What are defense mechanisms and how do they work?

Defense mechanisms are unconscious (automatic processes or processes launched without consciousness) and have the task of confronting us with a reality that we perceive as threatening. The good news is that they can protect us from external aggressions, but the bad news is that they can affect the vision we have of reality. Therefore, it is necessary to be very careful and analyze why they appear.

For every action, there is a reaction. This is completely true. In the case of defense mechanisms, it is known that the person tries to protect himself from aggression or a threat to his life, his beliefs or his feelings. It is a process that appears through the perception of what is happening and that at the same time can modify this perception, distorting or masking it. They can “trigger” without us realizing it or deciding, obviously they do not warn. While it is true that they can be analyzed and recognized, this is likely to happen when it is too late because they act in a very subtle way, like the most skilled thieves or the most expert emotional manipulators. There are different types and they tend to be related or complement each other.

Defense mechanisms can appear with anxiety; an anguish of which we do not have to know the cause. The mind will want to survive it and will do everything possible to eliminate the danger, regardless of the consequences. Also They can appear linked to stress, when pressures overcome us.
Defense mechanisms do not always turn on in the same way in all people, you could say that they are tailor-made, although it is true that some similar patterns are known. Some specialists indicate that this way of defending oneself may be motivated or taught by parents (also without being aware of it) but that life and experience give us tools to shape it in our own way.

Something that is important to highlight about these mechanisms to defend ourselves is that They tend to influence both our decisions and the way we relate to others.. Sometimes the only thing our behavior patterns do is keep us away from the people we love most. As the years go by, it is more difficult to uproot a habit, especially one that is unconscious, because it is not so easy to detect it just before we start it.

Among the most frequent defense mechanisms, we can detail identification, which is a form of assume characteristics of others as if they were one’s own. For example, the way you speak, dress, eat or think.

Isolation is another of the most common and leads to loneliness and depression. But be careful, it is not only about isolating yourself as a person, but also in terms of feelings, experiences or thoughts. It arises in the face of offenses or frustrations.

Repression is also a defense mechanism. Through permanent effort the desire is annulled and one acts as if it had never been true. It usually occurs when traumatic or stormy memories appear in the mind or when the person seeks to avoid dangerous actions and represents, in all cases, a great expenditure of both emotional and mental energy. Hand in hand with this reaction goes reactive formation., which makes human beings act opposite to what they want, making a great effort to prevent their true tastes from being known. He can hide a morally unacceptable or aggressive personality in exemplary behavior.

Denial is one of the most common and easy to recognize.. It is that shell, shell or armor that people put around themselves to prevent anything or anyone from entering, just like soldiers or fighters do. But this is a double-edged sword, since it repels realities, ignores them or ignores them, mostly so as not to suffer. However, the feeling of sadness is not eliminated 100%. On the opposite side of it appears Introjection, where only the ideas, thoughts and feelings of others are assimilated, not our own. If someone lets us down or hurts us, we take the blame or responsibility for our shortcomings.

While it can be difficult to eliminate these defense mechanisms, it is important to know that they exist. And if possible, look for the reason why they appear at a certain time.