Everyone reacts differently to various life difficulties. Someone can deny what happened, someone tries, as soon as possible to forget the problem, etc. In extreme situations, the protective mechanisms of the psyche come to the rescue, which help to eliminate or minimize the experience and stress . The effect of these mechanisms is aimed at maintaining the stability of the psychological state of a person after traumatic events.
Psychological protective mechanisms
Crowding out. This process involves subconsciously suppressing experiences and pushing them into the realm of unconsciousness. To do this, a person needs to spend a lot of energy and how he does not try, memories will appear in dreams and thoughts.
- Rationalization . Finding suitable reasons and explanations for what happened and the thoughts that have arisen. This protective mechanism is aimed at removing tension from a person during serious experiences. An example may be an employee who is late for work, who, to justify himself, comes up with various fables.
- Projection . Implies attribution to other people of their motives, experiences, traits, etc. This mechanism follows the displacement, as getting rid of your feelings is difficult, so they are simply projected onto others. The person who uses this defense mechanism is characterized by dishonesty, envy and negativism.
- Denial . This protective mechanism of the psyche according to Freud helps a person not to notice what happened. He is trying in every possible way to guard against information that can remind of traumatic events. Denial can be expressed in the creation of an imaginary
a world where everything is fine. - Substitution . A psychic protective mechanism of this type implies splashing out all emotions on an object or on a person who is not guilty of what happened. A surge of the negative, a strong excitement, resentment or insult sharply reduces the human consciousness, which adversely affects his mental abilities and thinking . Being in this state, a person can not normally assess their actions.
- Reactive formations . This mechanism occurs most often in childhood or adolescence. For example, to show sympathy, the boy pulls the girl for the pigtails. This protective mechanism of the human psyche is based on contradictions and opposite reactions.