These concepts were first introduced into psychology by the famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud in 1894 in a small studio “Defensive neuropsychoses”. Then they were continued, interpreted, transformed, modernized by representatives of different generations of researchers and psychotherapists of psychoanalytic orientation, and other psychological directions - existential psychology, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, etc. Already in his early works, Freud pointed out that the prototype of psychological defense is a mechanism of repression, the ultimate goal of which is to avoid displeasure, all negative affects that accompany internal mental conflicts between the drives of the unconscious and those structures that are responsible for regulating the behavior of the individual. Along with the reduction of negative affects, there is a repression of the content of these affects, those real scenes, thoughts, ideas, fantasies that preceded the appearance of affects.
Anna Freud, a representative of the second echelon of psychoanalysts, has already quite clearly identified the affect that includes the work of defense mechanisms - this is fear, anxiety. The concept of psychological defense mechanisms is presented by A. Freud, in particular in her work “Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms.” She pointed to three sources of anxiety:
Firstly, it is anxiety, fear of the destructive and unconditional claims of the instincts of the unconscious, which are guided only by the principle of pleasure (fear of the It).
Secondly, these are disturbing and unbearable states caused by feelings of guilt and shame, corrosive remorse (fear of the Self of the Super-Ego).
And finally, thirdly, this is fear of the demands of reality (fear of the Self of reality). A. Freud (following her father S. Freud) believed that The defense mechanism is based on two types of reactions:
1. blocking the expression of impulses in conscious behavior;
2. distorting them to such an extent that their original intensity noticeably decreases or deviates to the side.
An analysis of her father’s works, as well as her own psychoanalytic experience, led Anna Freud to the conclusion that the use of defense does not relieve the conflict, fears persist and, ultimately, there is a high probability of illness. She showed that certain sets of psychoprotective techniques lead to corresponding, very specific symptoms. This is also proven by the fact that for certain psychological pathologies, appropriate protective techniques are used. Thus, with hysteria, frequent recourse to repression is characteristic, and with neurosis obsessive states there is a massive use of isolation and suppression.
Anna Freud lists the following defense mechanisms:
1. repression,
2. regression,
3. reactive formation,
4. insulation,
5. canceling the former once,
6. projection,
7. introjection,
8. self-referral
9. reversal
10. sublimation.
There are other methods of protection. In this regard, she also called:
11. denial through fantasy,
12. idealization,
13. identification with the aggressor, etc.
A. Freud speaks of a special attitude towards repression, which is explained by the fact that it “quantitatively does much more work than other techniques. In addition, it is used against such strong instincts of the unconscious that cannot be processed by other techniques.” In particular, this researcher suggests that the function of repression is primarily to combat sexual desires, while other defense techniques are aimed mainly at processing aggressive impulses.
Melanie Klein, back in 1919, at a meeting of the Budapest Psychological Society, showed that repression as a protective mechanism reduces the quality of the child’s research activity, without freeing up the energy potential for sublimation, i.e. transferring energy to social activities, including intellectual ones. M. Klein described the following as the simplest types of protection:
· object splitting,
· projective (self) identification,
· refusal of mental reality,
· claim to omnipotence over the object, etc.
There is a contradictory attitude towards such a technique of mental regulation as sublimation, the task of which is to process unsatisfied eros drives or destructive tendencies into socially useful activity. Most often, sublimation is opposed to protective techniques; the use of sublimation is considered one of the evidence of a strong creative personality.
Psychoanalyst Wilheim Reich, on whose ideas a variety of bodily psychotherapies are now built, believed that the entire structure of a person’s character is a single defense mechanism.
One of the prominent representatives of ego psychology, H. Hartmann, expressed the idea that the defense mechanisms of the ego can simultaneously serve both to control drives and to adapt to the world around us.
In Russian psychology, one of the approaches to psychological defenses is presented by F.V. Bassin. Here, psychological defense is considered as the most important form of response of the individual’s consciousness to mental trauma.
Another approach is contained in the works of B.D. Karvasarsky. He considers psychological defense as a system of adaptive reactions of the individual, aimed at protectively changing the significance of maladaptive components of relationships - cognitive, emotional, behavioral - in order to weaken their traumatic impact on the self-concept. This process occurs, as a rule, within the framework of unconscious mental activity with the help of a number of psychological defense mechanisms, some of which operate at the level of perception (for example, repression), others at the level of transformation (distortion) of information (for example, rationalization). Stability, frequent use, rigidity, close connection with maladaptive stereotypes of thinking, experiences and behavior, inclusion in the system of forces counteracting the goals of self-development make such protective mechanisms harmful to the development of the individual. Their common feature is the individual’s refusal to engage in activities intended to productively resolve a situation or problem.
It should also be noted that people rarely use any single defense mechanism - they usually use a variety of defense mechanisms.
Section 1. Reasons for the emergence and development of defense mechanisms
Where do the different types of protection come from? The answer is paradoxical and simple: from childhood. A child comes into the world without psychological defense mechanisms; all of them are acquired by him at that tender age when he is poorly aware of what he is doing and is simply trying to survive, preserving his soul.
One of the brilliant discoveries of psychodynamic theory was the discovery of the critical role of early childhood trauma. The earlier a child receives mental trauma, the deeper layers of personality become “deformed” in an adult. The social situation and system of relationships can give rise to experiences in the soul of a small child that will leave an indelible mark for the rest of their life, and sometimes even devalue it. The task of the earliest stage of growing up, described by Freud, is to establish normal relationships with the first “object” in the child’s life - the mother’s breast, and through it - with the whole world. If the child is not abandoned, if the mother is driven not by an idea, but by a subtle feeling and intuition, the child will be understood. If such understanding does not occur, one of the most severe personal pathologies is laid - basic trust in the world is not formed. A feeling arises and strengthens that the world is fragile and will not be able to hold me if I fall. This attitude towards the world accompanies an adult throughout his life. Unconstructively solved problems of this early age lead to the fact that a person perceives the world distortedly. Fear overwhelms him. A person cannot perceive the world soberly, trust himself and people, he often lives with doubt that he himself even exists. Protection from fear in such individuals occurs with the help of powerful, so-called primitive, defense mechanisms.
At the age of one and a half to three years, a child solves no less important life problems. For example, the time comes, and parents begin to teach him to use the toilet, to control himself, his body, behavior and feelings. When parents are contradictory, the child is lost: he is either praised when he defecates in the potty, or loudly shamed when he proudly brings this full potty into the room to show the guests sitting at the table. Confusion and, most importantly, shame, a feeling that describes not the results of his activities, but himself, is what appears at this age. Parents who are too fixed on the formal requirements of cleanliness, who impose on the child a level of “voluntariness” that is not feasible for this age, who are simply pedantic individuals, ensure that the child begins to fear his own spontaneity and spontaneity. Adults whose whole life is planned out, everything is under control, people who cannot imagine life without a list and systematization and at the same time cannot cope with emergency situations and any surprises - these are those who are, as it were, led by their own little “I”, two years old, disgraced and ashamed.
A child of three to six years old is faced with the fact that not all of his desires can be satisfied, which means he must accept the idea of limitations. A daughter, for example, loves her father, but cannot marry him; he is already married to her mother. Another important task is to learn to resolve conflicts between “I want” and “I cannot.” The child's initiative struggles with guilt - negative attitude to what has already been done. When initiative wins, the child develops normally; if there is guilt, then most likely he will never learn to trust himself and appreciate his efforts in solving a problem. Constantly devaluing the results of a child’s work using the “You could have done better” style parenting also leads to the formation of a willingness to discredit one’s own efforts and the results of one’s work. A fear of failure is formed, which sounds like this: “I won’t even try, it won’t work anyway.” Against this background, a strong personal dependence on the critic is formed. The main question at this age is: how much can I do? If a satisfactory answer to it is not found at the age of five, for the rest of his life the person will unconsciously answer it, falling for the bait of “aren’t you weak?”
The task of the child’s social environment includes channeling the energies of the drive towards life and death and developing an appropriate attitude towards them in each specific situation, assessing and making decisions about the fate of the drives: is it bad or good, to satisfy or not to satisfy, how to satisfy or what measures to take, not to satisfy. These two authorities, the Super-I and the Ego, are responsible for the implementation of these processes, which develop in the process of socialization of a person, in the process of his formation as a cultural being.
The Superego instance develops from the unconscious It already in the first weeks after birth. At first it develops unconsciously. The child learns norms of behavior through the reaction of approval or condemnation of the first adults who surround him - his father and mother.
Later, the already realized values and moral ideas of the environment that is significant for the child (family, school, friends, society) are concentrated in the Super-I.
The third instance of the I (Ich) is formed in order to transform the energies of the Id into socially acceptable behavior, i.e. the behavior that is dictated by the Super-Ego and Reality. This authority includes the emotional and mental process between the claims of instinct and its behavioral implementation. The I instance is in the most difficult position. She needs to make and implement a decision (taking into account the claims of the drive, its strength), the categorical imperatives of the Super-ego, the conditions and demands of reality. The actions of the I are energetically supported by the It instance, controlled by the prohibitions and permissions of the Super-Ego and blocked or released by reality. A strong, creative self knows how to create harmony between these three authorities and is able to resolve internal conflicts. The weak I cannot cope with the “mad” attraction of the Id, the indisputable prohibitions of the Super-Ego and the demands and threats of the real situation.
In his Outline of a Scientific Psychology, Freud poses the problem of defense in two ways:
1) seeks the history of the so-called “primary defense” in the “experience of suffering”, just as the prototype of desires and the Self as a restraining force was the “experience of satisfaction”;
2) strive to distinguish the pathological form of protection from the normal one.
Defense mechanisms, having provided assistance to the ego during the difficult years of its development, do not remove their barriers. The strengthened self of an adult continues to defend itself against dangers that no longer exist in reality; it even feels obliged to look for situations in reality that could at least approximately replace the original danger in order to justify the usual methods of reactions. So, it is not difficult to understand how defense mechanisms, becoming more and more alienated from the outside world and weakening the ego over a long period of time, prepare an outbreak of neurosis, favoring it.
Beginning with S. Freud and in subsequent works of specialists studying the mechanisms of psychological defense, it is repeatedly noted that a person’s habitual normal conditions protection, in extreme, critical, stressful life conditions, has the ability to consolidate, taking the form of fixed psychological defenses. This can “drive into the depths” the intrapersonal conflict, turning it into an unconscious source of dissatisfaction with oneself and others, as well as contribute to the emergence of special mechanisms called resistance by S. Freud.
The very existence of a conflict or the path chosen by a given person to resolve it can expose a person to the danger of punishment or condemnation from society, painful feelings of guilt or the threat of loss of self-esteem. All this causes a feeling of anxiety that can become dominant. The most important implication of the relationship between conflict and anxiety is that anxiety leads to various defensive consequences of frustration, which can be described as ways of acting to reduce or get rid of anxiety. For this reason they are called defense mechanisms.
In personality theory, defense mechanisms are viewed as an integral and pervasive property of a person. They not only reflect the general properties of a personality, but also determine its development in very important aspects. If defense mechanisms for some reason do not perform their functions, this can contribute to the occurrence of mental disorders. Moreover, the nature of the resulting disorder often determines the characteristics of a person’s defense mechanisms.
Superficial knowledge about the phenomenon of the formation of a defensive reaction leads to an overly easy emergence of a skeptical view of a person’s motives. If things can appear to be the exact opposite of what they really are, how can one judge the true motivation in any given case? The answer is that the formation of a defensive reaction, like any protective mechanism, occurs only in very specific circumstances. The difference can be detected by the obvious exaggeration of the corresponding manifestations (for example, in Shakespeare: “The Lady protests too much”) - a person becomes a fanatical persecutor of sin due to an unconscious attraction to sinful (from his point of view) actions. But contradiction and exaggerated behavior do not always serve as a determinant of the formation of a defensive reaction. It is necessary to study the person and the circumstances in which he is located in order to confidently interpret the characteristics of his behavior as an indicator of the formation of a defensive reaction.
Section 2. The problem of classification of psychological defenses
Despite the fact that many authors highlight general aspects of the MPD theory, there is still no systematized knowledge about these deep-personal properties. A number of authors generally say that psychological defense is the most controversial issue in psychology, citing the following arguments: the lack of generally accepted definitions and classifications, a consensus on their number, criteria for separation, differentiation into normal and pathological, understanding of their role in the formation of personality disorders and neurotic symptoms (Yakubin A., 1982; Savenko Yu.S., 1974). As an example, below is a list of thirty-four types of psychological defense, compiled after generalizing only 2 classifications (Ursano R. et al., 1992; Blum G., 1996): repression, denial, displacement, reverse feeling, suppression (primary, secondary), identification with the aggressor, asceticism, intellectualization, isolation of affect, regression, sublimation, splitting, projection, projective identification, omnipotence, devaluation, primitive idealization, reactive formation (reversion or reaction formation), replacement or substitution (compensation or sublimation), displacement, introjection, destruction, idealization, dreaming, rationalization, alienation, catharsis, creativity as a defense mechanism, staging a reaction, fantasizing, “charming”, auto-aggression, etc.
According to many authors, defense mechanisms have the following common properties: they operate in the subconscious, the individual does not realize what is happening to him, they deny, distort, falsify reality, they act in situations of conflict, frustration, trauma, stress. The goal of psychological protection, as already mentioned, is to reduce emotional tension and prevent disorganization of behavior, consciousness and psyche as a whole. MPD provides regulation and direction of behavior, reduces anxiety and emotional behavior (Berezin F.B., 1988). All mental functions of the individual are involved in this, but each time, predominantly one of them acts as the MPD, which takes on the bulk of the work to overcome negative experiences.
There is no unified classification of psychological defense mechanisms, although there are many attempts to group them on various grounds.
Defense mechanisms can be divided according to the level of maturity into projective (repression, denial, regression, reactive formation, etc.) and defensive (rationalization, intellectualization, isolation, identification, sublimation, projection, displacement). The former are considered more primitive; they do not allow conflicting and personally traumatic information to enter the consciousness. The latter admit traumatic information, but interpret it in a way that is “painless” for themselves.
Let us also note various interpretative approaches to the function of the MPZ and related classifications. So, for example, Grzegolowska, understanding by a protective mechanism “a cognitive process that is characterized by a violation of the perception or transformation of information in the case of superoptimal activation of an alarming nature” (Yakubik A. “Hysteria”, M., 1982), distinguishes 2 levels of protection:
1). The level of “perceptual protection” (the term was introduced by J. Bruner, 1948), manifested in an increase in the threshold of sensitivity to negative information when the incoming information does not correspond to the encoded one, as well as repression, suppression or denial. The general principle is obvious: removing information acceptable to the individual from the sphere of his consciousness.
2). The level of disruption of information processing due to its restructuring (projection, isolation, intellectualization) and revaluation-distortion (rationalization, reactive education, fantasy); the general principle is the restructuring of information.
M. Jarosz tries to interpret the IPM in response to psychological stress, frustration. The following types of reactions are distinguished:
attempts to remove obstacles;
attempts to get around an obstacle;
· replacing a goal that has become unattainable with a more achievable one;
· direct aggression;
· aggression transferred to another object;
· regression;
· refusal (humility), as well as 2 types of reactions: to eliminate the tension that accompanies stress, and to remove the causes of stress.
F.B. Berezin (1988) identifies four types of psychological defense:
· preventing awareness of the factors causing anxiety, or the anxiety itself (denial, repression);
· allowing you to fix anxiety on certain stimuli (fixation of anxiety);
· reducing the level of motivations (devaluation of initial needs);
· eliminating anxiety or modulating its interpretation through the formation of stable concepts (conceptualization).
The domestic psychoanalytic tradition shared the fate of psychological science in the 30s. practically ceased to exist until the 60s of the twentieth century. However, starting with the article by F.V. Bassin “On the “power of the self” and “psychological defense”” (1969), in our country attempts are being made to rethink the theoretical concepts of psychoanalysis from the standpoint of “materialist” psychology and its methodological apparatus. In the field of the problem of psychological defense, domestic authors put forward a number of terms denoting the concepts of MPD: protective processes, protective mechanisms, neurotic psychological defense and psychotic defense. It should be noted that ideas about psychological defense are used as explanatory categories in a fairly wide range of psychological theories of Russian psychology: theories of personality relationships (Karvasarsky B.D., 1985; Tashlykov V.A., 1984, 1992), experiences (Vasilyuk F.E. ., 1984), self-esteem (Stolin V.V., 1984), etc.
It is advisable to pay attention to a number of definitions of MPP given in the domestic literature in recent decades. The most medically and psychologically oriented are:
Mental activity aimed at spontaneously overcoming the consequences of mental trauma (V.F. Bassin, 1969,1970).
Frequent cases of the attitude of the patient’s personality to a traumatic situation or the disease that affects it (Banshchikov V.M., 1974. Quoted from V.I. Zhurbin, 1990).
A mechanism for adaptive restructuring of perception and assessment, which occurs in cases where a person cannot adequately assess the feeling of anxiety caused by an internal or external conflict and cannot cope with stress (Tashlykov V.A., 1992).
Mechanisms that support the integrity of consciousness (Rottenberg V.S., 1986).
A system that stabilizes the personality, which manifests itself in the elimination or minimization of negative emotions, feelings of anxiety that arise when there is a critical discrepancy between the picture of the world and new information(Granovskaya R.M., 1997).
Mechanisms of compensation for mental deficiency (Volovik V.M., Vid V.D., 1975).
A specially meaningful psychotherapeutic practice, the peculiarity of which is that an external conflict (a patient with a doctor or a patient with another person) serves as a basis for believing the existence in the psyche of forces that are in conflict with each other, and existing mechanisms of MPD (Zhurbin V.I. , 1990).
Unfortunately, the problems of understanding the nature and essence of MPD in Russian psychology are complicated by the ambiguity and confusion in the translation into Russian of the original terminology of foreign authors and the established tradition of following one’s own definitions, which are often inconsistent with the generally accepted ones.
The medical and psychological interpretation of the concept of mental health, in our opinion, is based on an understanding of the problem of mental adaptation as a generic category. According to the definition of F.B. Berezin (1988), this is the process of establishing an optimal match between the individual and the environment during the implementation of human activities, which allows the individual to satisfy current needs and realize significant goals associated with them while maintaining mental and physical health, ensuring at the same time, the correspondence of a person’s mental activity and behavior to the requirements of the environment. According to this definition, the mechanism of intrapsychic (internal) adaptation is psychological defense. Psychological defense mechanisms develop in ontogenesis as a means of adaptation and resolution of psychological conflicts; the most powerful criterion for the effectiveness of MPD is the elimination of anxiety.
In the light of the psychology of relationships V.N. Myasishcheva (Iovlev B.V., Karpova E.B., 1997) mechanisms of mental health are understood as a system of adaptive, usually unconscious reactions of the individual, aimed at protectively changing the significance of maladaptive components of relationships - cognitive, emotional, behavioral in order to weaken their psychotraumatic impact on sick.
R. Lazarus created a classification of psychoprotective techniques, dividing into one group symptomatic techniques (using alcohol, tranquilizers, sedatives, etc.) and into another group the so-called intrapsychic techniques of cognitive defense (identification, displacement, suppression, denial, reactive formation, projection, intellectualization).
In psychotherapeutic and medical-psychological literature, psychological defense, as a psychological category, is often considered as a concept close to coping behavior, however, these are different forms of adaptation processes and individuals’ responses to stressful situations (Tashlykov V.A., 1992). The weakening of mental discomfort is carried out within the framework of unconscious mental activity with the help of MPH. Coping behavior is used as a strategy for an individual’s actions aimed at eliminating a situation of psychological threat.
This should be taken into account in psychotherapeutic work with the patient, aimed at developing the mechanisms of coping with the disease in patients (Tashlykov V.A., 1984).
Let us now consider each defense in more detail.
Section 3. Types of psychological defenses
crowding out
From the standpoint of psychoanalysis, what is repressed from consciousness is experienced and forgotten by a person, but retains in the unconscious the inherent psychic energy of attraction (cataxis). In an effort to return to consciousness, the repressed can become associated with other repressed material, forming mental complexes. On the part (Ego), constant expenditure of energy is required to maintain the process of repression. Violation of the dynamic balance when protective mechanisms - anticathexes - are weakened - can lead to the return of previously repressed information to consciousness. Such cases have been observed during illness, intoxication (for example, alcohol), and also during sleep. Direct repression associated with mental shock can lead to severe traumatic neuroses; incomplete or unsuccessful repression leads to the formation of neurotic symptoms. Repression is able to cope with powerful instinctive impulses, against which other defense mechanisms are ineffective. However, this is not only the most effective, but also the most dangerous mechanism. Disconnection from the Self, which occurs as a result of the isolation of consciousness from the entire course of instinctive and affective life, can completely destroy the integrity of the personality. There is another point of view, according to which repression begins to act only after other mechanisms (projection, isolation, etc.) do not work. Everything that is repressed from consciousness into the unconscious does not disappear and has a significant impact on the state of the psyche and behavior of a person. From time to time, a spontaneous “return of the repressed” to the level of consciousness occurs, which occurs in the form of individual symptoms, dreams, erroneous actions, etc.
1) Repression of attraction. How strong the impulses of attraction are, so strong must be the force of repression. The force of action of the drive must be equal to the force of reaction of repression. But this drive driven inside does not cease to strive for its satisfaction. The repressed attraction does not cease to be a fact of all mental activity of the individual. Moreover, repressed attraction can significantly or even fatally influence an individual’s behavior. The censor of the Superego, who has expelled, as it seemed to him, a socially unacceptable desire, has to be constantly on the alert, has to spend a lot of effort on keeping the energy of drives in the basement of the unconscious. Resistance to attraction requires actual energy supply; for this, other forms of behavior are “de-energized.” Hence, rapid fatigue, loss of control, irritability, tearfulness, what is called asthenic syndrome. The repression that has been carried out is stored in the unconscious for the time being as an infringed affect, the forms of which are extremely diverse: these are bodily clamps, convulsions, explosive reactions (“unmotivated affect”), hysterical attacks, etc.
2) Repression of reality. In this case, information from the outside is repressed or distorted, which the individual does not want to perceive, because it is unpleasant for him, painful, and destroys his ideas about himself. Here the situation is controlled by the Super-I. The super-ego makes the individual “blind”, “deaf”, “insensitive” to aversive, i.e. alarming, threatening information. This information, when perceived, threatens to disrupt the existing balance, the internal consistency of mental life. This consistency is structured by the Super-Ego, created by learned rules of behavior, regulations, and a coherent system of values. And aversive information is an encroachment on this dominant role of the Super-I in the mental apparatus. Sometimes the rebuff of reality from the Super-Ego is so powerful and uncontrollable that it can lead to the real death of the individual. In its ignorance of reality, the Super-Ego is very similar to the Id in its blind irresponsibility for the life of its carrier. This behavior is very similar to the behavior of children who relieve their fear by closing their eyes tightly, covering their heads with a blanket, covering their faces with their palms, and turning their backs. Information that is returned by the environment and that contradicts established knowledge about oneself, the self-concept, is also repressed. The more rigid, one-dimensional, and consistent the self-concept (I am exactly like this, and not another), the greater the likelihood of repressing feedback that says: “But in this situation you are different, you are not like that at all!” Resolving cognitive dissonance through the mechanism of repressing unpleasant things brings relief in the current situation, but limits the development of personality in many areas, including professional ones. Repression of reality manifests itself in forgetting names, faces, situations, events of the past, which were accompanied by experiences of negative emotions. And the image of an unpleasant person is not necessarily repressed. This person may be forced out only because he was an unwitting witness to an unpleasant situation. I may constantly forget someone's name, not necessarily because the person with that name is unpleasant to me, but simply because the name is phonetically similar to the name of a person with whom I had a difficult relationship, etc.
3) Repression of the demands and instructions of the Super-ego. In this case, something unpleasant, but associated with a feeling of guilt, is also repressed. The experience of guilt is a sanction from the super-ego for committing a certain act or even for the very thought of doing something “terrible.” Repression of what works against the superego can have two consequences:
· first, this repression succeeds, the feeling of guilt is removed, psychological well-being and comfort return again, but the price of this well-being is the moral decline of the individual.
· the second consequence of the work of repression against the super-ego is neurotic reactions, in particular all kinds of phobias (fears).
The formidable super-ego, having allowed the feeling of guilt to be repressed, “punishes” her with illness.
4) Work to overcome repression. Freud said that “there is no neurotic medical history without some kind of amnesia,” in other words: the basis of neurotic personality development is repression at various levels. And if we continue to quote Freud, we can say that “the goal of treatment is to eliminate amnesia.” But how to do that? The main, preventive strategy for working with psychological defense is “clarification of all the mysterious affects of mental life”, demystification of “mysterious” mental phenomena, and this involves increasing the level of one’s scientific and psychological awareness. The acquired psychological knowledge and acquired psychological language become a tool for detecting, recognizing and designating what influenced the state and development of the individual, but which the individual did not know about, did not know, what she did not suspect. Prevention is also a conversation with another person (maybe a psychologist), to whom you can tell about your unfulfilled desires, about past and present fears and anxieties. Constant verbalization (pronunciation) does not allow these desires and fears to “slip” into the area of the unconscious, from where it is difficult to pull them out. In communicating with another person, you can learn self-control and courage to learn about yourself from others (it would be good to double-check what you hear). It is advisable to report how this information about yourself was perceived, what it felt, felt. You can keep a diary. You need to write down everything that comes to your mind in your diary, without trying to beautifully organize your thoughts and experiences. Repression sometimes makes itself felt in various kinds of slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, dreams, “stupid” and “delusional” thoughts, in unmotivated actions, unexpected forgettings, memory lapses regarding the most basic things. And the next work consists precisely in collecting such material, in revealing the meaning of these unconscious messages in an attempt to get an answer: what message is conveyed by the repressed in these breakthroughs to awareness.
Stun
All three types of repression described (repression of drives, repression of reality, repression of the demands of the Superego) are spontaneous, “natural” and, as a rule, unconsciously occurring methods of psychoprotective resolution difficult situations. Very often, the “natural” work of repression turns out to be ineffective: either the energy of attraction is extremely high, or information from the outside is too significant and difficult to eliminate, or remorse is more imperative, or all of this acts together. And then the person begins to use additional artificial means to more “effectively” repress the work. In this case, we are talking about such powerful drugs on the psyche as alcohol, drugs, pharmacological substances (psychotropic, analgesics), with the help of which a person begins to build additional artificial filters and barriers to the desires of the id, the conscience of the superego and the disturbing aversive information of reality. When stunned, no matter what means is used, only a change in mental states occurs, but the problem is not solved. Moreover, new problems arise associated with the use of these drugs: physiological dependence and psychological dependence appear. With regular use of stunning, personality degradation begins.
Suppression
Suppression is a more conscious avoidance of disturbing information than with repression, diverting attention from conscious affectogenic impulses and conflicts. This is a mental operation aimed at eliminating from consciousness the unpleasant or inappropriate content of an idea, affect, etc. The specificity of the mechanism of suppression is that, unlike repression, when the repressive instance (I), its actions and results are unconscious, it, on the contrary, acts as a mechanism for the work of consciousness at the level of the “second censorship” (located according to Freud, between consciousness and subconscious), ensuring the exclusion of some mental content from the area of consciousness, and not about transferring from one system to another. For example, a boy’s reasoning: “I should protect my friend - a boy who is being cruelly teased. But if I do this, then the teenagers will get to me. They will say that I am also a stupid little thing, and I want them to think that "That I'm as grown up as they are. I'd rather not say anything." So, suppression occurs consciously, but its causes may or may not be realized. The products of repression are in the preconscious, and do not go into the unconscious, as can be seen in the process of repression. Suppression is a complex defense mechanism. One of the options for its development is asceticism.
1) Asceticism. Asceticism as a mechanism of psychological defense was described in the work of A. Freud “Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms” and defined as the denial and suppression of all instinctive impulses. She pointed out that this mechanism is more typical for adolescents, an example of which is dissatisfaction with their appearance and the desire to change it. This phenomenon is associated with several features of adolescence: rapid hormonal changes occurring in the body of young people and girls can cause obesity and other appearance defects, which actually makes the teenager not very attractive. Negative feelings about this can be “removed” with the help of a defense mechanism - asceticism. This mechanism of psychological defense is found not only in adolescents, but also in adults, where high moral principles, instinctive needs and desires most often “collide,” which, according to A. Freud, underlies asceticism. She also pointed out the possibility of spreading asceticism to many areas of human life. For example, teenagers begin not only to suppress sexual desires, but also stop sleeping, communicating with peers, etc. A. Freud distinguished asceticism from the mechanism of repression on two grounds:
1. Repression is associated with a specific instinctive attitude and concerns the nature and quality of instinct.
2. Asceticism affects the quantitative aspect of instinct, when all instinctive impulses are considered dangerous;
With repression, some form of substitution takes place, while asceticism can only be replaced by a switch to the expression of instinct.
Nihilism
Nihilism is the denial of values. The approach to nihilism as one of the mechanisms of psychological defense is based on the conceptual provisions of E. Fromm. He believed that the central problem of man is the inherent contradiction in human existence between being “thrown into the world against one’s will” and being transcended by nature through the ability to be aware of oneself, others, the past and the present. He substantiates the idea that the development of man and his personality occurs within the framework of the formation of two main trends: the desire for freedom and the desire for alienation. According to E. Fromm, human development follows the path of increasing “freedom,” which not every person can adequately use, causing a number of negative mental experiences and states, which leads him to alienation. As a result, a person loses his self. A defense mechanism “flight from freedom” arises, which is characterized by: masochistic and sadistic tendencies; destructivism, the desire of man to destroy the world so that it does not destroy himself, nihilism; automatic conformity.
The concept of “nihilism” is also analyzed in the work of A. Reich. He wrote that bodily characteristics (stiffness and tension) and characteristics such as constant smiling, arrogant, ironic and cocky behavior are all remnants of very strong defense mechanisms in the past that have become detached from their original situations and turned into permanent character traits , “armor of character”, manifesting itself as “character neurosis”, one of the reasons for which is the action of the defense mechanism - nihilism. “Character neurosis” is a type of neurosis in which a defensive conflict is expressed in certain character traits, modes of behavior, i.e. in the pathological organization of personality as a whole.
Insulation
This peculiar mechanism in psychoanalytic works is described as follows; a person reproduces in consciousness, remembers any traumatic impressions and thoughts, but the emotional components separate them, isolate them from cognitive ones and suppress them. As a result, the emotional components of impressions are not recognized with any clarity. An idea (thought, impression) is perceived as if it were relatively neutral and did not pose a danger to the individual. The isolation mechanism has various manifestations. It is not only the emotional and cognitive components of the impression that are isolated from each other. This form of defense is combined with the isolation of memories from the chain of other events, associative connections are destroyed, which, apparently, is motivated by the desire to make it as difficult as possible to reproduce traumatic impressions. The action of this mechanism is observed when people resolve role conflicts, primarily interrole conflicts. Such a conflict, as is known, arises when in the same social situation a person is forced to play two incompatible roles. As a result of this need, the situation becomes problematic and even frustrating for him. To resolve this conflict at the mental level (i.e. without eliminating the objective conflict of roles), the strategy of mental isolation is often used. In this strategy, therefore, the isolation mechanism occupies a central place.
Cancellation of an action
This is a mental mechanism that is designed to prevent or weaken any unacceptable thought or feeling, to magically destroy the consequences of another action or thought that are unacceptable to the individual. These are usually repetitive and ritualistic actions. This mechanism is associated with magical thinking, with belief in the supernatural. When a person asks for forgiveness and accepts punishment, the bad deed is, as it were, annulled and he can continue to act with a clear conscience. Recognition and punishment prevent more severe punishments. Under the influence of all this, the child may develop the idea that some actions have the ability to make amends or atone for bad things.
Transfer
To a very first approximation, transference can be defined as a protective mechanism that ensures the satisfaction of desire while maintaining, as a rule, the quality of energy (thanatos or libido) on substitute objects.
1) Removal. The simplest and most common type of transfer is displacement - substitution of objects for the outpouring of accumulated thanatos energy in the form of aggression and resentment. This is a defense mechanism that directs a negative emotional reaction not to a traumatic situation, but to an object that has nothing to do with it. This mechanism creates a kind of “vicious circle” of mutual influence of people on each other. Sometimes our Self is looking for objects on which to take out our resentment, our aggression. The main property of these objects should be their voicelessness, their resignation, their inability to besiege me. They must be silent and obedient to the same extent as I silently and obediently listened to reproaches and humiliating characteristics from my boss, teacher, father, mother, and in general anyone who is stronger than me. My anger, unresponsive to the true culprit, is transferred to someone who is even weaker than me, even lower on the ladder of the social hierarchy, to a subordinate, who in turn transfers it further down, etc. The chains of displacements can be endless. Its links can be both living beings and inanimate things (broken dishes in family scandals, broken windows of train cars, etc.).
Vandalism is a widespread phenomenon, and not only among teenagers. Vandalism in relation to a silent thing is often only a consequence of vandalism in relation to a person. This, so to speak, is a sadistic version of vengeance: aggression on another.
Displacement may also have masochistic option- self-aggression. If it is impossible to respond externally (too strong an opponent or an overly strict Super-Ego), the thanatos energy turns on itself. This may manifest itself externally in physical actions. A person tears out his hair out of frustration, out of anger, bites his lips, clenches his fists until they bleed, etc. Psychologically, this manifests itself in remorse, self-torture, low self-esteem, derogatory self-characterization, and lack of faith in one’s abilities. Persons who engage in self-displacement provoke the environment towards aggression towards them. They “set themselves up” and become “whipping boys.” These whipping boys become accustomed to asymmetrical relationships, and when the social situation that allows them to be at the top changes, these individuals easily turn into boys who mercilessly beat others as they were once beaten.
2) Substitution. Another type of transfer is substitution. In this case, we are talking about replacing objects of desire, which are provided mainly by libido energy. The wider the palette of objects, objects of need, the wider the need itself, the more polyphonic the value orientations, the deeper the inner world of the individual. Substitution manifests itself when there is some fixation of the need on a very narrow and almost unchangeable class of objects; classic substitution - fixation on one object. During substitution, the archaic libido remains, there is no ascent to more complex and socially valuable objects. The situation of replacement has a prehistory; there are always negative preconditions.
Often replacement is accompanied and reinforced by displacement. Those who love only animals are often indifferent to human misfortunes.
Monolove can be accompanied by a total rejection of everything else. This situation of being alone together can have dire outcomes.
The worst thing is the death of a beloved object. The death of the only one through whom I was connected to this world. The meaning of my existence, the core on which my activity rested, collapsed. The situation is extreme, it also has a palliative option - to live in memory of the object of your love.
The other outcome is also tragic. The action force is equal to the reaction force. The greater the dependence on a subject, the greater and more unconscious the desire to get rid of this single-subject dependence. There is only one step from love to hatred; monogamous people are often the most blatant destroyers of the object of their love. Having fallen out of love, a monogamous man must psychologically destroy the object of his former love. In order to get rid of the object of binding his libido energy, such a person turns it into the energy of thanatos, into an object of displacement.
3) Autoerotic replacement. Also, the mechanism of substitution can be directed at oneself, when not another, but I myself am the object of my own libido, when I am autoerotic in the broad sense of the word. This is the position of an egoistic, egocentric personality. The narcissist is a symbol of autoerotic substitution.
4) Withdrawal (avoidance, flight, self-restraint). The next type of transference is withdrawal (avoidance, flight, self-restraint). The personality withdraws from the activity that causes him discomfort, troubles, both real and predictable.
Anna Freud in her book “The Self and Defense Mechanisms” gives a classic example of withdrawal. At her reception there was a boy whom she invited to color “magic pictures.” A. Freud saw that coloring gives a child great pleasure. She herself gets involved in the same activity, apparently in order to create an atmosphere of complete trust to start a conversation with the boy. But after the boy saw the drawings painted by A. Freud, he completely abandoned his favorite activity. The researcher explains the boy’s refusal by the fear of experiencing a comparison that is not in his favor. The boy, of course, saw the difference in the quality of coloring of the drawings by him and A. Freud.
Leaving is leaving something. Care has a source, a beginning. But, in addition, it almost always has a continuation, there is a finality, a direction. Leaving is leaving for something, somewhere. The energy taken away from the activity that I left must be bound in another object, in another activity.
a) horizontal flight - compensation. As we see, leaving is again the replacement of objects. I compensate for leaving one activity by joining another. In this sense, care has much in common with creative sublimation. And the boundaries between them are difficult to draw. However, withdrawal apparently differs from sublimation in that engaging in a new activity is compensatory, protective in nature, and the new activity has negative preconditions: it was the result of escape, the result of avoiding unpleasant experiences, the actual experience of failures, fears, some kind of incompetence, failure. Here, unfreedom was not processed, was not experienced, it was palliatively replaced by other activities.
The sphere of mental activity presents a lot of opportunities for substitutions in the form of care. The perception of one’s own incompetence, the actual impossibility of solving this or that problem, is dulled, displaced by the fact that a person goes into that part of the problem that he can solve. Thanks to this, he maintains a sense of control over reality. Departure to scientific activity is also a constant clarification of the scope of concepts, classification criteria, manic intolerance to any contradiction. All these forms of withdrawal represent a horizontal escape from the real problem into that mental space, into that part of the problem that does not need to be solved or that will be solved on its own along the way, or that the individual is able to solve.
b) vertical flight - intellectualization
Another form of withdrawal is vertical escape, otherwise intellectualization, which consists in the fact that thinking and thereby solving a problem is transferred from a concrete and contradictory, difficult-to-control reality into the sphere of purely mental operations, but mental models of getting rid of concrete reality can abstract so far from the reality itself reality, that solving a problem on a substitute object, on a model, has little in common with the solution in reality. But the feeling of control, if not over reality, then at least over the model, remains. However, going into modeling, theory, and generally into the realm of the spirit can go so far that the path back to the world of reality is, on the contrary, forgotten. An indicator by which a departure from the fullness of being into a narrow spectrum of life is recognized is a state of anxiety, fear, restlessness.
c) fantasy
The most common care option is fantasy. Blocked desire, actually experienced trauma, incompleteness of the situation - this is the complex of reasons that initiate fantasy.
Freud believed that “instinctive desires...can be grouped under two headings. These are either ambitious desires that serve to elevate the individual, or erotic ones.”
In ambitious fantasies, the object of desire is the fantasizer himself. He wants to be a desirable object for others.
And in erotically colored desires, the object becomes someone else from a close or distant social environment, someone who in reality cannot be the object of my desire.
An interesting fantasy is the “fantasy of deliverance,” which combines both desires, ambitious and erotic, at the same time. A person imagines himself as a savior, a deliverer.
Freud's patients were often men who, in their fantasies, acted out the desire to save a woman with whom they had an intimate relationship from social decline. Freud, together with his patients, analyzed the origins of these fantasies right up to the onset of the Oedipus complex. The beginning of the fantasies of deliverance were the boy’s unconscious desires to take away his beloved woman, the boy’s mother, from his father, to become a father himself and to give the mother a child. The fantasy of deliverance is an expression of tender feelings for one's mother. Then, with the disappearance of the Oedipus complex and the acceptance of cultural norms, these childhood desires are repressed and then, in adulthood, manifest themselves in imagining oneself as a deliverer for fallen women.
The early appearance of a fantasy of deliverance can be initiated by a difficult situation in the family. The father is an alcoholic, starts drunken brawls in the family, and beats the mother. And then in the child’s head the pictures of his mother’s deliverance from the oppressive father come to life, even to the point of imagining the idea of killing the father. It is interesting that such “deliverer” boys choose as wives women who, with their subdominance, remind them of their unfortunate mother. A purely fantastic deliverance from the father does not prevent the child from identifying with the dominant position of the tyrant father. For new woman in his life, as a rule, he will act as a tyrant husband.
5) “Second-hand experience.” Conventionally, the following type of transference can be called “second-hand experience.” “Second-hand experience” is possible if the individual, due to a number of reasons, both objective and subjective, does not have the opportunity to apply his strengths and interests in the current situation. life situation"now and here." And then this experience of desire is realized on substitute objects that are nearby and which are connected with the real object of desire: books, films. Fulfillment of desires on substitute objects, on second-hand objects does not provide full satisfaction. This desire is preserved, supported, but in this vicarious situation one can get stuck, since the “second-hand experience” is more reliable and safe.
Transference can occur due to the fact that the fulfillment of desires in the waking state is impossible. And then the desire comes true in dreams. When strict censorship of consciousness sleeps. In the waking state, work to repress any desire can be more or less successful. Since the content of a dream can be remembered and thereby revealed to consciousness, the dream images can represent some kind of substitutions, ciphers, symbols of real desires. Dreams perform a certain psychotherapeutic function to relieve the acuteness of the experience of lack of something or someone.
Also, “second-hand experience” is possible due to sensory deprivation (insufficient influx of information into the central nervous system).
The sensory influx of human information into the central nervous system consists of different types of sensations coming from the corresponding sense organs (visual, auditory, taste, skin sensations). But there are two types of sensations, kinesthetic and a sense of balance, which, as a rule, are not subject to awareness, but nevertheless make their contribution to the general sensory flow. These sensations come from receptors that innervate (penetrate) muscle tissue. Kinesthetic sensations occur when muscles contract or stretch.
The state of boredom is guaranteed sharp decline information from outside. Information may exist objectively, but it is not perceived because it is not interesting. What does a bored child do to ensure the flow of information into the central nervous system? He begins to fantasize, and if he does not know how, cannot fantasize, then he begins to move his whole body, spin, spin. Thus, it provides an influx of kinesthetic sensations into the central nervous system. The child needs to be provided with an influx of information. If he is not allowed to move his body, then he continues to swing his legs. If this cannot be done, then he slowly, almost imperceptibly, swings his body. This is how the influx of stimuli is ensured, which is missing for the consciousness of a certain experience of emotional comfort.
6) Transfer - neurotic transfer. This type of transfer occurs as a result of an erroneous generalization of the similarity of two situations. In the primary, earlier situation, some emotional experiences, behavioral skills, and relationships with people were developed. And in a secondary, new situation, which in some respects may be similar to the primary one, these emotional relationships, behavioral skills, relationships with people are reproduced again; Moreover, since the situations are still dissimilar from each other, repeated behavior turns out to be inadequate to the new situation, and may even prevent the individual from correctly assessing and thereby adequately resolving the new situation. Transference is based on the tendency to repeat previously established behavior.
The reason for the transfer is affective constriction, unprocessed past relationships.
Many psychologists call transference neurotic transference. Having found himself in new areas, new groups and interacting with new people, the “neurotic” brings old relationships, old norms of relationships into new groups. He seems to expect a certain behavior from the new environment, a certain attitude towards himself and, of course, behaves in accordance with his expectations. This causes appropriate reactions in the new environment. A person who is treated unfriendly may be puzzled by this, but most likely will respond in kind. How does he know that hostility towards him is just a transference error. The transfer was successful and realized if its subject transferred the old experience to a new situation. But it succeeds twice if the old experience of the transference subject is imposed on the social environment, on another person. This is what makes the transfer so scary, that it includes more and more people in its orbit.
But there is a situation where a transfer is simply necessary in order to get rid of it. This is the situation of psychoanalysis. The therapeutic effect of psychoanalysis lies precisely in the conscious use of transference. The psychoanalyst is a very powerful transference object for his patient. All the dramas that play out in the patient’s soul are, as it were, transferred to the figure of the psychoanalyst, to the relationship that arises between the psychoanalyst and the patient, and the psychoanalytic relationship turns into a neuralgic point in the patient’s life. And on this basis of this artificial neurosis, all the neurotic phenomena that exist in the patient are reproduced. On the basis of this same artificial neurosis, they must be eliminated in the relationships of this dyad.
Transference has many forms and manifestations, but in essence the basis of any transference is the “meeting” of unconscious desires with inauthentic objects, with their substitutes. Hence the impossibility of an authentic and sincere experience on a substitute object. In addition, fixation on a very narrow class of objects is often observed. New situations and new objects are rejected or old forms of behavior and old relationships are reproduced in them. Behavior becomes stereotypical, rigid, even harsh.
Countertransference is a set of unconscious reactions of the analyst to the personality of the person being analyzed and especially to his transference.
7) Working with transfer. The main direction of working with defense mechanisms is the constant awareness of their presence in oneself.
An indicator of displacement is that the objects of the outpouring of aggression and resentment, as a rule, are persons on whom it is not dangerous for the bearer of the transference to pour out anger and resentment. There is no need to rush to return any resentment or aggression that has arisen to the culprit who has turned up. First, it is better to ask the question: “What is it about me that is so offended?”
With other types of transference, awareness is required of what is avoided in the real world, how diverse interests and objects of attachment are.
Rationalization and defensive argumentation
In psychology, the concept of “rationalization” was introduced by psychoanalyst E. Jones in 1908, and in subsequent years it took hold and began to be constantly used in the works of not only psychoanalysts, but also representatives of other schools of psychology.
Rationalization as a defensive process consists in the fact that a person invents verbalized and at first glance logical judgments and conclusions to falsely explain and justify his frustrations, expressed in the form of failures, helplessness, privation or deprivation.
The selection of arguments for rationalization is primarily a subconscious process. The motivation for the rationalization process is much more subconscious. The real motives of the process of self-justification or defensive argumentation remain unconscious, and instead of them, the individual carrying out mental defense invents motivations, acceptable arguments designed to justify his actions, mental states, and frustrations.
Defensive argumentation differs from conscious deception by the involuntary nature of its motivation and the conviction of the subject that he is telling the truth. Various “ideals” and “principles”, high, socially valuable motives and goals are used as self-justifying arguments.
Rationalizations are a means of preserving a person’s self-esteem in a situation in which this important component of his self-concept is in danger of declining. Although a person can begin the process of self-justification even before the onset of a frustrating situation, i.e. in the form of anticipatory mental protection, however, cases of rationalization after the onset of frustrating events, such as the actions of the subject himself, are more common. Indeed, consciousness often does not control behavior, but follows behavioral acts that have a subconscious and, therefore, not consciously regulated motivation. However, after realizing one’s own actions, rationalization processes can unfold with the goal of comprehending these actions, giving them an interpretation that is consistent with a person’s idea of himself, his life principles, and his ideal self-image.
Polish researcher K. Obukhovsky gives a classic illustration of hiding true motives under the guise of upholding good goals - the fable of the wolf and the lamb: “The predator wolf “cared about the rule of law” and, seeing a lamb near a stream, began to look for a justification for the sentence that he would like to carry out. The lamb actively defended himself, nullifying the wolf's arguments, and the wolf, it would seem, was about to leave with nothing, when he suddenly came to the conclusion that the lamb was undoubtedly to blame for the fact that he, the wolf, felt hungry. This was true, for appetite actually manifests itself at the sight of food. The wolf could now calmly eat the lamb. His action is justified and legalized.”
Motives of a protective nature appear in people with a very strong super-ego, which, on the one hand, does not seem to allow real motives to become conscious, but, on the other hand, gives these motives freedom of action, allows them to be realized, but under a beautiful, socially approved facade; or part of the energy of a real asocial motive is spent on socially acceptable goals, at least so it seems to the deceived consciousness.
This kind of rationalization can be interpreted in another way. The unconscious id realizes its desires by presenting them before the ego and the strict censorship of the superego, in the garb of decency and social attractiveness.
As a defensive process, rationalization is traditionally (starting with the above-mentioned article by E. Jones) defined as a process of self-justification, psychological self-defense of the individual. In most cases, we actually observe precisely such defensive arguments that can be called rationalizations for oneself. By reducing the value of an object to which he unsuccessfully strives, a person rationalizes for himself in the sense that he strives to preserve self-esteem, his own positive image of himself, as well as to preserve the positive image that, in his opinion, others have about their personality. Through defensive argumentation, he seeks to preserve his “face” in front of himself and people significant to him. The prototype of this situation is the fable “The Fox and the Grapes.” Unable to get the much-desired grapes, the fox eventually realizes the futility of his attempts and begins to verbally “talk” his unfulfilled need: grapes are green and generally harmful, and do I even want them?! However, a person is capable of identification with both individuals and reference groups. In cases of positive identification, a person can use the mechanism of rationalization in favor of individuals or groups with whom he is to one degree or another identified, if the latter find themselves in a frustrating situation.
Defensive justification of objects of identification is called rationalization for others. Rationalizations given by the parent in favor of the child, through internalization, turn into internal rationalizations for themselves. Thus, rationalization for others genetically precedes rationalization for oneself, although a child, from the very beginning of the period of speech acquisition, finding himself in frustrating situations, can invent rationalizations in his own favor. The mechanism of rationalization for others is based on the adaptive mechanism of identification, and the latter, in turn, is usually closely related to or based on the mechanism of introjection.
Direct rationalization is that a frustrated person, carrying out defensive argumentation, talks about the frustrator and about himself, justifies himself, and overestimates the strength of the frustrator. This is rationalization, during which a person generally remains in the circle of real things and relationships.
In indirect rationalization, a frustrated person uses the mechanism of rationalization, but the objects of his thought become objects and questions that have no direct relation to his frustrations. It is assumed that as a result of subconscious mental processes, these objects and tasks receive symbolic meaning. It is easier for an individual to operate with them, they are neutral and do not directly affect conflicts and frustrations of the individual. Direct rationalization in this case would be painful, giving rise to new frustrations. Therefore, the true content of frustrations and conflicts is subconsciously repressed, and their place in the sphere of consciousness is taken by neutral contents of the psyche.
Consequently, in the transition from direct (or “rational”) defensive argumentation to indirect (or indirect, “irrational”) rationalization, the mechanism of suppression or repression plays an important role.
Rationalizations lead to success, i.e. to normal protective adaptation when received social support. Rationalization as a protective mechanism manifests itself not only in the mental, cognitive sphere, but also in the behavioral sphere, in other words, cognitive rationalization is transmitted with behavioral accompaniment. In this case, behavior is strictly rational, according to an algorithm; no spontaneity is allowed. Behavior turns into a ritual that carries meaning only if strictly observed. In the future, the cognitive justification of the ritual can go away, disappear, be forgotten, only the will and its automatic execution remain. Ritualization fascinates, “conspiracy” reality. This connection of cognitive rationalization with the ritualization of behavior raises the question of whether obsessive neurosis (obsessive-compulsive neurosis) is a consequence of such a link in rationalization.
Benefits of rationalization: the world appears harmonious, logically sound, predictable, predictable. Rationalization gives confidence, relieves anxiety and tension. Rationalization allows you to maintain self-respect, “get away with it,” and “save face” in situations that contain unpleasant information. It changes your attitude towards the relevant subject, allowing you to change nothing about yourself. E. Fromm noted that rationalization is a way to “stay in the herd” and feel like an individual.
Disadvantages of rationalization: using rationalization, a person does not solve the problem that caused the defense to arise. There is a “pushing back” of a constructive solution to the problem in time or space. Rationalization, serving the desire to appear better to oneself and others than one actually is, even aggravates problems and slows down, if not stops, personal growth. It tames the inner world of the individual, thinking becomes stereotyped, rigid, the same explanation schemes are used, labels are quickly applied without delay, the person knows everything, can explain and foresee everything. There is no room left for surprise and miracles. A person becomes deaf and blind to the fact that he does not fall into the Procrustean bed of logical explanations.
Idealization
Idealization is associated primarily with inflated emotional self-esteem or assessment of another person.
According to M. Klein, idealization is a defense against the attraction to personality destruction, since the idealized image (a person’s idea of himself) is endowed with character traits and virtues that are unusual for him.
K. Horney noted that the protective mechanism of idealization performs a number of functions important for personal stability: it replaces a person’s real self-confidence; creates conditions for a feeling of superiority, a feeling that one is better, more worthy than others; replaces genuine ideals (when protection is in effect, a person vaguely imagines what he wants; his ideals are not clear, they are contradictory, but the idealized image gives life some meaning); denies the presence of intrapsychic conflicts (rejects everything that is not part of the behavior pattern he himself created); creates a new line of splits in the personality, forming a barrier to its true development. In general, the idealization mechanism can lead to loneliness.
It is necessary to once again individually evaluate social norms, standards, form your own point of view on the world, the people around you, become independent, etc.
Depreciation
This is a personal defense mechanism based on reducing goals, other people’s achievements, and one’s own failures in order to avoid unpleasant experiences. Devaluing one’s own mistakes and failures creates personal ideas that the trouble that happened is “nothing” compared to what could have happened. The protective mechanism of devaluing the achievements and successes of other people is generally more complex and, as a rule, veiled, while the success of another in one area is necessarily associated with a discussion of his lack of success, and sometimes failure in another area.
Projection
Projection is based on the fact that a person unconsciously attributes to other people qualities that are inherent in the projector himself and which he does not want to have, does not want to realize. And those negative emotions that would have been directed against oneself are now directed towards others and the subject manages in this way to maintain a high level of self-esteem.
This defense mechanism is a consequence of the work of repression. Thanks to repression, the desires of eros and thanatos, which were striving to satisfy, were suppressed and driven back inside, but here, in the It, they do not cease to exert their effect. No matter how strong and successful in its repressive activity the censorship of the Super-ego may be, it has to expend a large amount of energy on suppressing these drives, on keeping them in the structure of the id, on excluding them from consciousness. This great work of repressing the Super-I can be saved if this authority directs all its repressive measures not to the “criminal” desires of its bearer, but to the desires and actions of another person. Hitting yourself is difficult, painful, and energy-intensive. The internal conflict between the id and the super-ego persists, it asthenizes the person. There is always the possibility that this internal conflict will break out and be “made public.” In addition, to beat one’s own, to crush one’s desires is to indirectly admit to one’s Super-Ego the guilt of the fact that it was this authority that overlooked, under-controlled, and under-repressed the desires of the It. Isn’t it better for the mental apparatus to direct all the power of the repressive apparatus to another person, to his immoral behavior, and thereby distract him from himself? In this case, the desires repressed from oneself are projected onto another. A person has so repressed and driven his desires into the id that he does not suspect that he has them. He doesn't have any. The individual is pure, blameless before his Super-Ego. But others have them, in others the individual sees them, he vehemently condemns them, he is indignant at their presence in another person. The wider the area of projection objects, the greater the likelihood that the condemned quality is one’s own. Projection is carried out easier on someone whose situation, whose personal characteristics are similar to the projector. An old maid is more likely to blame women rather than men for sexual promiscuity, but she will be even more likely to criticize the lifestyle of her neighbor, who is as lonely as herself.
The object of projection can often be people who do not even have a hint of the presence of the vices of which they are accused, i.e. projection is blind in its direction.
The psychoanalytic understanding of projection as a defense mechanism begins with the works of S. Freud, who first discovered projection in paranoia and jealousy, when a person’s repressed feelings, anxiety and fear are rooted in himself and are unconsciously transferred to others. It is this protective mechanism that causes feelings of loneliness, isolation, envy, and aggressiveness.
Z. Freud believed that projection is part of the phenomenon of transference (transfer) in the case when a person attributes to another words, thoughts and feelings that, in fact, belong to himself: “You will think that ..., but this is not at all So".
K. Horney noted that by the way a person scolds another, one can understand what he is like.
F. Perls wrote that the projector does to others what he himself accuses them of. Some features of projection have been noticed at the level of everyday and everyday psychology and are reflected in proverbs and sayings: “Even a thief’s hat is on fire,” “Whoever hurts, talks about it,” etc.
In general, the term “projection” itself is used quite wide range phenomena - in art, when a person projects his inner world, creating paintings, works of art, in everyday life, when a person looks at the world through the prism of your state, mood. So, a person in joy looks at others through “rose-colored glasses,” etc.
But the defense mechanism called projection is something else. It is closely related to other defensive reactions, since at first a person represses and denies some material, and only after that he begins to clearly notice it in other people, thereby getting rid of anxiety, internal conflicts and strengthening the image of the Self, his self-attitude, interpreting the behavior of other people based on their own motives.
Projection, while temporarily freeing one from negative experiences, makes a person either overly suspicious or very careless. The laws of projection show why you cannot seek psychological help from friends, acquaintances, or random “specialists” - they will advise you to do something that you would not dare to do yourself. Professional psychologists and other specialists working with people should not forget this.
Identification
Identification in personality and social psychology is defined as the emotional-cognitive process of “identifying a subject with another subject, group, or model.” The identification mechanism had its origins in the psychoanalysis of S. Freud. Identification is based on an emotional connection with another person. The specific properties and qualities of another person, his facial expression, manner of speaking, gait, style of behavior - all this is copied and reproduced. Thanks to identification, the formation of behavior and personality traits taken as a model occurs.
In his work “Psychology of the Masses and Analysis of the Human Self,” S. Freud identifies several types of identification:
a) identification with a loved one;
b) identification with an unloved person;
c) primary identification: the primary relationship between mother and child, in which there is no differentiation between subject and object;
d) identification as a replacement for libidinal attachment to an object, formed through regression and introjection of the object into the structure of the Self;
e) identification that arises from the perception of commonality with another person who is not the object of sexual desire.
To understand others, people often strive to become like them, thus trying to guess their mental states. The existence of a close connection between identification and empathy has been established. Empathy is affective “understanding.”
1) Imago - internal image an external object in our personality. The first persons surrounding the child determine the conditions of life and socialization not only in the current situation of infancy and childhood, but they continue to exert influence (sometimes catastrophically fatal) further into others. age periods person.
The influence of the first persons on the personality is manifested in the formation of the so-called imago, internal images that represent real parents, teachers, etc. in the child’s psyche. So, the imago is an internal image that represents some external object in our personality. The external and internal reality of a person is reflected and refracted through the imago. Psychoanalytically: our imagoes are perhaps the largest part of the Super-Ego. Internal beliefs, formulated as a certain nameless principle, are based on an imago, an internal model, someone’s internal image.
Let us list the violations in the construction of the imago:
1. First violation - adults are too rigidly structured. Firstly, this significantly limits their range of action; the tougher the imago, the larger the class of objects that cannot be passed through the imago; they are simply not noticed or rejected.
The consequence of such a correlation is the very impossibility of changing the imago, the impossibility of removing their hyperideality. The more flexible and tolerant the imago, the larger class of objects is passed through it, the greater the load the imago experiences, but the greater the likelihood of its change.
Rigid imagoes lead to so-called fixations, fatal predestination life path. Paternal fixation in a girl can lead to the fact that in a man she values the literal likeness of her father, to the point that she chooses a potential alcoholic as her husband, because... father was an alcoholic. It is clear that the imago unconsciously makes a choice. Although the search may be deliberately aimed at choosing a non-alcoholic.
2. Second violation- imagoes are unstable, extremely changeable, unstructured. A person with such an imago is a person without an inner core, without a king in his head. Such a person is chaotic in his search for connections and attachments. Such a person follows his unconscious impulses and the external situation. The refraction of external and internal stimuli through the imago does not occur, since in essence there is no imago. Behind the eternal, inescapable race for impressions is a longing for fixed objects or a longing to be the object of such fixed love. Most likely, people with a very amorphous imago or with the absence of an imago did not have in childhood those significant persons for whom their child was of value, was an event in their life, even if this event was colored negative emotions. The absence of such significant people in the situation of a child’s social development does not provide him with role models for sublimation, transferring the energy of libido and thanatos to a higher, actually human, social value level.
3. Third violation is that the child builds his imago, distancing himself from real people. His imago has nothing in common with his social environment. And the child withdraws into his own shell. He is, as Freud would say, autoerotic and autoaggressive, i.e. the objects of thanatos and libido are he. This is the Narcissist way. Or the child escapes into the world of fantasy, the world of his own images, and he does not need communication partners, he communicates with himself. This is the path of an autistic child. The reasons for such isolation on one’s own imago, on oneself, is that the child’s social environment in its manifestations is unpredictable, unpredictable. Today they praised me for drawing with charcoal on the wall, they were touched, tomorrow for similar creativity there was a severe punishment. The child cannot predict the behavior of others towards him; this unpredictability of the environment is perceived as a situation of threat, a situation of danger.
2) Identification with the “lost object”. Acts as a protective mechanism, as it reduces the strength of frustration resulting from such a loss. Such identification not only allows pathological disorders suppress, overcome the Oedipus complex, but at the same time internalize the ideals and attitudes of the parent of the opposite sex. The protective function of such identification, according to psychoanalysis, extends far beyond childhood and manifests itself later with the loss of loved ones, a loved one, etc.
3) Anaclitic identification. Anaclitic identification is an identification in which an individual knows that by holding back and not performing some action he will receive a reward or approval.
4) Identification with the aggressor. Identification with an aggressor is an unreasonable assimilation to a threatening object, one that causes fear and anxiety.
The latter two types of identification usually coexist together. Thus, when interacting with some people, an individual tries to avoid punishment, and when communicating with others, fulfilling their demands, he strives to receive a reward.
5) Identification with the social environment. Identification with the social environment means accepting the complementary relationship between both sides of communication.
The whole point of working with identification is to form an internal dialogical attitude towards the imago (in this case, if I merge with the imago, I identify with others; my own image, my own Self, is only a cast of another image, another alien Self, here mine has been replaced by another), yes, this is not a merger with the imago of another person, but a dialogue with him, this is the consciousness that you are present in me, but you are you, and I am me.
This does not mean the overthrow of authorities, it means that along with other authorities, my Self as an authority must appear. Dialogical communication with authority is possible if two authorities participate in the dialogue, mine and yours. Otherwise, if there is only one authority, then this is always the displacement of another, not an authority, to the periphery of communication. You need to constantly reflect, analyzing your behavior: “Is what I do done by me or someone else - father, mother, teacher, boss, other authority? Maybe I allowed myself to be tritely programmed? Have you become a toy of someone else’s will, someone else’s authority?” One must certainly ask the question: when did I become a toy, when did I play along with the introduction of another into myself?
Introjection
Identification is closely related to the mechanism of introjection, i.e. inclusion of the external world into the internal world of a person. The latter is more related to mentality, as opposed to identification, which is situational and supported by behavioral and expressive characteristics. This relationship is due to the fact that the process of identifying one person with another can occur simultaneously with the personality’s involvement of the beloved object in one’s own experiences.
Playing a role
One of the specific forms of identification can include a protective mechanism called role playing, although some authors prefer to consider this mechanism as independent. The basis of playing a role is to establish control over others in order to relieve oneself of responsibility, obtain a certain benefit (reward), increase one's own importance and ensure one's own safety and peace of mind by establishing a pattern of behavior that does not change in new conditions. As with other forms of psychological defense, playing roles protects against “injections,” but at the same time deprives the individual of the warm relationships that are so necessary for a prosperous existence. A change for the better in the objective conditions of life changes little in better side in the fate of the person in the role.
So, a woman in the role of an Alcoholic’s Wife, no matter how many times she marries, will still live with an alcoholic. And Cinderella, if she doesn’t leave the role, will never get rid of dirty and hard physical work.
Symptom formation
This technique is striking in its destructiveness against the one it is supposedly designed to protect. By and large, the formation of symptoms should be considered one of the varieties of transference, namely displacement, the object of which is the carrier of this protective mechanism. The impossibility of identifying a frustrator is accompanied by the impossibility of reacting aggression to the culprit or to a substitute object (displacement). And then the subject of aggression becomes the carrier himself. The reversal or return of thanatos energy to oneself is caused by the fundamental impossibility of reacting externally. Thanks to the presence of censorship of the Superego, aggression on another person, on animals and on inanimate objects is accompanied by conscious or unconscious remorse, a feeling of guilt, which is the fear of the Superego. One could even say that aggression that is not fully responded to outside returns on itself, enriched by fears of retaliation and reproaches of conscience. There is one of two things here: if you beat someone, then with a clear conscience - or not beat them at all. But every beating of another is ultimately a blow to one’s super-ego and ego. Turning against oneself results in the formation of bodily and mental symptoms, i.e. signs of illness.
Physical bodily symptoms include: cold feet and hands, sweating, cardiac arrhythmia, dizziness, severe headaches, high or low blood pressure, myocardial infarction, hyperacidity, gastritis, stomach ulcers, muscle spasms, dermatitis, bronchial asthma etc.
Mental symptoms are even more endless: irritability, poor concentration or distribution of attention, depressive states, feelings of inferiority, increased anxiety, autism, etc.
Dealing with symptoms and illness is a unique solution to unsolvable problems in an individual’s life. The symptom draws on the energy of attraction. The person could not really solve his problems, could not sublimate the primary desires of libido and thanatos on socially acceptable objects. Other defense mechanisms do not solve the problem either. Moreover, their intensive use initiates the formation of symptoms. A person gives up the hope of self-actualization in the normal world, in the process of interacting with people. And through the symptom he communicates this to his surroundings.
Hysterical conversion
Hysterical conversion (binding of psychic energy on the soma in the form of a symptom, in the form of an anomaly, in the form of pain) is evidence that repression was to a certain extent successful, the psychological problem was not recognized. This problem moved to the level of physiology, to the level of the body and got stuck. And it is impossible to remove it only by physiological means (medicines, surgery). Since etiologically hysterical neurosis has its source in a psychological problem, a “psychodynamic nuclear conflict” (F. Alexander), then you can only get rid of it by psychological means. Freud, for example, did this by moving the patient into a psychotraumatic situation; he called it out, forced the patient to “revolve” around the problem all the time; eventually caused catharsis and thereby got rid of the symptom.
Flight into illness is an attempt to solve psychological and social problems in a physiological way, to quickly get rid of them by transferring them to the level of physiological regulation, sharpening them to a painful symptom. The benefit of the disease is twofold. Firstly, the patient is treated completely differently; he receives more attention, more care, more sympathy and pity. Sometimes it is only through illness, through a symptom, that relationships with one’s environment that were lost in a healthy state are returned.
A three-year-old child who has been sent to kindergarten will have no choice but to get sick so that he can be returned home again to his beloved mother.
Secondly, the benefit of the disease is that the patient will be worked with and treated. Illness is a call for outside help. Illness causes suffering, but illness also brings help. And who knows, maybe the doctor, working with the symptoms, will unravel and eliminate the real causes. But the benefits of the disease are extremely doubtful. Firstly, the disease still brings suffering, sometimes unbearable. Secondly, if this is care, an escape into illness, then painful substitution in satisfying needs is still not a real satisfaction of desire, not a real solution to the problem. Thirdly, painful symptoms can go so far, become so chronic, and painful, pathological conditions become so irreversible that recovery from the disease becomes impossible. And the body becomes a victim of unresolved psychological conflicts. A weak self results in a weak body, which in turn becomes an alibi.
Reactive formations
The manifestation of reactive formation is initiated by the conflict between desire and the prohibition on its satisfaction on the part of the strict Super-ego. In many cases, a person becomes frustrated due to the fact that he has socially unacceptable desires: they cause him internal conflicts and feelings of guilt. This state of frustration occurs even when these feelings are subconscious.
One of the psychological means of suppressing such feelings and resolving internal conflicts between desire and internalized norms is the mechanism of reaction formation: such conscious attitudes and behavior are formed that contradict subconscious unacceptable desires and feelings.
An example of reactive education can be a common situation in a boy’s childhood: he was unfairly offended, he wants to cry. This desire is completely legitimate and justified both physiologically and psychologically. Physiologically, crying represents a release, a muscle response, and relaxation. Psychologically, crying serves the need for consolation, affection, love, and restoration of justice. But in the case of a boy, this need for release and desire for consolation is faced with a demand from his environment, from, as a rule, very significant people: “Boys don’t cry!” This demand is accepted, picked up by the censorship of the Super-ego, the more quickly the more significant the person who demands that he follow this commandment is for the boy. The urge to cry is stopped by contractions of the diaphragm and muscle tension. The interrupted action, the interrupted gestalt “crying” is combined with its opposite “boys don’t cry.” This unplayed gestalt lives on, drawing on itself a lot of energy, which is expressed in constant tension, muscle tension, rigid behavior, and inability to respond. The natural strategy in situations of resentment and loss has changed to the opposite, carried out under the strict control of the Super-ego.
As a result of reactive formation, behavior changes to the opposite, with the opposite sign. At the same time, the object of desire, the object of relationship, is preserved. The sign of the relationship changes, instead of love there is hatred and vice versa. An excessive, excessive, emphasized manifestation of a feeling may just be an indication that it is based on a feeling of the opposite sign. And, of course, the insincerity of the reactively transformed feeling is felt by the one to whom this feeling is directed.
Lauster points out that reactive formation especially clearly demonstrates the falsity of the I in relation to myself and the people around me. It is clear that this lie is unconscious, true knowledge about oneself is sometimes so unbearable that it cannot be realized, and then a person defends himself from this knowledge.
The love and tenderness of a teenager, through the mechanism of reactive formation, is transformed into behavior that, from the outside, is the opposite of tenderness and falling in love. The boy gives the girl all kinds of trouble: he pulls her hair, hits her on the head with a briefcase, and does not allow her to pass. As a rule, the boy does not realize the real reasons for such “close” attention to the girl.
A little older censorship of the Super-Ego allows you to love the opposite sex, but this Super-Ego has already inherited strict morality, which prescribes that love must be accompanied by a rather cynical accompaniment, bravado, and prohibitions on simple and sincere relationships. In the so-called folk wisdom, reactive education will receive its reinforcement in the statements: “If it hits, it means it loves.”
Most often, character traits that are highly correlated with anxiety (bashfulness, shyness, etc.) are associated with such properties as indecisiveness, fear, excessive modesty, but also ostentatious rudeness, increased aggressiveness, etc.
Regression
Protection against anxiety. It is characterized by withdrawal in an earlier period of life, leading to carelessness, childishness, spontaneity, and touchiness.
As a protective mechanism of personality, it was studied and described by S. Freud. Freud wrote that we must distinguish three types of regression:
· topical, caused by the functioning of the mental apparatus;
· temporary, in which the previous methods of mental organization come into play again;
· formal, replacing conventional methods of expression and figurative representation with more primitive ones.
These three forms are fundamentally united, since what is more ancient in time turns out to be at the same time simpler in form.
The specificity of regressive defense mechanisms is the predominance of her passive position and indicates uncertainty in making her own decisions. In this case, it is the personal I that regresses, demonstrating its weakness and leading to simplification (infantilization) or mismatch of behavioral structures.
Sublimation
In psychology, the concept of sublimation was first systematically used by S. Freud, who understood it as the process of transforming libido into a sublime aspiration and socially acceptable activity.
The choice of sublimation as the main adaptive strategy testifies to the mental power of the individual, the central formations of his self-awareness.
Let's highlight two main types of sublimation:
a) sublimation, in which the original goal to which the personality strives is preserved - primary sublimation;
b) secondary sublimation, in which the original goal of the blocked activity is abandoned and a new goal is chosen, to achieve which a higher level of mental activity is organized.
A person who has failed to adapt with the help of the first type of sublimation can move on to the second.
Emotional burnout
Emotional burnout is a psychological defense mechanism developed by an individual in the form of complete or partial exclusion of emotions in response to a traumatic impact. It manifests itself as a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by emotional overstrain, which is reduced due to the formation of a stereotype of emotional behavior by the individual. Often, emotional burnout is considered as a consequence of the phenomenon of professional deformation in the field of human-human professions.
Compensation
Compensation is a psychological defense mechanism aimed at correcting or replenishing one’s own real or imagined physical or mental inferiority, when the inferior functions of the body are “evened out.” This psychological defense mechanism is often combined with identification. It manifests itself in attempts to find a suitable replacement for a real or imaginary shortcoming, a defect of an intolerable feeling with another quality, most often through fantasizing or appropriating the properties, advantages, values, and behavioral characteristics of another person. Often this occurs when it is necessary to avoid conflict with this person and increase a sense of self-sufficiency. At the same time, borrowed values, attitudes or thoughts are accepted without analysis and restructuring and therefore do not become part of the personality itself.
A number of authors reasonably believe that compensation can be considered as a form of protection against an inferiority complex, for example, in adolescents with antisocial behavior, aggressive and criminal actions directed against the individual. Probably, here we are talking about overcompensation or a regression similar in content to the general immaturity of the mental health.
Another manifestation of compensatory defense mechanisms may be a situation of overcoming frustrating circumstances or over-satisfaction in other areas. - for example, a physically weak or timid person, unable to respond to threats of violence, finds satisfaction in humiliating the offender with the help of a sophisticated mind or cunning. People for whom compensation is the most characteristic type of psychological defense often turn out to be dreamers looking for ideals in various spheres of life.
Jonah complex
Jonah complex - characterized by fear of one's own greatness, evasion of one's destiny, flight from one's talents, fear of success.
Martyrarization
Martyrarization is a psychological mechanism by which a person achieves desired results by dramatizing the situation, crying, moaning, fits, evoking pity from others, “working for the public.” One example of extreme cases of manifestations of martyrarization is false suicide.
Reverse feeling
The opposite feeling is one of the ways of manifesting the reversal of attraction into its opposite; this is a process in which the goal of the drive is transformed into a phenomenon with the opposite sign, and passivity is replaced by activity.
Petrification
Petrification is a protective absence of external manifestation of feelings, “numbness of the soul” with relative clarity of thought, often accompanied by a switching of attention to phenomena of the surrounding reality that are not related to the traumatic event.
Refusal from reality
Refusal of reality is a Freudian term that denotes the specificity of this method of defense in which the subject refuses to accept the reality of a traumatic perception.
Cancellation of what was once
Cancellation of what was once - the subject pretends that his previous thoughts, words, gestures, actions did not take place at all: for this he behaves in exactly the opposite way.
Reaction
Response is an emotional release and release from affect associated with memories of a traumatic event, as a result of which this memory does not become pathogenic or ceases to be so.
Bias
Displacement is a case when the feeling of tension, significance, importance of any idea moves to other chains of associations associated with the first.
Fixation
Fixation is a strong connection with a specific person or images, reproducing the same method of satisfaction and structurally organized in the image of one of the stages of such satisfaction. Fixation can be relevant, explicit, or it can remain a predominant tendency, allowing the subject the possibility of regression. Within the framework of Freud's theory of the unconscious, this is a way of including into the unconscious certain unchanging contents (experience, images, fantasies) that serve as the support of desire.
So, we looked at what psychological defense mechanisms are, what types there are and classification options. In the next chapter, we will look at one of the options for diagnosing MPD, namely, LSI (life style index) and try to conduct a study ourselves in a group of people using this technique.
We have all heard about crazy people and even see them regularly. We tell jokes about them, we are afraid, and most importantly, we avoid their company. I wonder if this behavior pattern is correct?
The problem of attitudes towards people with mental illness
Alas, there are practically no completely healthy people. Everyone suffers from something, some with a runny nose, some with gastritis, some with radiculitis - some with what. Diseases of the body are perceived by society as something ordinary, almost as the norm. Happens to everyone. The attitude is radically different where the brain and soul are affected. This is mainly due to the fact that mentally ill people often behave unpredictably and thereby cause fear. We hope that this article will at least help improve mutual understanding between people who are generally considered healthy and those who, in their eyes, are beyond the norm.
The cerebral cortex, where the conscious part of our “I” hides, is one of the youngest tissues of our body. Young in terms of development in the process of evolution - phylogenesis. In the cortex, not everything is as optimized and perfected as, for example, in muscles or bones, whose development period is much longer. But at the same time, the cerebral cortex in the entire human body is the most complex in its physiology. If you try to somehow understand what this is, with the help of allegory, then imagine a very precise and complex musical instrument, possessing the greatest possible range of notes in all the richness of their timbres and semitones. Huge as planet Earth, but at the same time, details the size of a fraction of a millimeter interact in it. Do you think it is easy to play music on such an instrument? But our thought process and other things that define us as a person are a similar music of life, created by just such a multitude of small bricks.
The number of nerve cells in the brain is in the tens of billions.
Until now, no one has really understood how all this diversity ultimately merges into a single whole. There are many theories, both scientific and religious - humanity has been searching for a way to understand itself and the world around it, probably since its inception. The important thing is that in the end the entire complex structure of the brain is subordinated to a single whole that unites it, which we are accustomed to calling the word “I”.
The concept of norm and pathology in mental processes
If, for example, a string in a musical instrument for some reason loses its properties, either by rusting, or weakening the proper tension, or something else, then the note for which this string is responsible begins to sound false. However, despite this, it is still possible to play music somehow. It can also be played when more notes are out of tune. But still, if the number of broken strings reaches a certain level, it will no longer be possible to play music - the ensemble of sounds produced will begin to represent a cacophony.
This is roughly how ours works. The brain perceives information through the senses, processes it and generates guidance for action. Violations on any of these links are the notorious broken strings.
It is probably no secret to readers that information is not transmitted to direct form to our “I”, it has already been somehow pre-processed by the brain. And deceptions of perception, as a rule, are generated not in the senses, but directly in it. An example can be seen in the picture. 
The horizontal lines in this figure are in fact parallel, no matter how our mind refuses to believe it. He was deceived, hooked by his own stereotypes. But in this case, everything is fine, because the artist, knowing the peculiarities of our perception, deliberately misled us. If we begin to perceive something distorted in everyday reality, then problems begin. We incorrectly judge the world around us, make incorrect comparisons and begin to behave abnormally in the eyes of those people who have everything in order with their perception. For example, if we begin to perceive non-existent objects with any sense organ, then these are hallucinations.
Distortions can occur, as previously mentioned, on any of the links. With an incorrect interpretation of circumstances and situations, delusional disorders begin. A person either incorrectly perceives the words and actions of others addressed to him (the so-called delusion of attitude), or incorrectly perceives his position in the world (for example, the delusion of his own greatness), or something else.
The direction of errors in self-identification is determined by the level of discussion of specific individuals or other living beings by society. If once such patients often imagined themselves, for example, as Napoleons, then in our time it is much more “accepted” to consider themselves aliens or religious saints
If damage occurs somewhere at the level of processing various information and combining it into a single whole, then logical processes are disrupted. Paradoxical conclusions from obvious situations is another symptom called paralogic. These are the ones various symptoms, alas, a lot, because, as has already been said, there are a lot of different strings in the music of our self-awareness.
How does mental illness develop?
If the string fastening begins to change its properties, then it is far from a fact that the note produced will immediately begin to be out of tune. The sound can become harder or softer, change slightly in depth or timbre, but it will only be false if disharmony appears in the vibration of the string. It’s the same with mental pathology - the line is very arbitrary. Let’s try to explain using the example of one of the mental “shifts” that are quite common in society. 
There are people with a simple way of thinking, without excesses in various abstractions. They have lower variability, but much higher stability. This is the norm. There are also people with highly developed abstract thinking, which offers a greater abundance of different interpretations of the same objects - artists, inventors, dreamers, etc. This is also a variant of the norm. But when, for some reason, among all the possible variety of options for reality, a person consciously chooses the one that is more distant from it, and not only chooses it as an option, but also believes that it actually qualitatively reflects reality - then this is already the beginning of a deviation from the norm , which we used to call paranoia. 
This symptom develops dynamically, having its own degrees of gradation - as a rule, a person prone to abstractions first develops extraordinary insight and savvy, and then, when the brain offers too many interpretations, the “I” cannot cope and begins to choose unreal ones from them - the person becomes paranoid The string has crossed the line of disharmony.
The direct translation of the word “paranoia” from ancient Greek is “circular thinking.”
We seem to have figured out a little how everything happens with individual symptoms. Let's now look at the whole thing. The “strings” that make up our personality rarely “fall out of the ensemble” one at a time. Disorders of the thought process form patterns due to the high level of interconnections in the information being processed. As a result, a pattern of symptom development can be traced in specific mental illnesses. If, for convenience, we talk about the examples already given, then the same hallucinations often go alongside delusions.
Besides all this, our “I” is not only made up of the bare logic of inferences. There are also emotions, and mood, and much more. When these “strings” are upset, phobias, manias, and so on occur.
Schizophrenia as a central problem in psychiatry
Well, one of the saddest disorders of our soul in its essence and consequences is, undoubtedly, schizophrenia. It dominates both in its distribution and in its destructiveness to a specific “I”.
Scientists have not yet found a consensus on the facets of diagnosing this disease, that is, what exactly is considered schizophrenia and what is considered other deviations from the norm. However, these are questions of facets, not substance. If you look at the name of the disease itself, the literal translation from ancient Greek will be “split of the mind.” In principle, it fully reflects the essence of pathology - our “I” loses its integrity.
Really, have you seen a broom? It seems to be a collection of different straws, but nevertheless they act in concert in common interests. Because they are pulled together either by wire, or string, or a piece of fabric. This constriction is our “I”, collecting mental processes into one coherent whole. What happens if you damage the string on a broom? The straws will begin to slip out and at one point will crumble. This is approximately the same with the personality of a patient with schizophrenia. Thoughts first begin to run around like ants in a stirred up anthill, then they begin to deviate more and more from their usual trajectories, and then they completely run as they want, independently of ourselves. 
The saddest thing is that, contrary to common errors of common perception, neither memory nor intellect suffers. At first, on early stages schizophrenia, patients are well aware of what is happening to them for a long time, but they cannot do anything. Alas, the direct consequences of this awareness are often suicide attempts, aggression and irascibility. In the next phase of development of schizophrenia, when the “straws” fall apart, the splitting turns into a disintegration of the personality, and the person ceases to be himself in the literal sense of the word. The ending of schizophrenia in the vast majority of cases is very sad - the so-called apato-abulic syndrome. In simpler terms, this is complete absence will and aspirations. A person turns into something like a plant.
We hope our article helped you understand a little the complex and dramatic world of those whom we used to call in a simple word"crazy". That in reality they are far from fools, that everything is not easy and far from fun. Soon we will continue our excursion into the world of psychiatry, and by applying the knowledge acquired today, it will be easier for you to figure out how to behave with mentally ill people. and most importantly, how to protect yourself and your loved ones from such problems.
Video about the psychiatric hospital named after N.A. Alekseeva
Human...
Psychological defense was considered within the framework of psychoanalysis (S. Freud, A. Freud, A. Adler, K. G. Jung, K. Horney, E. Erikson, E. Fromm), humanistic psychology (A. Maslow, K. Rogers), Gestalt psychology (V. Reich, F. Perls), domestic psychology (D. B. Uznadze, V. N. Myasishchev, F. V. Bassin, F. E. Vasilyuk, L. I. Antsyferova, R. M. Granovskaya, Nikolskaya I.M., Sokolova E.T., Kryukova T.L., Libin A.V., Rusina N.A., etc.).
What is common is that psychological protection is understood as a system of personality stabilization that eliminates psychological discomfort.
Psychological defense was first described in the paradigm of psychoanalysis. As is known, the personality structure according to Freud includes the “Id”, “I” and “Super-ego”. The instincts and desires of the “It” (being asocial and selfish according to Freud), expelled from consciousness, strive to be satisfied. This energy is the "engine" of human behavior. But the “Super-I” (social norms) puts a rein on them and thereby makes it possible for people to exist together. The mental and social development of a person goes through establishing a balance between instincts and cultural norms - a person’s “I” is forced to constantly seek a compromise between the energy of the unconscious rushing out and what is allowed by society. This balance, compromise, is established through the protective mechanisms of the psyche. Z. Freud studied the relationship between certain types of mental illness and neuroses. He defined defense as a mechanism that operates in a situation of conflict and is aimed at reducing the feeling of anxiety that arises in the process. He saw the solution to the conflict in the translation of traumatic experiences from the unconscious into consciousness and their response (1894). S. Freud saw the position of the psychotherapist as an absolute authority, the only active party in interaction with the patient, who focuses on identifying and analyzing personality conflicts.
The concept of “defense mechanisms” was introduced by A. Freud, who considered them as perceptual, intellectual and motor automatisms that arose in the process of involuntary and voluntary learning, and the decisive importance in their formation was given to traumatic events in the sphere of early interpersonal relationships (1936).
Followers of psychoanalysis, with similar views on the understanding of defense mechanisms as an integral property of the individual, define in different ways the sources of conflicts that bring them into action: C. G. Jung connects internal conflict with the discrepancy between the requirements of the external environment and the typological attitude of the individual; A. Adler sees the source in the conflict between feelings of inferiority and the desire for power; K. Horney points out the conflict between basic aspirations and the satisfaction of incompatible neurotic needs; E. Erickson - with psychosocial personality crises; E. Fromm sees the reason in the conflict between freedom and maintaining a sense of security. A. Maslow sees in defense mechanisms internal obstacles to adequate perception and subsequent realistic mastery of the situation. In contrast to the psychoanalytic understanding of psychological defense as a necessary condition for avoiding neurosis, as a way to eliminate conflict and as a factor in personality development, A. Maslow believes that defense is a factor that impedes personal growth.
The psychotherapeutic practice of K. Rogers was focused not on identifying and analyzing personality conflicts (unlike Freud), but on creating conditions for self-acceptance and self-actualization of the client’s personality. He emphasized that the therapist’s influence should not be directed directly at the client (as in psychoanalysis), but only at the situation in which the client is located, so that it corresponds to the possibility of updating “here and now” the client’s experience, which is threatening for him . In the context of interaction with a therapist, the client’s empirically observed resistance, according to K. Rogers, is a way of changing the threatening situation in which he finds himself, and not at all a defense in the process of awareness. The primary function of the therapist is to provide a situation in which the client can lower his defenses and look objectively at his real thoughts, feelings and conflicts. Z. Freud suggests that a person cope with his conflicts in the “world of conflict,” and K. Rogers - in the “world of empathy.” In both cases, the person has a new understanding of the situation and can act differently. However, in the first case, the other person acts for the client as an actual or potential adversary, and in the second - as a friend and ally (according to V.I. Zhurbin).
The problem of psychological defense was also the subject of consideration by representatives of Gestalt psychology. V. Reich introduced the concept of “character armor” and “bodily armor” as phenomena of constant protection. F. Perls continued the idea that psychological defense appears in “body language” and developed it into the theory of the unity of body and psyche. As a central indicator and criterion of personal health, F. Perls proposed a balance between the individual and the environment, achieved by awareness of oneself and one’s needs.
The research and concepts of psychological defense developed in Russian psychological science are based on two main approaches: the theory of attitude of D.B. Uznadze and the theory of relationships of V.N. Myasishchev. But, in contrast to the psychoanalytic emphasis on the conflict between consciousness and the unconscious, the emphasis is shifted to the dissonance between different systems of attitudes. Among domestic researchers, the greatest contribution to the development of the problem of psychological defense was made by F.V. Bassin. He categorically disagreed with the position of psychoanalysis that mental health is “the last resort for eliminating emotional stress caused by the conflict between the conscious and unconscious” and believed (like Zeigarnik, E.T. Sokolova and others) that psychological defense is normal , a daily working mechanism of human consciousness. Other researchers (V.A. Tashlykov, F.E. Vasilyuk, etc.) believe that protective mechanisms limit the optimal development of the individual, its “own activity,” “reaching a new level of regulation and interaction with the world” R.M. Granovskaya, I.M. Nikolskaya propose to distinguish between pathological psychological defense or inadequate forms of adaptation and “normal, preventive, constantly present in our everyday life.” A broad interpretation of psychological defense was carried out within the framework of personality theory (L. I. Antsyferova, F. E. Vasilyuk, B. V. Zeigarnik,). F. E. Vasilyuk offers a typology of critical situations that trigger the action of defense mechanisms. These include, as they become more complex, stress, frustration, conflict and crisis. L.I. Antsyferova reduces defense mechanisms to three main coping strategies - constructive, non-constructive, self-defeating. L.I. Antsyferova also points to the influence of personality traits on the choice of strategies and identifies two types of personality: internals, aimed at successful coping, and externals, confident in their own incapacity.
The actualization of psychological defense mechanisms is facilitated by situations that represent a serious test for a person, which to some extent exceed his internal resources, and go beyond the scope of his current development. Psychological protection is determined not by the objective event as such, but by the subjective significance of this event for a person.
The main task of psychological defense is to eliminate psychological discomfort, and not to actually solve the situation.
16 psychological defense mechanisms according to R. Plutchik:
Physical activity (“do something!”) - reducing anxiety caused by a forbidden impulse by allowing its direct or indirect expression without developing feelings of guilt.
Compensation (“but I... still am... someday I...") - an intensive attempt to correct or find a suitable replacement for a real or imaginary, physical or psychological failure.
Denial (“don’t notice it!”) - lack of awareness of certain events, elements of life experience or feelings that are painful if aware of them.
Substitution (“that’s who is to blame for everything!”)- the release of hidden emotions, usually anger, on objects, animals or people perceived as less dangerous to the individual than those that actually caused the emotion.
Fantasy (“relieve anxiety in another world!”) - escape in the imagination in order to avoid real problems or to avoid conflicts.
Identification (“Be like this!”)- unconscious modeling of another person's attitudes and behavior as a way to increase self-worth or cope with possible separation or loss.
Intellectualization (“rethink this!”) - unconscious control of emotions and impulses through excessive reliance on rational interpretation of events.
Introjection (“don’t know where you got this from!”) - appropriation of values, standards or character traits of other people in order to prevent conflicts or threats on their part.
Isolation (isolate yourself so you don’t feel it!) - perception of emotionally traumatic situations or memories of them without the feeling of anxiety naturally associated with them.
Projection (“attribute your shortcomings to someone else!”) - unconscious reflection of one’s own emotionally unacceptable thoughts, properties or desires and attribution of them to other people.
Rationalization (“find an excuse for this!”) - finding plausible reasons to justify actions caused by suppressed, unacceptable feelings.
Formation of a reaction (“reverse it!”) - preventing the expression of unacceptable desires, especially sexual or aggressive ones, by developing or emphasizing contrary attitudes and behavior.
Regression (“cry about it!”) - reversion under stress to earlier or more immature patterns of behavior and satisfaction.
Suppression (“don’t remember this!”)- exclusion from consciousness of meaning and associated emotions, or experience and associated emotions.
Sublimation (“transform it!”) - satisfaction of repressed instinctive or unacceptable feelings, especially sexual or aggressive, by implementing socially approved alternatives.
Cancellation (“cross it out!”) - behavior or thoughts that contribute to the symbolic nullification of the previous act or thought, accompanied by severe anxiety or feelings of guilt.
Mental mechanisms are a holistic set of mental states and processes that implement movement towards a certain result in accordance with a standard or frequently occurring sequence.
““Psychological mechanisms” is a concept that merges a figurative-metaphorical description (the leading principle from the generic “mechanism”) and the scientific idea of intrapsychic processes that ensure the effectiveness - in our case - of psychological influence" - this is how E. L describes psychological mechanisms Dotsenko
Depending on the psychological mechanisms involved and the nature of intrapersonal processes, several types of manipulations are distinguished.
Model of Perceptual-Based Manipulation
♦ Involvement – perception through an image.
♦ Targets – desires, interests of the addressee.
♦ Background – intermodal associations, correspondence of the image to the motive intended as the target of influence.
♦ Inducement – direct actualization of motive, seduction, provocation.
The simplest techniques are based on the presentation of such stimuli that actualize the need necessary for the manipulator. The vast majority of, for example, sexual tricks are based on this principle: exposing areas of the body, emphasizing erotically attractive forms, using movements and gestures associated with sexual games, etc.
Techniques that are similar in nature are based on direct control of the recipient’s imagination. We find an instructive example from A.S. Pushkin in “The Tale of Tsar Saltan.” This is the story of how Prince Guidon got the Tsar-Father to visit his city on the island of Buyan. The manipulation lies in the fact that Guidon never invited Saltan to his place, each time limiting himself to only conveying greetings, but in the end he waited for the (uninvited!) visit. The calculation was that after the stories of the surprised merchants about what they saw on Buyan Island, the king himself would express a desire to pay a visit to his new neighbor. This is why Guidon tried to surprise the merchants - the first manipulative technique was successfully tested on them several times. Its principle is simple: most people find it difficult to resist telling about amazing things - and surprising the listener with it. The second technique - inducing Saltan's desire to visit Guidon - is based mainly on curiosity, to which, undoubtedly, tsars are also subject.
Model of Conventional-Oriented Manipulation
♦ Involvement – with the help of special schematisms: rules, norms, scenarios.
♦ Targets are ready-made patterns of behavior.
♦ Background – socially given and individually learned life programs, behavioral scenarios accepted by the addressee, personally acquired ideas about what needs to be done, etc.
♦ Incentives – distribution of roles, appropriate scenarios, reminders (about agreements, about communication, about what should be done, about prohibitions, about what is expected, etc.).
Wherever social norms and traditions are strong, there is a suitable victim for the manipulator. The very concept of culture includes a system of prohibitions and taboos that every educated person must take into account. Those who take this too literally and follow the rules too diligently inevitably end up among the conventional robots. We offer several humorous illustrations to this thesis. Most often they make fun of adherence to the traditions of the British.
The ship landed on an uninhabited island. When landing on the shore, the team found there an Englishman who had long ago escaped from a shipwreck, as well as three houses that he had built.
– Did you really build all this yourself? Incredible! But why do you, alone, need three houses? – the travelers were perplexed.
– This first one is my home (it’s also my fortress); the second is the club I go to; the third is a club that I don’t go to.
Another episode from the life of a conventional robot, again, it seems, an Englishman.
Late at night, the butler dared to disturb the peace of his master in order to report:
– Sir, I’m sorry... An unknown person entered your wife’s bedroom through the window...
- John, get my gun and hunting suit. I'm guessing a plaid jacket would be appropriate for the occasion?
With all the rigidity of the restrictive framework of traditions, one has to admit how necessary they are as an attribute of a cultured person. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it very precisely on this score: “Rules of behavior sometimes resemble ritual rites: they seem meaningless, but they educate people.” The fact that they are used by manipulators is an inevitable socio-psychological cost.
A man crawls through a deserted, sultry desert, barely audibly repeating:
- Drink, drink, drink...
Another man crawls towards him and whispers:
- Tie, tie, tie...
The first traveler even stopped moaning and became indignant:
- What the hell kind of tie is it when you're dying of thirst?
– Three miles from here I found a restaurant where there is water, juices, and cognac. But they won't let you in without a tie.
Such strict adherents of traditions seem to be asking themselves for someone to be found for the role of a manipulative leader and begin to lead them.
The portrait of a conventional robot, a law-abiding Soviet citizen, was painted by Mikhail Zhvanetsky in his famous humoresque.
Hello?.. Is this the police?.. Tell me, you didn’t call me?.. I returned from a business trip, and the neighbors say someone came with a summons - they called me somewhere... Chizhikov Igor Semenovich, Lesnaya, 5, apartment 18 ... I don’t know what business... No, I’m not in the store... No, not the blond... 33... I’m just in case. What if you... Didn’t call... Maybe a robbery?.. I don’t... But you never know... Maybe someone slandered?.. Maybe you know?.. No, nothing yet. So you didn't call?.. Sorry for disturbing you.
Hello?.. Is this the military registration and enlistment office?..
…
Hello?.. Is this court?.. Hello?..
…
Is this a dispensary?..
…
Hello! Is this the police?.. This is Chizhikov from the dispensary. They told me to contact you. Not blond... Face is clean. One hundred sixty-seven, forty, thirty-three, blue... I’ll still come in... Well, please, let’s finish it... Can we?.. Thank you. I'm running...
Model of Operation-Oriented Manipulation
♦ Involvement - through the use of such automatisms as the power of habits, inertia, skills, logic of actions.
♦ Targets – habitual ways of behavior and activity.
♦ Background – inertia, the desire to complete the gestalt.
♦ Inducement – pushing the recipient to turn on the corresponding automaticity.
Examples of manipulations of this type are Krylov’s previously mentioned fable “The Crow and the Fox” and fishing.
Model of inference-oriented manipulation
♦ Involvement – cognitive scheme, internal logic of the situation, standard inference.
♦ Targets – patterns of cognitive processes, cognitive attitudes.
♦ Background – removal of cognitive dissonance.
♦ Inducement – hint, “puzzle”, imitation of attempts to solve a problem.
This type of manipulation is carried out by the most successful investigators in cases where there is confidence that the suspect has actually committed a crime, but there is not enough evidence to charge him. The investigator tells the criminal some information, prompting him to take action to destroy evidence, and catches him in this. This is exactly what detective Columbo did in the famous series.
Model of manipulation focused on personality structures
♦ Involvement – action, decision making.
♦ Targets – motivational structures.
♦ Background – accepting responsibility for a choice made through doubt.
♦ Inducement – actualization of intrapersonal conflict, imitation of the decision-making process.
The manipulation that we call “I want to consult with you” is very indicative in this regard. The manipulator, receiving advice, thereby places responsibility for the consequences on the one who gave this advice. In the relevant chapters we will show how this is used by manipulators in official and business relationships, in relationships between parents and children.
Model of manipulation focused on spiritual exploitation
♦ Engagement – a shared search for meaning.
♦ Targets – relationships between motives, meanings.
♦ Background – the addressee’s usual ways of coping with semantic disorientation and filling the semantic vacuum.
♦ Inducement – actualization of existing meanings and values, pushing for semantic destabilization and revaluation of values, imitation of the process of searching for meaning.
The famous phrase of Vasisualiy Lokhankin “Or maybe there is a homespun truth in this?” is directly related to this type of manipulation.
This type also includes cases of recruitment into their ranks, which are carried out by all kinds of religious sects. These are deliberately manipulative organizations, because they make a person believe in his own imperfection. They instill in him distrust of his own nature, after which the person begins to feel the need for external guidance of himself. The founders of sects, as a rule, pursue selfish goals of personal enrichment and power over people who have succumbed to their influence. In return, the latter gain a sense of security, confidence in their future and in the correctness of their chosen path.
