Transcript Defense mechanisms

LWE HBMS LTE
LTLS
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You see your boy/girl friend with someone else &
they are acting very friendly to each other.
Your parents ground you the week of the big
dance
You get caught not telling the truth
Your grade in math drops
Someone spills a Coke in your new car
You come in to work to find you have been laid off
Someone offers you a drug
Your best friend suddenly starts hanging out with
someone else.
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Someone you admire takes on a behavior that you
don’t think your parents agree with.
A project in a class you dislike is taking time away
from an assignment from a class you really like.
Your core group of grades begins to engage in
dangerous behaviors such as drug use.
A parent scolds you because you did something
they don’t agree with.
You are angry with your best friend for not doing
something you wanted to do.
Defense Mechanisms
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Negative Situation = reaction or behavior =
masked feelings
Concerns
 Behavior may be unacceptable/ unhealthy
 Becomes consistent
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Events are too painful to face
Personal & Peer awareness
Constructive Reactions
What you do:
 Tell yourself it is not happening
 Tell yourself it is not your fault
 Conscious denial of the thought
or feeling
Example
 “I am not mad…I really didn’t
notice it was happening.”
Problem
 Denial only prolongs and
exacerbates the issue
What you do:
 Somewhat aware but tries to hide the
thought or feeling
 Keep painful thoughts and feelings away
from consciousness.
Examples:
 Early abuse
 Lies you have told
 Painful memories
Problems:
 Diverts needed energy
 Blocks out stressful situations that could
be worked out
What you do:
 In defense against the threatening impulse, express
the opposite impulse.
Examples:
 Someone frightens you so you act super nice
 You dislike someone so you act friendly
Problems:
 False persona
What you do:
 Attribute your own undesirable
impulses, feeling, or desires to
another person
Examples:
 “I hate her” really means
“I think she hates me”
Problems:
 Misperceive the other person’s
motivations
 Don’t deal with your own
feelings
 Overreaction
What you do:
 Direct the feeling away
from its actual target to
another, safer target
Example
You are angry at a friend
and yell at a younger
sibling.
Feeling:
 anxiety
 anger
What you do:
 Make up excuses for inadequacies, failure,
or loss
Examples:
 If I had wanted to try hard, I could have
done it too.
 She must be having a bad day.
 If I had better teachers, I would have
gotten higher grades.
Problems:
 Energy would be better spent on
improving.
 The truth catches up with you.
What you do:
 Attempt to rid themselves of a feeling by
DOING something that indicates the
opposite feeling
Examples:
 Palee makes a rude comment, but draws a
picture for you on your next meeting
Problems:
 Does not address or atone the behavior
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What you do
 You think one thing but feel
another.
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Example
 You know you should feel sad
but you are not sad.
 Someone has experienced loss
and you express empathy but it
is not sincere.
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Problem
 Can leave one feeling out of
place with society or the group.
What you do:
 Revert back to behavior of an
earlier stage
 Use childhood coping
mechanisms
Examples:
 Temper tantrums, swearing,
fighting, sulking, crying
Problems:
 Does not solve the problem
 People think you are immature
 You are not learning to cope well
What you do
Redirect feelings into a
socially acceptable activity
Example
Someone who has anger
issues takes up an
“aggressive” sport
Problem
The resolution does not
address the problem only
redirects. It is only a matter
of time before the problem
manifests into a serious
issue.
What you do
 Puts off an unpleasant
task until due date is close
or has past.
Example
 Delay writing a paper for
class until the night
before it is due.
Problem
 Causes great stress
What you do:
 Feelings of inadequacy in one area
of life so they will work very hard
to do well in another area.
Examples:
 Weak in school, excellent in sports.
 Class clown
Problems:
 Unbalanced
 Incompetent in some areas
 Overcompensates for inadequate
feelings
What you do:
Dreaming, imagining instead of living in the
present world, because you don’t feel
competent to achieve.
 Pretending
Examples:
 Wanting to look good and pretending to
themselves that they are someone they
idolize.
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Making up stories about how successful
you are, rather than working on your
success.
Problems:
 You get stuck in the fantasy rather than
using your talents to become successful.
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