this is a brief video on defense mechanisms we're going to be talking about several defense mechanisms most of which are immature and they'll be broken down into categories and then our final last category will be the mature defense mechanisms so let's go ahead and get started with the categories categories are pathological defense mechanisms immature defense mechanisms neurotic and finally the mature defense mechanisms so let's start talking about the pathological defense mechanisms first denial denial is a defense mechanism in which a person refuses to accept an external reality because it is too threatening and it argues against an anxiety provoking stimulus by stating doesn't exist splitting is a pathological defense mechanism in which the defended individual segregates experiences into an all good and all bad categories with no room for ambiguity so they either love you or they hate you this is often associated with borderline personality disorder and a lot of times these people immediately upon meeting someone they decide if they love that person or if they hate that person acting out is the direct expression of an unconscious desire or action this is without the Consciousness uh this is this is when a person does it without conscious awareness of the emotion that drives that expressive Behavior idealization we're getting into immature defense mechanisms now idealization is a tendency to perceive other individuals as having more desirable qualities than he or she may actually have it's when you for instance idealize a person and think that they're all good or all perfect when in reality they might not be identification is when the unconscious modeling of one's self upon another person it's typically contemptible character and behavior so one example of this that helps explain it is when an abused child becomes a child abuser that abused child models that their self upon another person passive aggressiveness is another immature defense mechanism this is an aggression toward others expressed indiscreetly or passively often through procrastination projection is attributing one's own unacknowledged unacceptable or unwanted thoughts and emotions to another this is what people do to reduce anxiety by allowing the expression of the undesirable impulses or desires without becoming consciously aware of them getting into the neurotic defense mechanisms displacement is when somebody shifts impulses to a more acceptable or less threatening Target this is like when a woman is mad at her husband but she instead yells at the child who is more who's less threatening this is essentially redirecting your emotions to a safer Outlet dissociation is temporary drastic modification of one's personal Identity or character to avoid emotional distress it's also separation or postponement of a feeling that normally would accompany a situation or thought intellectualization is concentrating on the intellectual components of a situation so as to distance oneself from the associated anxiety-provoking emotions this is like when you are given a terrible diagnosis of some disease and instead of worrying about how you're going to deal with that diagnosis and and move forward and lead into your death you might rattle off stats or or talk about the science behind it or somehow intellectualize that that that stress isolation is the separation of feelings from ideas and events for instance describing a murder with graphic details with no emotional response you're you're kind of hardened and you you isolate the emotional response from the actual events that occurred and you're able to talk about those actual events uh unemotionally rationalization is convincing oneself that no wrong has been done and that all is or was all right through faulty and false reasoning an indicator of this defense mechanism can be seen socially as the formulation of convenient excuses that's like when you lose your job and you think to yourself oh I didn't need that job anyway because of X Y and Z you're rationalizing the bad event reaction formation is converting unconscious wishes or impulses that are perceived to be dangerous or unacceptable into their opposites behavior that is completely the opposite of what one really wants or feels taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety so that's like a complete 180. regression is temporary reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way and a good example of this is a person who whines as a meat as a method of communication despite already having the ability to speak maturely so when an adult whines that's an example of them using the defense mechanism of regression repression sounds similar is moving an unappealing desire or memory to the unconscious in the attempt to prevent it from entering Consciousness it's uh it's a you kind of induce a memory lapse or a lack of awareness of one's own situation or condition to deal with a stressful situation altruism is constructive service to others that brings pleasure and personal satisfaction this is getting into the mature defense mechanisms and uh the best example that's classically thought of as altruism is a mob boss who might organize crime and commit all these criminal acts but he donates to charity because he feels bad altruism humor is the overt expression of ideas and feelings especially those that are too unpleasant that especially those that are unpleasant to focus on or too terrible to talk about directly this gives pleasure to others so this is essentially kind of finding laughter and things that are stressful or hard to deal with sublimation is the transformation of an unhelpful emotion or Instinct into healthy actions behaviors or emotions this is like a person who plays a sport a contact sport to kind of Channel their aggression into that game when that aggression would obviously be Mal suited in other places of their lives and lastly we have suppression this is when the conscious decision to delay paying attention to a thought emotion or need in order to cope with present reality so for instance you took a med school test and you're worried about the test results and you just decide not to think about them until you get that test result back because you're suppressing that idea that's a mature response because there's no reason to worry about that one quick mnemonic to help you remember the mature defense mechanisms is sash s-a-s-h suppression altruism sublimation and humor and that should help you remember which are mature and which are immature this has been a short video on defense mechanisms I hope it was helpful and thank you for listening