Defense mechanisms have been around the world since people had the ability to feel. Though each person goes through each defense differently and in there own way they go through them just he same. These defenses are repression, reaction, regression and denial just to name a few.
Repression is the withdrawal from consciousness of an unwanted idea or desire by pushing it down, or repressing it, into the unconscious part of the mind. An example is hysterical amnesia, in which the victim has performed or witnessed some disturbing act and then completely forgotten the act itself and the circumstances surrounding it.
Reaction formation is the fixation in consciousness of an idea or desire that is opposite to a feared unconscious impulse. A mother who bears an unwanted child, for example her feelings of guilt for not wanting the child by becoming extremely solicitous and overprotective to convince both the child and herself that she is a good mother.
Werner Erhard and Associates v. Christopher Cox fo...
Deutsch: Phrenologie
English: Neural Correlates Of ConsciousnessRegression is a return to earlier stages of development and abandoned, prompted by dangers or conflicts arising at one of the later stages. A young wife might retreat to the security of her parents' home, for example, after her first fight with her husband.
Denial is the conscious refusal to perceive that painful facts exist. In denying latent feelings of homosexuality or hostility, or mental defects in one's child, an individual can escape intolerable thoughts, feelings, or events.
Learning about all of these processes of defense mechanisms I could relate myself to using them all at one point or another. But the one I find myself using more often is denial. I tend to think that if I don't recognize it then it won't be able to hurt me. Though now that I know all about these defenses I will be...