 If reality is very painful and threatening we deny

it.
 A boy who was expecting to pass and if he fails,
he may say that there could be a mistake in the
announcement
 People think that they won’t get sick and die
from smoking because they are in DENIAL.
 Here the person attributes his unacceptable
and painful feelings and desires to others.
 E.g.., I don’t hate him. He only hates me.
 I want to live with my wife. But she wants to
get separated.
 They see their own faults in other preople.
 Here the person displaces his anger and other
unpleasant emotions to another individual or
express them in totally different situation
 E.g. the woman who cannot show anger on the
husband may beat up her children.
 The worker may damage a machine, when he
is angry with his employer
 The person expresses his desires through
bodily symptoms like aches and pains and
weakness.
 There will not be any pathology behind but
exhibit all the symptoms
 When one cannot achieve, what one cannot
get, what one is not, the person may slip into a
fantasy life, where he can imagine anything
and everything .
 He starts day dreaming
 The person regresses to earlier stage of
development and behave like a child
 He may have bed wetting
 He may develop baby speech
 He expects parents/spouse to feed him, help
him in his day to day activities
Someone who gets divorced may become
clingy to parents again like they were as a
child.
After committing mistake, the severe guilt
feeling may make the person confess an front
of elders or God. He may punish himself by
foregoing the pleasure of having fun. He may
start sleeping on the floor, avoid wearing
footwear, costly clothes, etc.
A person who did not attend to his father when
he was sick, may start distributing fruits to the
sick and old people periodically. He may
donate money to the poor.
The person may start doing gratifying service to
others. He may sacrifice his pleasure or
benefits for the sake of others.
The aim of an impulse is changed from that of
socially objectionable one to a socially valued
one. For example, sublimation of aggressive
impulse takes place through games and sports.
Giving GOOD reasons rather than the TRUE
reason. A very good example is the fox and the
Grapes…A student who is late to the class
might say the bus was late and so he is
delayed…A student who cheats on a test may
say:
Reaction Formation is the most difficult one.
People act the OPPOSITE of how they really
feel. Acting like you hate someone you really
have a crush on..Eg.a hostage or a kidnap
victim falling in love with the fearful and
hated person who has been the culprit in the
kidnap.
 Using defense mechanisms can be normal to
protect people from painful feelings. BUT…..
 If they lead people to ignore the issues that
cause feelings of pain.
 According to Freud, If you have a healthy ego,
you should be able to balance the ID and
Superego without using defense mechanisms