Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms are a group of mental processes that enable the mind to reach compromise solutions to conflicts that it is unable to resolve. They are mechanisms we use to protect ourselves from stress caused by unacceptable or painful situations.

Most significantly, these defense mechanisms are brought into play by the unconscious mind to deny or distort reality in order to protect and maintain ones self schema or self esteem.

                          

They start at an early age and get so automated that we're consciously not even aware of them. They are thus not to be confused with conscious coping strategies. 

While they do serve a useful purpose, they have their flipside........they distance you from reality, and while helpful in the short term, it's not true for the long term. Problems could develop when these mechanisms no longer work effectively or when they get overused, thus blocking one from facing reality. At times they may not allow us to equip ourselves to handle reality.

Why not for the long term could be a question asked. Because each of them takes energy, as it's keeping you protected from your own emotions or your own reality, and in the long term just maintaining them could become exhausting. Plus it's that much removed from facing up to reality and maybe handling it more genuinely.

That's when you need to listen to the cues from your body, and if you're ready to listen to yourself, the defenses start to fall off.

Awareness of the full reality of our emotions and our experiences is what will make us more aware of our own defense mechanisms. Again, only if one is ready to face up to those emotions. It's a process, so don't force rid the defenses unless ready to face the emotions or the reality.

Here are some common defense mechanisms and once you glance through, you'll kind of know which ones are working with you. It can also be a combination and even contextual, but you get the gist.

Also, a point of warning....once aware of the different kinds of defense mechanisms, it could enable us to identify it in others (always easier to do it to others, right?)  but it's ideally to be used only on oneself, you know your own readiness best.

Once you're aware of the defense mechanisms, you will start to see through it.... at times within minutes of its being at work, at times in hours, or days or then maybe never. As in anything else, practice makes perfect fits here as well.

We need to let go of our defenses in order to get in touch with our feelings and needs. We then HEAL, become REAL and LIVE LIFE MORE FULLY, MORE AUTHENTICALLY.