Finding itself in a negative situation or receiving some unpleasant information, the human body is able to move away from unwanted emotions. For this purpose, he launches the function of psychological defense.
Self-defense of the body in a critical situation
You can often observe people who, during an unpleasant conversation, critics in their address are estranged from reality: a look into nowhere, sound abstraction, humming under their breath, and much more. Thus, the body hides from negative or uninteresting information. At the same time, such protection does not help to solve emerging problems, but only postpones them for a while. A “protected” person looks strange among those around him, detached from reality.
Among the types of psychological defense, several more common ones can be distinguished: asceticism, omnipotence, repression, suppression, transfer, denial and sublimation. Most often, children resort to the protective method. They do it involuntarily, simply fleeing from unpleasant reality.
Types of psychological defense form their own scenario of life. The person (child) moves away from reality and completely immerses himself in his "serial". Submitting to his hobbies, inventions, an imaginary world, he moves away from communication with peers, family members. If you do not seek help from a psychologist in a timely manner, such protection can develop into a mental illness, which is much more difficult to cope with, and sometimes it is already too late.
The action of defense mechanisms does not help to increase the normal attitude to reality, but, on the contrary, reduces it.
Types of protection and how they are expressed
Repression is a kind of "whitening" of memory. Avoiding moments in which there is no desire to participate or unpleasant memories that cause pain.
Asceticism - this type of protection is expressed in the form of refusal, depriving oneself of all normal benefits and pleasures. At the same time, the praise and elevation of one's own "I".
During psychological defense, the understanding of reality is distorted. Visual, auditory, or temporal perception is disabled.
Uncontrollable defenses can lead to further neurosis.
Suppression - To avoid symptoms of anxiety, there is a limitation in behavior or thoughts. For example, choosing bright clothes or décor. Purple and blue are preferred. They often resort to the creation of various rituals, the use of amulets for protection. This gives rise to certain phobias.
Omnipotence - the awareness of power over others enters as protection. This method is often used by children who are deprived of attention to their problems. They try to assert themselves in such images and prove something to others.
Denial is deliberately ignoring unpleasant moments. Not to hear or see obvious facts, to completely deny their existence. This type of protection of the body from the external environment can be observed in people after a severe shock, accident or death of a loved one. At the same time, everything that does not concern this event is perceived adequately.
In some situations, the defense of denial of facts pays off. Without realizing the terrible reality, a person can commit heroic deeds. But these are exceptions. Denial of aversion to real problems is more common. For example, a mother does not believe her daughter, who was raped by her stepfather just because she does not want to believe it.
Sublimation is a transition from one state to another. Abrupt replacement of one activity for another. In this case, aggression results in a kind of healthy non-conflict state, for example, in creativity.
Transfer - transferring your feelings of love or aggression to another person who is more accessible. More often, you can observe how a child, angry at an adult, throws out anger at a weaker object.
