Projection, repression and denial according to Sigmund Freud

When we talk about defense mechanisms, almost automatically, we visualize the face of Sigmund Freud. There are those who believe that what psychodynamic theory bequeathed us is more than obsolete. However, assuming this would be a mistake. Processes such as projection, repression and denial are a direct legacy of the Freudian school and which, in turn, has inherited the cognitive school.

Although yes, the designation has changed. Defense mechanisms are now called irrational cognitions. and they help us understand, for example, many of the mental schemas associated with anxiety. Although Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, leaders and promoters of cognitive-behavioral theory, initially rejected those unconscious mechanisms that Freud defined, what they actually did was call them something else.

Internal conflicts are universal

Therefore, the idea that people suffer internal conflicts and that many of these perhaps have their origin in our childhood, education or early experiences is still valid. It is true that many of the Freudian models such as psychosexual development are completely outdated and inconsistent, however, It is inevitable to accept realities such as self-deception as valid.

We have all used some defense mechanism on more than one occasion. Life, our relationships and experiences are sometimes tremendously complex. Using these strategies helps us quell suffering and allow us to survive in a sometimes chaotic environment. But at what cost? A huge one. Because in the long term they plunge us into states of high psychological exhaustion.

Projection, repression and denial, what do they consist of?

Projection, repression and denial are possibly the best known and most used defense mechanisms. It doesn’t matter that it has been more than a century since Sigmund Freud and his daughter Anna Freud defined them. We continue to apply them without realizing it and even more so, many of the people who live around us use them on us as well.

These resources are part of the theory of personality that Freud defined in his day. In it, he explained that the mind is captive to three very specific types of forces: that of our impulses, that of social values ​​or norms, and that of the ego.

The cognitive perspective

The cognitive school, for its part, leaves aside these types of mental conflicts.. For them, the mind is not fragmented into an id, an ego, or a superego. The mind is a unitary entity that, due to education, experiences or own interpretations, makes use of clearly irrational ideas.

These meaningless and harmful ideas are what plunge us into states of anxiety. They are also those erroneous interpretations that we make of things and that, in the short term, diminish our human potential. Also the ability to be happy. Therefore, something is evident. Beyond psychodynamic or cognitive-behavioral theory there is something clear.

Defense mechanisms such as projection, repression and denial cause us suffering. Rather than protecting us against it, what they actually do is prevent us from changing. For example, denying to myself that this emotional breakup has not affected me only leaves me in the same situation. The one in which I distrust everyone, in which I refuse to love again and not recognize that I am suffering. Let us, therefore, analyze these three defense mechanisms.

Projection: I carry on you what I have not resolved about myself

Projection is that defense mechanism so common among people. It can be burdening the other on both a positive and negative level. In the latter case, what we do is attribute our own shortcomings, faults or defects to others. Simply put: what one criticizes in others has to do with oneself, with something about their personality that one dislikes or lacks.

On the other hand, also We use positive projection recurrently, especially when we are in love. We do this by attributing to the loved one dimensions, capacities and virtues that are not real. All of this is an unconscious way of hurting ourselves, because we are creating an idyllic figure that has little to do with reality.

Repression: when the best strategy is to hide what hurts

When Freud and his daughter Anna defined projection, repression and denial, they did not yet know the relevance of emotions in human well-being. In the case of repression, it is key, because human beings not only often tend to repress ideas, memories or thoughts. If there is something we do most often, it is repress what we feel..

Leaving aside what hurts is the most economical and desperate resource of the mind. However, It is the one that has the greatest cost for our psychological balance; hence anxiety disorders, depression, etc.

Denial: what hurts or bothers me does not exist

Among projection, repression and denial, we could say that the most used is undoubtedly the latter. But be careful, just because it appears more frequently it doesn’t make it any less harmless; quite the opposite.

On the subject of addictions, it is the most obvious and harmful. It is used by the alcohol addict when he says that he has it under control. Also the occasional heroin addict who tells himself that a dose from time to time and at leisure does not hurt.

In addition, Denial is very common in these dependent and harmful relationships. It is that woman or man who denies the evidence, who does not want to see abuse or emotional manipulation, because for them that is what love is.

As we see, they are realities as complex as they are harmful, into which a good part of the population frequently falls. The defense mechanisms that psychodynamic theory left us are still very valid. Know them, take them into account and, above all, detect them to Deactivating them will allow us to have a better quality of life.

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