens in your life. It is difficult to accept if you have been invested in the idea from childhood that your fate depends on external circumstances. In order to grow up, you will have to reconsider a lot of your beliefs. On this path, you will encounter obstacles due to some peculiarities of the psyche.

Evolutionarily, certain psychological defense mechanisms have developed in the psyche, which are undoubtedly useful for humans. They are needed to maintain the stability of the mental state, help to be in balance with oneself. But also often they work against us. For example, in our case, these mechanisms will prevent the exit from the blissful state of doing nothing and irresponsibility for one's life. Being a child and not answering for anything is an energy-saving position, and the state of adulthood is energy-consuming and involves facing difficulties and fighting for one's interests. All the forces of your overseer will prevent the loss of this psychologically advantageous position. Let's look at how mechanisms will prevent awareness of your problems. I consider it important to describe these mechanisms, as they determine your reaction to what you read. So, let's move on to the mechanisms of psychological protection.

First mechanism. Negation- this is the desire to avoid new information that is incompatible with the prevailing ideas about oneself. Protection manifests itself in ignoring potentially disturbing information, avoiding it. It is like a barrier located right at the entrance of the perceiving system. It does not allow unwanted information there, which is irreversibly lost for a person and cannot be restored. Denial is characterized by the fact that attention is blocked at the stage of perception. This means that the thought simply does not reach your consciousness.

Denial refocuses attention. Its direction changes in such a way that a person becomes especially inattentive to the spheres of life and the facets of events that are fraught with trouble for him, can injure him. Thus, he is in advance fenced off from them. Under the influence of denial, we try not to think about something, not to notice anything. When something cannot be admitted to oneself, then the best way out is, if possible, not to look into this terrible and dark corner. Thus, fear of failure operates when a person seeks to avoid situations that threaten, in his opinion, defeat.

For example, you have a natural desire to make new acquaintances with girls, but you do not feel interested in new people. You seem to feel good with yourself, and you think that new acquaintances will only bring trouble.

Another striking example. The statement "I believe" means a special state of mind when you do not perceive any information that conflicts with the object of your faith. This can apply to any faith - religious and faith in everyday things. For example, you may believe that girls only pay attention to guys with good looks, or only peck at those who have money. Or you can believe that all women are "prostitutes". You will ignore any information and facts that go against these ideas. Thus, you pay attention only to those details that confirm your faith. Your faith for you personally will be constantly confirmed.

Second mechanism. suppression- this is an unconscious desire to forget unpleasant information or memories. Something unpleasant has already happened to you, which means that you know and remember about it, but it is difficult for you to live with this knowledge. Then that memory is pushed out of your memory. Witnesses may remind you of this, but you feel that this did not happen, you think that this is some kind of mistake. Most often, the experience of sexual urges, fear, own weakness, aggressive intentions against parents is suppressed.

When you want to erase from your memory the idea that you can’t freely approach a girl and get acquainted, you kind of say to yourself: “I didn’t really want to. There are things that are more important."

Third mechanism. Rationalization is a defense that uses in your thinking only that part of the information, thanks to which your behavior and reaction appears to you as well controlled and fully appropriate to the prevailing circumstances. Part of the information about the situation that is difficult for you is removed from memory. This mechanism is needed to create harmony between the desired and real state of affairs, and thereby maintain self-respect.

This is one of the most commonly used protection mechanisms. You are always trying to explain something to yourself. In a situation of meeting a girl, you explain your inaction by inappropriate conditions for approaching: “an inconvenient moment for dating”, “I wanted to, but I didn’t have time”, “she probably already has someone, so it’s not worth it”, “in the metro is uncomfortable to get to know”, “I don’t look good today”, etc. The possibilities of fantasy to rationally justify one's inaction are endless.

Often a person who is overwhelmed by the fear of failing in communication, defending himself, declares that he does not need other people at all. A person is completely sure of his sincerity. But the subjective conviction in proper frankness to oneself never serves as a criterion of truth. We are too good at deceiving ourselves. Read other examples of "rationalization" at.

fourth mechanism. Crowding out. This mechanism is manifested in the avoidance of internal conflict by actively turning off from consciousness not information about what happened in general, but only the true, but unacceptable motive of one's behavior. The condition for repression is the result of comparing new information with the ideal of one's "I". The exclusion of the motives of experience from consciousness also leads to its forgetting.

In the dating example, you realize that there is an interest in a woman, but you don’t admit to yourself what kind of interest. You will explain your attention by the fact that you are interested in anything, except for the desire to get closer. You are more likely to defend yourself this way if you are already married or in a relationship.

Also typical is the repression of painful information associated with the fear of death. So, the radiologist became ill with lung cancer. The pictures were hidden from her for a long time, but then she found them and, being a specialist in X-ray diagnostics with twenty years of experience, exclaimed: “Well, why did you hide them from me? A clear picture of pneumosclerosis!

The repression may not be complete. When the repression is incomplete, the usually unpleasant memory persists and enters consciousness in a transformed form, as a feeling of unmotivated anxiety.

Fifth mechanism. Projection - a type of psychological defense associated with the unconscious transfer of unacceptable own feelings, desires and aspirations to others. It can be understood as an unconscious rejection of one's own unpleasant thoughts, attitudes or desires and attributing them to other people in order to shift the responsibility for what is happening inside the “I” to the outside world.

With a “projection”, a person begins to accuse others of being annoyed, while he himself feels annoyed, declares that he is not loved, although in reality he has fallen out of love himself, reproaches others for his mistakes. Projection frees the person from detection anxiety negative qualities at home. When these undesirable qualities are found in others, the feeling of guilt weakens, and this brings relief. By-products of projection are irony, sarcasm, hostility.

sixth mechanism. Identification - a kind of projection associated with the unconscious identification of oneself with another person, transferring onto oneself his feelings and qualities. This is the elevation of oneself to another, more successful person. Freud considered identification as a person's self-identification with a significant person, on the model of which he consciously or subconsciously tries to act.

The identification mechanism can lead to the fact that a person rejects the qualities that belong to himself and appropriates the qualities that belong to another person - the hero. Both the exclusive obsession of a person with himself, and the complete assimilation to another, means the cessation of the development of one's own individuality.

Identification develops in games. They are identified with those who command respect, whom they love. Therefore, they usually take offense at those they love, as they attribute their attitude to him and expect the same. The gap of expectation is accompanied by strong disappointment.

You feel an example of identification when you play a computer game or support a football team. In these moments, you experience yourself as the hero you watch on TV or control in a game. You feel as if it was you who killed the enemy or scored a goal and thus enjoy it. This form of escapism is also used as a psychological defense against feelings of inadequacy and inability to take action in the real world. You escape into a virtual world where you can do everything.

seventh mechanism. Alienation - this psychological defense is associated with isolation, isolation within the consciousness of special zones associated with traumatic factors. There appear, as it were, separate isolated consciousnesses, each of which can have its own perception, memory, and attitudes. With this protection, some sets of events are perceived separately, and the connection between them is not noticed, and therefore is not analyzed. Alienation protects the personality by removing the "I" from that part of the personality that provokes unbearable experiences.

Thus, the psyche is split into parts that mutually exclude each other. But each is quite organized within itself and has its own logic. Each is represented by a multitude of problems, forms of attention to the world and oneself, to one's past. If at the moment a person perceives himself as one of them, then the other can be perceived as someone else's, dangerous. Moreover, the essence of the danger lies in the possible seizure of power over behavior. Extreme manifestations of alienation can be states of depersonalization, derealization, hallucinations and delusions.

To illustrate the extreme form of manifestation of this defense, the film with Jim Carrey "Me, Me Again and Irene" is excellent, where two personalities fight in the hero: "bad", but brave and determined, and "good", but weak and weak-willed.

Another example from life, when this mechanism plays a positive role and acts as an internal pain reliever, which makes it possible to isolate oneself from heartbreaking physical and mental suffering. It has been repeatedly noted that at the moment of torture, a feeling of severe pain, a person has a feeling of some removal, removal from himself along with this pain: this happens to my body, but not to me.

The emergence of the mechanism of alienation is associated with a person's awareness of his sinfulness. If a person, treating himself as a whole positively, admits into his consciousness the idea of his imperfection, of shortcomings that manifest themselves in specific actions, then he embarks on the path of overcoming them. He can change his actions and his life. If information about the discrepancy between the desired behavior and real actions is not allowed into consciousness, then a conflict occurs and psychological defense mechanisms are activated. The conflict is not overcome, that is, a person cannot take the path of self-improvement.

Eighth mechanism. Substitution. This is a kind of psychological defense against an unbearable situation by transferring the reaction from an "inaccessible" object to another - "available" or replacing an unacceptable action with an acceptable one. Due to this transfer, the tension created by the unmet need is discharged. Of course, the replacement should be close enough to the originally desired one. The substitution mechanism turns out to be effective when the substitution reaction, at least in part, solves problems that are unattainable. Thus, the essence of protection by type of substitution is connected with the redirection of the reaction.

If the desired path of response is closed, then something related to the fulfillment of our desire is looking for another way out. Then one can observe specific reactions of detente: “spit out of annoyance”, “stomp your foot”, “hit the table with your fist”… The shift of aggression to the scapegoat is just as effective. This is the case when a man comes home from work and takes out his anger at his boss on his children or his wife.

Partial substitution may manifest itself in the appeal to new values. It is not uncommon for men who feel more tenderness for their car than for a woman. Such a car owner is proud of it, looks after it, washes it, gives it an affectionate name, closely monitors its condition and is alarmed at the slightest sign of violations. This is his object of love. Life without a car seems unbearable for such owners than life without a woman.

Substitution is effective if with its help it was possible, at least partially, to achieve the original goal. For example, if it is impossible to beat the offender, there is a desire to offend him. Inversion is also characteristic, when, despite the efforts made, it was not possible to achieve the desired or the desired result was not obtained. A person, trying to somehow defuse the accumulated tension, begins to frenziedly scold what he just passionately aspired to. Another common way of substitution is observed when, having exhausted the argument in a dispute, a person becomes furious and breaks into a cry.

If it is impossible not only to beat or scold the offender, but even to somehow reveal one's negative attitude towards him, then the tension is discharged by replacing the target: the person directs his aggression to another person or object. Other things being equal, replacing one action with another is more effective than replacing an action with a word. However, the standard form of substitution for brute force, aimed at punishing or insulting by action, is swearing and verbal abuse. They are used as safety valves for the release of feelings overwhelming a person, preventing physical impact.

Substitution can be realized not only by a transition to another object or to another action, for example, abuse, but also by transferring them to a different plane - from the real world to the world of comforting fantasies. Whenever reality disappoints or threatens us, we try to return to dreamland, where we can achieve what a person thinks he cannot achieve in real life. In this country, where fantasy replaces reality, the bitterness of suffering and the feeling of inferiority are overcome. In fantasy, any dream is a fait accompli: nothing prevents us from being there anywhere and anyone.

If the task facing a person is too difficult and he cannot maintain behavior that is decent for an adult, he replaces it with lower, childish forms - selfish and irresponsible, when both whims and tantrums are acceptable. The well-known psychologist Janet drew attention to the fact that a person rolls back to early, lower forms of behavior when he cannot withstand the stress that higher, adult forms of behavior demand from him.

We have considered eight psychological defense mechanisms. The very knowledge that they exist will help you to look more realistically at yourself and notice their manifestations in others. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to see them in oneself, since they are formed unconsciously. After all, this is primarily a defense of your own consciousness. Only others versed in the subject can point to them. But if you regularly rationalize your actions and thoughts, then many of them can be brought under your control. As described above, this is an important necessary condition to start self-improvement.

There is one more detail. You probably remember a special state when all these protections fly off and you are “knee-deep sea” - a state of alcoholic intoxication. Indeed, alcohol reduces the action of the critical centers of the brain and the action of defenses, and for some time you feel confident and are not afraid of what others will think of you. By-effect manifested in the fact that the ability to think rationally is reduced and you look inadequate. Your actions are not aimed at desired goals and turn into a senseless discharge of tension. And after the cessation of the effect of alcohol, all fears and complexes hit the poisoned body with a vengeance. There is a strong sense of guilt and the realization of one's helplessness to do something without drugs.

If you study yourself, rationalize, and do certain techniques, then the state “I can do anything” can be achieved even in a sober state. We will study this further.

It is also important to understand that the work of the defenses does not go unnoticed for your condition. Doubt and fears give rise to a continuous internal struggle and take a lot of energy, as a result of which you often feel exhausted. If you learn to overcome these defenses, you will release a large amount of free energy, which will be used to actively achieve your goals.

Chapter 3. Psychological defenses of the individual: typology, functions, types

General concept about the mechanisms of psychological defenses of the individual

Starting from early childhood, and throughout life, in the human psyche, mechanisms traditionally called "psychological defenses", "defensive mechanisms of the psyche", "protective mechanisms of the personality" arise and develop. These mechanisms, as it were, protect the individual's awareness of various kinds of negative emotional experiences and perceptions, contribute to the preservation of psychological homeostasis, stability, and the resolution of intrapersonal conflicts, and proceed at the unconscious and subconscious psychological levels.

In fact, we are talking about various kinds of adaptive processes, properties and qualities that a person acquires during his socialization. The terms "psychological defense", "protective mechanisms" were introduced into the psychological thesaurus by Z. Freud, and then continued, interpreted, transformed and modernized by representatives of different generations of researchers and psychotherapists of psychoanalytic orientation, as well as other psychological areas - existential psychology, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, etc.

The nomenclature of protective mechanisms is diverse and personally specific. There is no unity in terminology either. But the existence of protective mechanisms is considered experimentally confirmed, the presence is not denied. In addition, they are widely used in the theory and practice of psychology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry.

In the ordinary life of any person (child or adult), certain emotionally intense and negative situations arise, the experience of which leads to various kinds of personality disorders, troubles, negative affects, and destruction. When desires, interests, needs of a person cannot be satisfied, despite significant efforts, states of emotional tension arise - stress and frustration.

Often all the constructive attempts made do not lead to the desired goal. The tension continues to grow and the person ceases to notice alternative paths. In addition, the increase in tension is often accompanied by emotional arousal that interferes with rational choice processes: a person gets worried, panics, loses control of himself, and various destructive consequences appear.

In many cases, stress relief occurs with the help of psychological defenses.

Examples of defensive behaviors can be:

Aggression (or attack on the "frustrator");

autism (self-closing, "avoiding the frustrator");

repression (suppression of desires, "refusal of the frustrator");

Rationalization (explaining behavior with false motives, "justifying the frustrator");

sublimation (switching behavior from an unsuccessful activity to a new one, "substitution of a frustrator")

Forgetting

self-forgiveness ("Yes! What?");

Projection of one's own guilt onto all others ("They are to blame!"), etc.

Scheme of "action" of the personality with the participation of psychological defenses

As we noted above, the term "psychological defense" was first introduced into psychology by the famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud.

A more complete concept of the mechanisms of psychological defenses is presented by A. Freud, in particular in her work "Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms", the Russian version of which was published in 1993. Considering psychological defenses as one of the mechanisms of adaptation and integration of the personality, she believed that they are unconscious, acquired in the process of personality development, ways to achieve a compromise between the opposing forces of the id or superego and external reality. Psychological defense mechanisms are aimed at reducing anxiety caused by intrapsychic conflict. A. Freud (following her father Z. Freud) believed that the defense mechanism is based on two types of reactions:

1. blocking the expression of impulses in conscious behavior;

2. distorting them to such an extent that their original intensity is noticeably reduced or deviated to the side.

Beginning with Z. Freud and in subsequent works by specialists studying the mechanisms of psychological defense, it has been repeatedly noted that the defense habitual for a person under normal conditions, in extreme, critical, stressful life conditions, has the ability to consolidate, acquiring the form of fixed psychological defenses. This can "drive into the depths" of an intrapersonal conflict, turning it into an unconscious source of dissatisfaction with oneself and others, and also contribute to the emergence of special mechanisms called resistance by Z. Freud.

"Protection" and "resistance" are special mental mechanisms that allow him to get rid of unpleasant feelings and memories, keep them out of his consciousness, which provides unconscious compensation for anxiety and stress. Psychological protection is one of the mechanisms preventing personality change.

Along with the concept of "protection", a special place in psychodynamics is occupied by the concept of "transfer".

In addition to the transfer, in the field of resistance, phenomena called secondary gain are considered.

In domestic psychology, the concepts of defense mechanisms are also ambiguous. One of the conceptual approaches to psychological defenses is presented by F.V. Bassin. Here, psychological defense is considered as the most important form of response of the individual's consciousness to mental trauma. Another approach is contained in the works of B.D. Karvasarsky. He considers psychological defense as a system of adaptive reactions of the individual, aimed at a protective change in the significance of maladaptive components of relationships - cognitive, emotional, behavioral - in order to weaken their psycho-traumatic impact on the I-concept. In their opinion, this process occurs, as a rule, within the framework of the unconscious activity of the psyche with the help of a number of psychological defense mechanisms, some of which operate at the level of perception (for example, repression), others at the level of transformation (distortion) of information (for example, rationalization ). Stability, frequent use, rigidity, close connection with maladaptive stereotypes of thinking, feelings and behavior, the inclusion in the system of forces to counter the goals of self-development make such protective mechanisms harmful to personality development. Their common feature is the refusal of the individual from activities intended for the productive resolution of a situation or problem.

At the same time, in modern publications devoted to the problem under discussion, it is unanimously recognized that the protection mechanisms are between the need of the individual and its satisfaction. Hence, protection is a mirror reflection of a possible, but not realized by a person, process of motivation or a reflection of unfulfilled, but in the past, desired goals. Then the unproductiveness of the action of psychological defenses for the individual is associated with a mismatch between the goals and means of achieving them in human behavior or a violation of the measure in the ratio of the motive and the forces expended on its implementation, or the behavior of a person directly opposed to goals.

Thus, psychological protection is a natural opposition of a person to the environment. She unconsciously protects him from emotional-negative overload. All seemingly diverse techniques can be reduced, in principle, to a single function: "Whatever you do, no matter how you do, if only to achieve a comfortable state, security." Protection is not a personal structure "built-in" from birth. In the process of socialization, protective mechanisms arise, change, and are rebuilt under the influence of social influences. For example, protection can turn into altruism or the accumulation of values, etc. Ultimately, psychological defenses become a way of existence for unrealizable drives, desires, and needs.

All defense mechanisms have two general characteristics:

they act on an unconscious level and therefore are means of self-deception;

· they distort, deny, transform or falsify the perception of reality in order to make anxiety less threatening to the individual.

It should also be noted that people rarely use any single defense mechanism - usually they use various defense mechanisms to resolve conflict or reduce anxiety.

The functions of psychological defenses, on the one hand, can be considered as positive, since they protect a person from negative experiences, the perception of psycho-traumatic information, eliminate anxiety and help maintain self-esteem in a conflict situation. On the other hand, they can also be assessed as negative. The action of protections is usually short-lived and lasts as long as a "respite" is needed for new activity. However, if the state of emotional well-being is fixed for a long period and essentially replaces activity, then psychological comfort is achieved at the cost of distorting the perception of reality, or self-deception.

Psychological protection, distorting reality in order to ensure momentary emotional well-being, operates without taking into account the long-term perspective. Its goal is achieved through the disintegration of behavior, often associated with the occurrence of deformations and deviations in the development of the individual.

With the growth of negative information, criticisms, failures, inevitable in case of violation of the process of socialization, psychological protection, which temporarily allowed the individual to perceive objectively ill-being in an illusory-positive way, becomes less and less effective. In the case of ineffectiveness of its action, or insufficient formation, when there is a threat of a neurotic breakdown, the individual instinctively looks for a way out and often finds it in the external environment. And the problem that caused the trouble still remains unresolved (unsatisfied need, uncorrected personality defect, etc.) and sooner or later leads to other defenses, which prevents the person from changing, meeting new living conditions.

Psychological protection- a system of mechanisms aimed at minimizing negative experiences associated with conflicts that threaten the integrity of the individual.

All people are subject to the influence of factors of the external and internal environment, which adversely affect the human psyche. With the help of psychological defense mechanisms, a person has always guarded and protected his psyche from stress.

Uses protection mechanisms and modern man. It is this circumstance that gives me the right to assert that this topic relevant and at present.

aim This work is to consider the mechanisms of psychological defense.

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve several tasks, namely:

Expand the concept of psychological protection,

Consider the main characteristics of protective mechanisms,

Familiarize yourself with the types of psychological defense mechanisms.

"Every day we do some things, say something, judge something and somehow justify our actions. At first glance, we do all this consciously, but is it always so in reality?" Most often, in these situations, psychological defense mechanisms are manifested, with the help of which a person overcomes conflicts that give rise to anxiety.

Psychological protection is a system of mechanisms aimed at minimizing negative experiences associated with conflicts that threaten the integrity of the individual.

The term "psychological defense" was first introduced by Sigmund Freud in 1894, in the work "Defensive neuropsychoses" and was used in a number of his subsequent works to describe the struggle of the "I" against painful or intolerable thoughts and affects. Freud meant by it first of all "repression", but later - in 1926 - in the appendix to the work "Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety", he states that the concept of "defense mechanism" refers to all the techniques that the "I" uses in conflict and which can lead to neurosis, leaving the word "repression" for a special method of protection.

The term was later developed in more detail by other psychoanalysts, most notably Anna Freud. At the moment, this concept, in one form or another, has entered the practice of most psychotherapists, regardless of the direction of psychology they adhere to.

Protective behavior allows a person to protect himself from those problems that he cannot solve yet, allows you to remove anxiety, "get away from threatening reality." "Such mechanisms "guard" the psyche, "protect" it from an unbearable load.

The defense mechanisms themselves often give rise to more and more new problems, and a person hides his real problem, replacing it with new "pseudo-problems".

Psychoanalysts Calvin Hall and Gardner Lindsay identified two main characteristics of defense mechanisms:

denial or distortion of reality,

· action at the unconscious level - this is their difference from various strategies of behavior, including manipulative ones.

The perception of not only internal, but also external reality is subject to distortion and denial: the “I” can protect itself both by ignorance of the existence of certain needs and instincts, and by ignorance of the existence of external objects.

Most often, people use defense mechanisms not one at a time, but in combination. In addition, most people have a tendency to "prefer" some defenses over others, as if using them out of habit.

There is no universally accepted classification of the defense mechanisms of the psyche, although many authors have published their own. The main complaints about most classifications are either insufficient completeness or excessive completeness.

The need to identify individual defense mechanisms is associated with the practical need of psychologists to identify and describe the most universal of the unconscious defense processes.

Most modern psychologists recognize a certain set of defense mechanisms, the names of which have become almost universal.

Consider the basic psychological defense mechanisms.

1. Crowding out.

Z. Freud considered this mechanism the main way to protect the infantile "I", unable to resist the temptation. "Repression" is a defense mechanism by which impulses of desire, thoughts, feelings that cause anxiety, which are unacceptable for a person, are "expelled from consciousness" and transferred to the sphere of the unconscious. At the same time, they influence the behavior of the individual, manifesting themselves in the form of anxiety, fear, etc.

“Describing this phenomenon, 3. Freud cites an interesting observation by C. Darwin: “For many years,” C. Darwin writes in his autobiography, “I followed the golden rule; namely: when I came across a published fact, observation or idea that contradicted the main results of my research, I immediately wrote it down; I have found by experience that such facts and ideas slip away from memory much more easily than favorable ones.

Intentional suppression of traumatic feelings and memories is not uncommon, but it is not repression. repression is not intentional.

Sometimes difficulties are accompanied not only by memories of the traumatic event itself, but also by neutral incidents associated with it, then repression is called motivated forgetting .

2. Substitution.

This is a common form of psychological defense and is sometimes referred to as "shifting". It is associated with the transfer of an action from an inaccessible object to an accessible one. Those feelings that should have been directed to a disturbing object are transferred to another more accessible and not "dangerous" one. For example, "aggression towards superiors is sometimes vented on members of the employee's family." There is another type of substitution, when one feeling is replaced by the opposite. "In television reports about football matches, we often see how an attacker who does not hit the goal sends a bounced ball with a strong blow, and in any direction. Thus, the accumulated energy is discharged."

3. Identification.

It is a defense mechanism in which a person identifies with someone else. In the process of identification, one person unconsciously becomes like another. Identification leads to imitation of the actions and experiences of another person.

Identification also has a positive aspect: with its help, the individual assimilates social experience, masters new properties and qualities for him. "In the practice of education, it has been noticed that in the family the son identifies himself with his father, and the daughter with his mother. In labor relations, a young specialist finds an example for himself, a role model that he can focus on, striving to master professional skills."

4. Negation.

It is a process of eliminating, ignoring negative, anxiety-provoking circumstances. As a rule, the action of this mechanism is manifested in the denial of those aspects of external reality that, being obvious to others, are not accepted, are not recognized by the person himself. This mechanism is known as the "ostrich position". “The first reaction of a patient who learns from a doctor about a serious illness will be: “I don’t believe it, it can’t be!” ". In the case of the action of this protective reaction of the psyche, if any information negative for him arises in the zone of perception of a person, he unconsciously denies its existence.

5. Projection.

During projection, a person attributes his own undesirable features to others, and in this way protects himself from the awareness of these same features in himself. "Thus, disliking someone and wishing harm to someone, a person, with the help of the projection mechanism, begins to sincerely think that it is he who is plotting something unkind against him." "A miser, as a rule, sees in other people primarily greed ... and an aggressive personality considers everyone around cruel" . Examples of hypocrisy are well known, when a person constantly ascribes to others his own immoral aspirations.

Sometimes there is another kind of projection, in which positive thoughts or actions are attributed to significant persons that are capable of uplifting.

6. Rationalization.

This is a defense mechanism that masks from the consciousness of the subject himself the true motives of his actions, thoughts and feelings, in order to ensure internal comfort, create his own positive self-image. Often this mechanism is used by a person to prevent the experience of guilt or shame. After performing some actions or deeds dictated by unconscious motives, a person tries to understand them, rationally explain them, attributing more noble motives to them. Such attempts can be perceived as an excuse to others or to oneself.

7. Regression.

In regression, a person, in order to avoid neurotic conflict, unconsciously returns, as it were, to that period of the past, to early, childish types of behavior that were successful at that stage. That is, regression is "the return of a person from higher forms of behavior to lower ones."

Psychological protection- a system of mechanisms aimed at minimizing negative experiences associated with conflicts that threaten the integrity of the individual.

Modern man also uses defense mechanisms. It is this circumstance that gives me the right to assert that this topic relevant and at present.

aim This work is to consider the mechanisms of psychological defense.

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve several tasks, namely:

Expand the concept of psychological protection,

Consider the main characteristics of protective mechanisms,

Familiarize yourself with the types of psychological defense mechanisms.

Psychological protection is a system of mechanisms aimed at minimizing negative experiences associated with conflicts that threaten the integrity of the individual.

The defense mechanisms themselves often give rise to more and more new problems, and a person hides his real problem, replacing it with new "pseudo-problems".

Psychoanalysts Calvin Hall and Gardner Lindsay identified two main characteristics of defense mechanisms:

denial or distortion of reality,

· action at the unconscious level - this is their difference from various strategies of behavior, including manipulative ones.

Most often, people use defense mechanisms not one at a time, but in combination. In addition, most people have a tendency to "prefer" some defenses over others, as if using them out of habit.

The need to identify individual defense mechanisms is associated with the practical need of psychologists to identify and describe the most universal of the unconscious defense processes.

Most modern psychologists recognize a certain set of defense mechanisms, the names of which have become almost universal.

Consider the basic psychological defense mechanisms.

1. Crowding out.

Intentional suppression of traumatic feelings and memories is not uncommon, but it is not repression. repression is not intentional.

Sometimes difficulties are accompanied not only by memories of the traumatic event itself, but also by neutral incidents associated with it, then repression is called motivated forgetting .

2. Substitution.

3. Identification.

4. Negation.

5. Projection.

Sometimes there is another kind of projection, in which positive thoughts or actions are attributed to significant persons that are capable of uplifting.

6. Rationalization.

7. Regression.

Thus, an adult difficult situations strive to avoid internal anxiety, loss of self-esteem. I often evaluate regression as a negative personal mechanism (for example, infantilism). "Infantility - in psychology is understood as a feature of the mental make-up of a person, in which traits characteristic of an earlier age are found, such as instability, immaturity of judgments, capriciousness, subordination, lack of independence" .

8. Reactive formations.

In the case of this defensive reaction, a person unconsciously translates the transformation of one mental state into another (for example, hatred into love, and vice versa). This mechanism is very curious, because indicates that the real actions of a person are unimportant, because they can only be the result of a veiled distortion of his true desires. For example, excessive anger in other cases is only an unconscious attempt to veil interest and good nature, and ostentatious hatred is the result of love that frightened a person who unconsciously decided to hide it behind an attempt to openly splash out negativity.

Psychological defense mechanisms are used for an adequate self-assessment of the individual, but they are needed not only by professional psychotherapists. They are unconsciously used by almost all people. Knowing the mechanisms of psychological defense helps to work with one's consciousness, understand the behavior and consciousness of other people, and also try to correct and correct one's actions and deeds.

The concept of "psychological defense" was introduced by Z. Freud to denote the struggle of the "I" against painful thoughts. With the help of protective mechanisms, a person protects the psyche from negative emotions and experiences.

Defense mechanisms have 2 characteristics: denial and action on an unconscious level.

Main types mechanisms are:

1. repression - a mechanism in which unpleasant thoughts are "expelled" from consciousness;

2. substitution - the transfer of emotions from one object to a more acceptable replacement;

3. identification - identification of oneself with someone else;

4. denial - unconscious denial of existing negative information;

5. projection - attributing one's own unwanted traits to other people;

6. rationalization - the process when a person unconsciously invents logical judgments and conclusions to explain his failures;

7. regression - the action of this mechanism lies in the fact that a person, in order to avoid conflict, unconsciously returns to that period of the past, when everything was fine with him;

8. reactive formations - the action of this mechanism is the unconscious transformation of one mental state into another.

Most often, people use defense mechanisms not one at a time, but in combination.

In my work, only short list, mechanisms that uses its protection. But at the same time, the considered mechanisms give an idea of the features of interpersonal interactions. At the same time, the very fact of the existence of protective mechanisms in the psyche brings us closer to understanding the mechanisms of the influence of one person on another.

1. Averchenko L.K., Andryushina T.V. Psychology and pedagogy. - M.: INFRA-M, 1999.

2. Godfroy J. What is psychology. Volume 2. - M.: Mir, 1992.

3. Dubrovina I.V. Psychology: Textbook for students. avg. ped. textbook Institutions. - M.: SPHERE, 2005. S. 464.

4. Leybin V.M. Psychoanalysis. 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

5. Meshcheryakova B.G., Zinchenko V.P. Big psychological dictionary. – M.: Prime-Eurosign, 2003.

6. Freud A. Psychology I and protective mechanisms. - M .: Pedagogy, 1993.

7. Freud. Z. Psychology of the unconscious. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008.

Averchenko L.K., Andryushina T.V. Psychology and pedagogy. M., 1999. S. 29.

Averchenko L.K., Andryushina T.V. Psychology and pedagogy. M., 1999. S. 30.

Averchenko L.K., Andryushina T.V. Psychology and pedagogy. M., 1999. S. 31.

home » Chimney » The functions of the protective mechanisms of the psyche proposed and developed. General concept of the mechanisms of psychological defenses of the individual