Do You Know The Most Common Defense Mechanisms?

Each and every one of us, each and every one of us, has covered us with small layers to protect our integrity, dignity, or our mental health . These layers, called defense mechanisms in psychology, are magical because they seem to protect us from harm. But the truth is that the threat, and in some cases also the damage, is not as easily counteracted as it appears in the beginning. In other words, these strategies are not proving to be as effective as they promise to be.

Thus, we sometimes cover our ears very well because we will not listen to the truth we assume will be painful. The problem is that this ends up being something real. We end up plugging in “the ears of our souls”. We simply do not listen to what we do not want to listen to. It hurts me so much that I prefer to live in ignorant bliss. A very dangerous ignorant bliss.

The problem is that living in ignorance is also a punishment in itself. Because what we deny takes over us. It will repeat itself to us again and again until we accept it. And this .. Is that what Carl Gustav Jung meant:

“What you deny swallows you. What you accept transforms you. “

–CG Jung–

It seems that life never becomes a blind eye or a deaf ear to our existence. It will show us again and again the situations we try to avoid in order to make us confront and accept them.

Defense mechanisms protect us from painful truths

Defense mechanisms exist to help protect us from these truths, which hurt too much to listen to. These truths destroy our egos, diminish our self-love, and completely destroy our self-concepts. Few people find it comfortable to accept something that is related to a part of themselves that they hate. A part of themselves would be very unlikely to acknowledge or accept when faced with their own reflection.

For example, there are certain people who simply assume that their partners long for others. This makes them angry. In fact, they will not hesitate to throw this fact in the face of their partner. When in fact they are the ones who long for other people (apart from their partner) . Thus, it is their own desire that they project on their partner in the form of accusation.

Recognizing that we want other people when we are the ones who are jealous is a truth that can be painful and embarrassing. Accepting it involves acknowledging that the thing we are afraid to see in others is something we actually do ourselves. That’s why the person doing the ‘ despicable ‘ thing – because we judge it that way – is yourself.

Projection how to transfer one’s own guilt to others

Then we get to the point where we have to see everything clearly to really feel one way or the other. If we do not acknowledge what is happening to us, we spend our entire lives seeing and experiencing this in another. We will see what we hate about ourselves, in the other person. And in such a way that we become harsh and serious judges who lack a bit of empathy with the victim.

This defense mechanism, which somehow protects the integrity of our self-concept, is called “projection”. It is one of the most commonly used mechanisms. Through it, we “project” what we hate about ourselves onto other people. The anxiety that would be produced by seeing this trait in ourselves is blurred and reduced by instead seeing it in the other person.

The more we project outward, the more blind we become inward. The more of myself I throw into the world, the more blurred I become. And the more I lose my ability to act. Instead, little by little, we should work to restore and save all the arrows we roughly launch outward. Do it and you will definitely regain authenticity, honesty and awareness.

Denial, how to cover everything we do not want to see

Projection is closely linked to denial. Through denial, we cover something we do not want to see.  It is one of our defense mechanisms. We make holes in the current truth that we must accept. We do not want to see the truth, or even smell it. Reality and truth are sent far away to a magical world where we leave everything we do not want to see or deal with.

Denial, for example, is one of the phases a person experiences when going through grief. It is due to a romantic breakup, the death of a loved one, a drastic change in their lives.  Denial is a defense mechanism against anxiety and pain.

But life is also pain… And we already know that by experiencing this pain and accepting it, we can manage to continue. Our defense is there to help us often. But we must free ourselves from them if we are to live up to our full potential and remain loyal to who we really are.