Defense Mechanisms come from the field of psychoanalysis, being widely known by psychoanalysts and psychology in general.
How important is it to know someone’s Defense Mechanisms? Read the article and understand how this resource impacts the daily life of human beings and the advantages of analyzing them within the L.A.B.E.L.
The Origin of Defense Mechanisms
Defense Mechanisms is a denomination created by the psychoanalyst Freud and deepened by his daughter, also a psychoanalyst, Anna Freud.
According to Freud, the Defense Mechanisms are strategies of the ego, conscious or subconscious process, used to deal with threatening situations. It is a solution of the mind to unresolved conflict at the level of consciousness. When increased psychic load generates anxiety, defense mechanisms come into play. The greater the distress, the stronger the activation of defense mechanisms.
The 9 most used Defense Mechanisms:
- REPRESSION, SU/REPRESSION. It denies the existence of an anxiety-provoking factor, involuntarily eliminating the memories or perceptions from consciousness that caused discomfort. It is forgetting the reason for suffering.
- VICTIMISM. Fatalistic posture in the face of difficulties and failures, placing the blame for the inability, difficulty or failure on the other, on the environment or on an external factor. If the tire goes flat, the victim complains about the incompetence of the government that left the asphalt unsuitable instead of reflecting on the importance of having changed the tire before going ‘bald’.
- DENIAL/REJECT. Denies the existence of an external threat or traumatic event. It is the mother who keeps the room intact for her child who has died.
- RATIONALIZATION. Reinterprets behavior making it more acceptable, less threatening. The professional lost his job due to insufficient results or incompetence, but consoles himself by saying that the job wasn’t even that good. Here also comes the case of those who accept a bribe saying they have no choice, do poorly on the test but say that the subject ‘isn’t even important’.
- PROJECTION. He attributes a disturbing impulse of his to someone else, points out an inclination of his on the other, projects his fault onto the other. This is the case of the person who is rude to co-workers, but says that the colleague is the one who behaved rudely.
- REACTIVE TRAINING. It is when the individual demonstrates behaviors or feelings opposite to repressed tendencies. It is about the sensitive man in his heart who expresses sexist behavior, the gay homophobe, the moralist who abuses the defenseless.
- DISPLACEMENT. Transfers momentum from an unavailable threat to an available one. An example is when the person displaces dissatisfaction in love to work and never finds a good job, he/she puts the boss’s anger on the child.
- REGRESSION. Return to the previous, less frustrating period of life, with display of dependent and infantile behavior from the + insurance period. It’s the child who goes back to peeing in his pants when he feels threatened by the birth of a younger brother, it’s the adult who goes back to playing with dolls when going through a great loss or frustration.
- SUBLIMATION. It diverts instinctual energy to socially acceptable behaviors. It’s dedicating yourself to sport to alleviate suffering, taking out your anger in boxing. This is the only non-pathological defense mechanism.
Defense Mechanisms in L.A.B.E.L.?
The Defense Mechanisms make up one of the 15 psychological models measured in the L.A.B.E.L, being an extremely important layer for the development of the mapped. In addition, when assessing the Defense Mechanisms in L.A.B.E.L., we get into very delicate issues. Defense Mechanisms appear on page 12 of the L.A.B.E.L.
What is the advantage of mapping Defense Mechanisms by L.A.B.E.L.?
- Mapping ACCURACY – while Defense Mechanism inventories can be manipulated, and it goes unnoticed, this issue is unimaginable in L.A.B.E.L., due to its Control Indexes. At L.A.B.E.L. you can be sure that the result shows who the person is, without any kind of manipulation.
- BREATH and DEPTH of analysis – Defense Mechanisms alone present 9 types of stress responses mapped. With the L.A.B.E.L. it is possible to analyze more than 93 personality traits in addition to the mechanisms.
- STANDARDIZATION – In Defense Mechanisms inventories, the analysis is the same for all with the same configuration. At L.A.B.E.L. analysis is unique, as the different combinations are absolutely unique.
- DIFFERENTIATION between very similar profiles – Defense Mechanisms inventories do not point out the differentiation of responses to stress when comparing apparently similar ones. In L.A.B.E.L., even though the results of two maps are very close, it is possible to identify differences in the intensity of the characteristics of each one.
Defense Mechanisms Module in L.A.B.E.L.
For those who are already trained in L.A.B.E.L., we have an exclusive module for deepening the understanding of Defense Mechanisms.
For which certificates in L.A.B.E.L. we recommend deepening the defense mechanisms:
- Professionals who work with coaching;
- Professionals who work with Vocational Guidance;
- For those dealing with career development;
- For those who work with deeper individual human development processes of self-knowledge.
Gains from understanding the Defense Mechanisms in depth:
- Know and understand in depth those mapped;
- Bring more awareness to the individual, so that he can self-manage himself;
- Analyze the mapped reaction trend when being attacked.
- Identifying the mapped Defense Mechanisms, their reaction to being attacked, making them more aware of the traps they set up;
- Know how much of each of the mechanisms the person has, checking which is stronger and weaker for him.
Published in December 2022.
