Resiliency at its Finest: Freudian Defense Mechanisms

Resiliency is one of the most important factors in determining an individual's ability to cope with difficult experiences, even traumatic ones. Often those who are more resilient survive difficult experiences because of their ability to cope- often due to defense mechanisms. We seem to be taught that defense mechanisms are dangerous, unhealthly, or even pathological- but defense mechanisms usually provide human beings the ability to survive with a higher sense of moral reasoning present, despite events that could have broken a person down to surviving at a primitive level. Danger can result, however, when defense mechanisms continue to be employed long after they are necessary.

Ego Defense Mechanisms In Freudian psychology, the Ego is appointed the task of evaluating at-hand situations while also moderating between the impulsive, childish nature of the Id and the virtuous, parental nature of the Superego. The Ego seeks a working compromise between the two, which can be an arduous task.

The Id is driven by two factors: sexuality ("Eros" or the "Life instinct") and aggression ("Thanatos" of the "Death instinct"). "Sexuality" encompasses one's desire to live, to prosper, and to reproduce. "Aggression," on the other hand, represents those motivational factors fueled by fear—threats to one's person, prosperity, well-being, etc. The Superego is the embodiment of those internalized standards learned on the path to adulthood or the "good" habits. The Ego does its best to pacify the needs of both the Id and the Superego. Conflicts can occur between more than one Id impulses, between the Id and the Superego, or when the Ego perceives an external threat.

Although charged with the difficult position of mediator, the Ego is not without an arsenal of tools, also referred to as the Ego's Defense Mechanisms. The Ego employs these conscious and unconscious blockages of the Id's impulses or ratcheting up of the Superego's moral overtures to reduce surfacing feelings of anxiety and stress. Some of these tools are as follows:

Denial
Refusal to accept or arguing that a stress-inducing threat or external reality exists.
A parent refuses to believe that his or her child is dead and argues that he or she would "feel it" if it were true.

Displacement
Shifting the Id's socially- or morally-unacceptable impulses onto an external object or person.
Can be more benign (kicking an inanimate object, such as a wall, when angry) to highly malignant and destructive (a husband gets fired and then goes home and beats his wife).

Intellectualization
Separation of anxiety-inducing emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects or components of a given situation.
Noting the construction pros and cons of makeshift shelters when driving through Skid Row rather than seeing the results of poverty and destitution.

Projection
Attributing uncomfortable or unacceptable emotions, thoughts, or motivations to another person and then perceiving that those negative aspects originate in that other person.
Perceiving that your coworkers see your outfit as unprofessional.

Rationalization
Building a belief that one's feelings or behaviors are logical and justifiable.
Taking supplies from your office is okay because of all the unpaid overtime you provide.

Reaction Formation
Taking the opposite stance of one's true beliefs, which may be anxiety-inducing.
Having extreme homophobic tendencies to hide the fear that one may think that one is secretly homosexual.

Regression
Reverting to an earlier stage of development in the face of adversity.
Losing one's spouse and in response spends inordinate amounts of time sleeping.

Repression
Imprisoning painful thoughts, memories, or experiences into the unconscious to prevent them from entering the conscious.
In adulthood, blocking the violent behaviors of a parent during childhood.

Sublimation
Transforming negative or socially-unacceptable Id impulses into positive or socially-approved actions and behaviors.
An obsessively-driven person becomes the Founder and CEO of his or her own corporation.

Suppression
The active process of pushing discomforting thoughts or emotions into the unconscious in order to cope with the present reality.
Refusing to acknowledge one's own fear when one's child is in a dangerous situation in order to act to preserve the child’s safety.


The employment of defense mechanisms by the Ego is not always negative in impact and can be healthy or even perceived as altruistic and noble. It is when the persistent use of any or several defense mechanisms leads to unhealthy behaviors that they become pathological to the Ego's well being.