Defence mechanisms- Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
What do the defence mechanisms do?
- Offer solutions to the conflict experienced by the ego (helps control conflict).
Why does the ego aim to resolve conflict?
Id- creates conflict.
Ego- aims to reduce conflict + mediate between the demands of the Id and the superego.
- This is to reduce, or stop the anxiety and damage (+ neurosis) to our psyche that the conflict may cause.
What happens if the ego fails to resolve the conflict?
- The individual becomes fixated at the stage of psychosexual development.
- This leads to issues developing later in life, such as trauma.
- Trauma then leads to regression, which causes undesirable behaviours linked to the erogenous zone.
What are the 4 defence mechanisms?
- Regression
- Repression
- Denial
- Displacement
Regression
- Going back to the previous stage of psychosexual development.
- Goal- to protect the psyche.
e.g. a child who reverts back to thumb-sucking during stressful situations (first day of school etc).
Repression
- An unconscious mechanism, which aims to prevent disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious.
- These thoughts may result in feelings of guilt from the superego.
e.g. a person who has been in a car accident and doesn’t remember, develops a fear of driving without knowing where it stems from.
Denial
- Rejecting/ refusal to accept reality, as situations are too much to handle.
- Blocking external events from awareness.
e.g. smokers may refuse to admit to themselves that smoking is bad for their health.
Displacement
- Satisfying/ redirecting an impulse onto a substitute target.
- This can be a person or object.
- It occurs when the Id wants to do something that the superego does not permit.
- Therefore the ego finds another way of releasing the psychic energy of the Id.
e.g. someone who is frustrated may punch a wall/ throw an object.
