What are some of the ego defense mechanisms?

Repression
Is the unconscious exclusion from one‘s conscious mind of unbearable thoughts or experiences or feelings. The most painful events of the past five years of life are excluded and they influence later behavior.

Denial
It operates at pre-conscious level and at conscious level. It is a way of distorting what the individual thinks, feels or perceives in a traumatic experience. Denial cannot cope with painful experience –refusing to accept pre-conscious level e.g. the death of a loved one. The ego is overwhelmed and cannot cope. A little bit is okay but if it is too overwhelmed, then it is dangerous. If we are unable to access defense mechanisms to cope with the reality we become malfunctioned.

Projection
Is the blaming of others for ones own failings or inadequacies e.g. a man fails to go to work, the boss starts complaining, summoned, money deducted, interdicted, has a family, comes home quarrels everybody in the house. Shifting blame from yourself. Other people become the recipients. It makes other people suffer for things not of their own.

Displacement
Displacement is discharging impulses by shifting from a threatening object to a safer situation i.e. directing energy to another object or person e.g. case of a teacher differs with the parent, the teacher displaces to the child of this parent because this is an easier target.

Rationalization
Using a socially acceptable but untrue explanation for inappropriate behavior or giving good reasons for explaining failures or losses. It helps soften the blow connected with disappointment.

Regression
Going back of an individual to a level of emotional maturity appropriate to an earlier stage in life. The demands are not great in this stage. In face of extreme stress or challenge individuals may attempt to cope with anxiety by crying extreme dependence e.g. Husband and wife conflict. Women start crying whole night, men refuse to eat food, sucking the thumb, regression, bed wetting at age 15-16.

Compensation
It consists of making perceived weakness or developing certain traits to make for limitations e.g. people who feel socially incompetent may become lovers and develop their intellectual capabilities. Children who do not receive positive attention and cognitive may develop behaviors designed to get negative attention

Sublimation
Redirection of sexual or aggressive energy into creating behaviors usually socially acceptable and admirable.

Identification
Poor students associating with affluent students, a way which makes people who are inferior identify themselves with successful courses, organizations or people in their hope to be perceived worthwhile. Thus in raising self-esteem, may want to identifying with a family name.

Withdrawal
Deliberate avoidance of a relationship or communication with those around the person. Helps avoid intimacy, confrontation about a behavior; substance abuse habit don‘t want to reveal who you because others cannot cope with who you are.

Reaction formation
Expressing of opposite impulses or communicating opposite of what is true e.g. a parent hating or beating a child he loves, bosses communicating hatred even when that is not what he means in reaction formulation e.g. husband wife relationship. Communicating hatred – what is it that keeps you holding to this woman when all the time you communicate hatred, Student‘s lesbian/homosexuality.

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francis1897 answered the question on March 17, 2023 at 05:25