...Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms Mariel-Pauleane Gomez PSYC 393-2 September 29, 2015 My definition of anxiety is when you are experiencing an overwhelming amount of stress, but do not know the cause of it, to the point where it is interfering with your everyday activities. Freud’s understanding of anxiety is the feeling of fear without an obvious cause. My definition and Freud’s understanding of anxiety are similar to one another. Our definitions of anxiety both mention how when a person is experiencing anxiety, they not know exactly why they are experiencing it. Freud proposed that there are three types of anxiety: reality, neurotic, and moral anxiety. For myself, I think that there is only one type of anxiety, but there are different levels of it. I believe that it depends on how long the person copes or overcomes their anxiety. The longer it takes for a person to overcome anxiety, the more serious their anxiety is. When a person is experiencing anxiety, I believe that they are feeling helpless, like an infant or baby. Freud mentions that when one is experiencing anxiety, regardless of age, they are also feeling helpless. Freudian defense mechanisms ranked in order of primitive to more advanced: denial, repression, projection, reaction formation, regression, displacement, rationalization, and finally sublimation. I ranked denial as the most primitive defense mechanisms because I consider this the most generic defense mechanism because it underlies many of the other...
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...Denial is simply refusing to acknowledge that an event has occurred. The person affected simply acts as if nothing has happened, behaving in ways that others may see as bizarre. In its full form, it is totally subconscious, and sufferers may be as mystified by the behavior of people around them as those people are by the behavior of the sufferers. It may also have a significant conscious element, where the sufferer is simply 'turning a blind eye' to an uncomfortable situation. Denial is a form of repression, where stressful thoughts are banned from memory. If I do not think about it, then I do not suffer the associated stress have to deal with it. However, people engaging in Denial can pay a high cost in terms of the psychic energy needed to maintain the denial state. Repression and Denial are two primary defense mechanisms which everybody uses. Children find denial easier, as with age, the ego matures and understands more about the "objective reality" it must operate within. Denial is one of Anna Freud's original defense mechanisms. Repression involves placing uncomfortable thoughts in relatively inaccessible areas of the subconscious mind. Thus when things occur that we are unable to cope with now, we push them away, either planning to deal with them at another time or hoping that they will fade away on their own accord. The level of 'forgetting' in repression can vary from a temporary abolition of uncomfortable thoughts to a high level of amnesia, where events that caused...
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... When questioned later individually, it is learned that one of the girls had a rough phone call with her mother and found out her father would not be visiting her. Another of the girls had a similar experience, as her parents visited during the week and she did not "get along" with them. Finally, the girl accused of ruining the project was just admitted and angry at her parents for placing her in treatment. One of the behavioral techs redirected the girls to playing sports and painting. The girls seem to calm down and de-escalate. What defense mechanism (s) is the three girls utilizing and why? Explain. Are there any other defense mechanisms at work here? Explain. There are many different defense mechanisms out there so for the purpose of this assignment we will use Freud’s defense mechanisms in an attempt to explain the behavior. In this scenario, the three girls appear to be exhibiting the displacement defense mechanism. In displacement, the individual focuses unwanted feelings, urges, and emotions on someone or something besides the actual cause of said urge (Feist, 2009). In this example, the girls are angry with their parents, but do not want to admit this so they take out their anger on each other instead of feeling anxiety due to the true nature of their anger. The treatment option of the behavioral tech seems to be a form of sublimation because they direct the unwanted urges or...
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...Freud’s Work “Sigmund Freud’s work and theories helped shape our views of childhood, personality, memory, sexuality and therapy. Other major thinkers have contributed work that grew out of Freud's legacy, while others developed new theories out of opposition to his ideas.”(Cherry, 2011). Freud’s major theories included the id, ego, and super ego, the conscience and unconscious, psychosexual development, and defense mechanisms. Id, Ego, and Superego The id, ego, and superego are what are known as the three components to the personality. The id shows itself from the moment one is born. It is the spoiled brat of the personality and driven by the pleasure principle. The id wants what it wants and it wants it immediately. While this aspect of personality is quite important during the years directly after birth so as the baby can get his or her needs met, if it is not overcome it can become socially crippling as the person grows into an older child and the an adult. The ego deals with reality.” According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.” (Cherry, 2011). The id and the ego are related but the ego tries to satisfy the needs of the id in more mature and acceptable ways. The superego is the final part of personality. “The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society--our sense of...
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...Defense Mechanism (Extra credit Assignment) Karlo Leon ID#0787316 Ab. Psychology 01/05/13 People use defense mechanisms so often that it is perhaps difficult to pick out individual cases to deal with. Additionally, it would be markedly easier for me to look for evidence of these mechanisms within myself. However, others do display such defenses against anxiety-inducing thoughts, memories, and impulses. In the healthy range of defense mechanism, repression is key. Simply not thinking about something for a long period of time is often quite helpful. This particular mechanism can at times be rather obvious, as when, in a discussion, a person states that he or she would 'rather not talk about this.' Of course, repression is not always this aware, but in this case it is made manifest by a conscious effort to avoid the topic. Of the neurotic defense mechanisms, humor is perhaps most seen on this campus. Self-deprecating humor helps soften the glare of our shortcomings, especially when they surface in public. Sometimes, jokes are made specific to the situation (I tripped; I'm such a clutz!) but they are often generalized. These jokes are also often not very funny, on the order of "I'm a dumbass...hahaha!"Of the psychotic coping mechanism, denial is much more obvious than reaction formation. I can think of one specific case, a friend who set his sights too high in sending out transfer applications. As rejections have come in, my notion that he was a non-starter for most of his...
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...types of defense mechanisms do we use on a regular basis to avoid reality? How positive are they? Andrew Laeddis is the main character in the movie Shutter Island. He suffers from schizophrenia and many other mental problems. The trigger happened after one day he came back home from work and discovered that his wife had killed his three children. She was mentally ill and felt no remorse for what she just did so Andrew killed her. As a result of such traumatic experience, he unconsciously invented another self, created another story in which someone else had committed his wife’s and his own crime. He even denied having any children. At the end he drives himself crazy, and ends up in a mental institution. It’s also important to mention that he went to war and he had lived traumatic experiences prior to his family’s murder. This is a great example for what is called “’defense mechanisms” and how they affect our lives. Everyday people are faced with problems, traumas, difficulties and emotional (and even physical) pain. The mind, in order to protect itself from pain, usually creates these defense mechanisms such as denial, habit, behavioral changes, isolation of affect, etc. Even though defense mechanisms can be positive for protecting the individual against trauma, they can be extremely destructive in using them without awareness and control. Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud researched defense mechanisms...
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...everyone differently, but the one thing that unites all victims of scarring events is the recovery process. Although each person’s process may slightly differ they all possess similar symptoms: repression, denial, displacement, projection, regression, and sublimation. In the novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Frederic Henry suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; Henry’s honest narration of the novel reveals his struggle with the different stages of defense mechanisms with his completion of the novel itself being the ‘final’ stage in order to show how recovery is a never ending process. The initial reactions to deal with trauma are repression and denial. Furnham defines repression as “the...
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...| | | Psychoanalysis is a method of modern psychotherapy that can be very useful for people who are struggling with longstanding difficulties in the ways that they think and feel about themselves, the world, and their relationships with others(1). For centuries great minds such as, Sigmund Freud, Erick Erickson, Carl Jung, and Alfred Alder have explored and experimented their theory’s against human behavior. In this paper we will discuss the influences of frueds work and how his prodecssor viewpoints expanded his thougts into the present view point of todays culture. Dr. Sigmund Freud “Sigmund Freud was one of the trailblazers of modern-day psychology. As the originator of Psychoanalysis, Freud distinguished himself as an intellectual giant. He pioneered new techniques for understanding human behavior, and his efforts resulted in the most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed”(3). “Dr. Sigmund Freud explored the human mind more thoroughly than any other who became before him. His contributions to psychology are vast. Freud was one of the most influential people of the twentieth century and his enduring legacy has influenced not only psychology, but art, literature and even the way people bring up their children”(2). Dr. Freud’s theories became highly influential to the field of pyschoanlysis. His work was unparrel and his theories have foreve changed physconlaues to this very day. “Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model...
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...Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment Psychology of Personality The late Sigmund Freud implemented the theory of psychoanalytic. In Freud’s study he concluded that unconscious desires and childhood instances influences individual behaviors. Also, in his studies he concluded that these behaviors were caused by psychosexual stages. Today, his theories are still being used for current studies, however, other psychologist believe that his theories may have been flawed. Carl Jung concluded that the mind is separated into three components that consist of the collective unconscious, the conscious ego, and the personal unconscious. Alfred Adler used his illness to implement the psychoanalytic theories in which he provided greater detail in examples. The two characteristics that I agree with are structure of mind and reality principle. The structure of mind refers to ID, Ego, and Superego. All three components are suppose to work together in order for a person to have a well developed mind however, the ID and superego have a hard time working together. The ID is made of what a person needs. For an example, as an infant they become upset or uncomfortable and act off of instinct. They will cry out in discomfort. If kept in discomfort they will cry out louder to get the attention of someone so that a need is met. The Ego is a more advanced portion of the mind and it compromises. The Ego understands that not everything will go the way in which we want it to go so it works with...
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...Rationalization is categorized as a neurotic defense mechanism (Vaillant, 1992), and it is more commonly known as making excuses. Melissa constantly provides reasons why she should not leave her waitressing job, while also pointing out reason for searching work more related to her college degree. She states that waitressing provides the financial stability that she needs, and that it is a job she would like to continue because there is little burden to bring home after the workday. Furthermore, she wants to make sure that if she switches jobs, “it is going to be something that is going to benefit [her] down the line with what [she] is going into”. However, she later explains how it felt liberating to be able to remain where she is currently without someone pushing her decisions. Melissa realizes...
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...and superego. As a result, defense mechanism is developed. Defense mechanism is usually compared to religion beliefs. Many psychologist had a negative view to defense mechanism, however, as people look at a different point of view, defense mechanism had benefits to a person, like religion, the beliefs are the mind sustenances. Freud believed that if the patient could come out from his or her trauma, defense mechanism would soon reduced and would not affect the patient. Defense mechanism functions unconsciously and help to wipe off the pressure or unpleasant feelings and experience. Defense mechanism also enlarges the good feelings and things in order to make individual feel better. As the defense mechanism affects the patient seriously, the patient becomes unrealistic and is out of touch with the life the patient had before. The reason defense mechanism is developed is the memories and experience oneself wants to forget or get rid of. As individual had the thought of forgetting these memories, defense...
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...role of defence mechanisms Wayne H. Bovey Bovey Management (Certified Consultants), Queensland, Australia Andrew Hede University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia Keywords Organizational change, Resistance, Defence, Humour Abstract Observes that the published literature on resistance to organisational change has focused more on organisational issues rather than individual psychological factors. The present study investigated the role of both adaptive and maladaptive defence mechanisms in individual resistance. Surveys were conducted in nine organisations undergoing major change and responses were obtained from 615 employees. The results indicate that five maladaptive defence mechanisms are positively correlated with behavioural intention to resist change, namely, projection, acting out, isolation of affect, dissociation and denial. The adaptive defence mechanism of humour was found to be negatively correlated with resistance intention. Identifies two intervention strategies which can be used by management to address the effects of defence mechanisms on resistance during periods of change in organisations. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 16 No. 7, 2001, pp. 534-548. # MCB University Press, 0268-3946 Introduction Individuals go through a reaction process when they are personally confronted with major organisational change (Jacobs, 1995; Kyle, 1993). According to Scott and Jaffe (1988) this process consists of four phases: initial denial, resistance, gradual...
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...15 Common Defense Mechanisms In some areas of psychology (especially in psychodynamic theory), psychologists talk about “defense mechanisms,” or manners in which we behave or think in certain ways to better protect or “defend” ourselves. Defense mechanisms are one way of looking at how people distance themselves from a full awareness of unpleasant thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Psychologists have categorized defense mechanisms based upon how primitive they are. The more primitive a defense mechanism, the less effective it works for a person over the long-term. However, more primitive defense mechanisms are usually very effective short-term, and hence are favored by many people and children especially (when such primitive defense mechanisms are first learned). Adults who don’t learn better ways of coping with stress or traumatic events in their lives will often resort to such primitive defense mechanisms as well. Most defense mechanisms are fairly unconscious – that means most of us don’t realize we’re using them in the moment. Some types ofpsychotherapy can help a person become aware of what defense mechanisms they are using, how effective they are, and how to use less primitive and more effective mechanisms in the future. Primitive Defense Mechanisms 1. Denial Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic...
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...Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment Hokulani M. Bailey PSY/250 March 15, 2014 Mrs. Laura Epstein Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment In comparison and contrast the psychoanalysis theories of Freud, Jung and Adler are similar in general but each holds their own unique differences in their personal unique way. Throughout this paper, I will first define each psychoanalyst characteristics, describe the eight stages of Freud’s theory, and explain the characteristics of personality using these stages. I will also provide three real life scenarios utilizing Freud’s defense mechanisms. . Everything on this earth is comprised of different, biological make up, situations, environments, evolution and timing on earth. Each individual person’s personality is comprised and developed based on those same factors. We have read about three very important men that have given their own psychoanalytical theories on how personalities are developed and come to be. These men are Freud, Jung and Adler. This paper will explain to you my understanding and opinions and on their theories. Freud’s theory describes ID, Ego, and The Superego. In the Theory and Practice of Counseling & Psychotherapy (7th deterministic, and evolve through key psychosexual stages in the first six years of life. I don’t want to take away from Freud’s work, but I have a hard time believing that everything before age six determines the people that we grow up to be or that everything is instinct. I agree that the Ego mediates...
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...Psychoanalytic theory PSY250 01/07/10 Psychoanalytic theory Introduction: Psychoanalysis is grounded on the observation that individuals are often unaware of many of the factors that control their emotions and behavior. These unconscious factors may create unhappiness. (Cherry,2012). Compare and contrast the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, Jung and Alder Pioneers of psychology, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Alfred Alder were influential thinkers, early founders and significant contributors to the science of psychology (Goodwin, 2008). Carl believed that dreams contained significant insight into people’s Psyche and theorized that for people to become whole, they must be thought to integrate the unconscious with the conscious mind in a process he called individuation. (Malamud, 1923).Freud based most psychological things on sexuality, and Adler promoted the theory of individuality. According to Freud human personality is divided into Id, ego, and superego. (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). Each of these characters has its own idea of what the outcome of the story should be. Their struggles are fueled by powerful motives, and each one is out for itself. (Cash, 2011) The ego is the conscious and thinking self, the personal unconscious is the collective personal expenses unique to each individual, and the collective unconscious is a collection of experiences and behavior patterns that is common to all people. (Sheedy, 2011). Jung on the other hand...
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