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A defence mechanism can become pathological when its persistent use leads to maladaptive behaviour such that the physical or mental health of the individual is adversely affected. Among the purposes of ego defence mechanisms is to protect the mind/self/ego from anxiety or to provide a refuge from a situation with which one cannot currently cope.
Many methods used for adjustment are also defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms can be either adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context and the use. In a 2003 study, researchers found that elementary school children who utilized appropriate defense mechanisms had higher performance in academic, social, conduct, and athletic domains. [17]
For example, in a particular situation when an event occurs that violates one's preferred view of themselves, Freud stated that it is necessary for the self to have some mechanism to defend itself against this unfavorable event; this is known as defense mechanisms. Freud's work on defense mechanisms focused on how the ego defends itself against ...
Stress is a conscious or unconscious psychological feeling or physical condition resulting from physical or mental 'positive or negative pressure' that overwhelms adaptive capacities. It is a psychological process initiated by events that threaten, harm or challenge an organism or that exceed available coping resources and it is characterized ...
Splitting is a relatively common defense mechanism for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). [24] One of the DSM IV-TR criteria for this disorder is a description of splitting: "a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation ".
Compartmentalization may lead to hidden vulnerabilities related to self-organization and self-esteem [10] in those who use it as a major defense mechanism. [11] When a negative self-aspect is activated, it may cause a drop in self-esteem and mood. [9] This drop in self-esteem and mood is what the observed vulnerability is attributed to. [9]
Rationalization is a defense mechanism (ego defense) in which apparent logical reasons are given to justify behavior that is motivated by unconscious instinctual impulses. [1] It is an attempt to find reasons for behaviors, especially one's own. [ 2 ]
Freud considered that there was "reason to assume that there is a primal repression, a first phase of repression, which consists in the psychical (ideational) representative of the instinct being denied entrance into the conscious", as well as a second stage of repression, repression proper (an "after-pressure"), which affects mental derivatives of the repressed representative.