DEFENSIVE PROCESSES/

MECHANISM
Bishop Dr.Alexander L.Arceno, LPT.
Sigmund Freud
1.) he was fond of military metaphors

2.) he first saw these dramatic and

memorable examples of processes
operating in their defensive function.
The person using a defense mechanism is
generally trying unconsciously to
accomplish one or both of the following:

1.) the avoidance or management of some

powerful, threatening feeling, usually
anxiety but sometimes overwhelming
grief, shame, envy, and other disorganizing
emotional experiences;

2.) the maintenance of self-esteem

FOUR FACTORS FOR PREFERENTIAL &
AUTOMATIC RELIANCE TO DEFENSES
1.) One’s constitutional temperament
2.) the nature of stresses suffered in
childhood
3.) the defenses modeled by parents and
other significant figures
4.) the experienced consequences of using
particular defenses (in the language of
learning theory, reinforcement effects)
7 CORE PSYCHOANALYTIC
OBSERVATIONS
1.) function outside of awareness
2.) develop in predictable order as children
mature
3.) are present in normal personality
4.) become increasingly used in times of stress
5.) reduce the conscious experience of
negative emotions
6.) operate via the autonomic nervous system
7.) when used excessively, are associated with
psychopathology
“PRIMARY” or “IMMATURE”
--Primary involves the boundary between
the self and the outer world while
secondary deal with internal boundaries.
-- operate in a global, undifferentiated way
in a person’s total sensorium, fusing
cognitive, affective and behavioral
dimensions, whereas more advanced ones
make specific transformations of thoughts,
feeling, sensation, or behavior, or some
combination of these.
Primary Defense Mechanism
 EXTREME WITHDRAWAL
 DENIAL
 OMNIPOTENT CONTROL
 EXTREME IDEALIZATION &
DEVALUATION
 PROJECTION
 INTROJECTION
 PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION
 SPLITTING
 ACTING OUT (DEFENSIVE ENACTMENT)
◦ Exhibitionism
◦ Voyeurism
◦ Sadism
◦ Masochism
◦ Perversion
◦ All “counter” terms like counterphobia, counter
dependency, counter hostility
 SOMATIZATION
 SEXUALIZATION
(INSTINCTUALIZATION)
 EXTREME DISSOCIATION