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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]
Defense mechanisms are behavior patterns primarily concerned with protecting ego. Presumably the process is unconscious and the aim is to fool oneself. It is intra psychic processes serving to provide relief from emotional conflict and anxiety. Conscious efforts are frequently made for the same reasons, but true defense mechanisms are unconscious.
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]
Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear , anxiety , hope and trust . [ 1 ] When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (for a positive event) or relief (for a negative one).
Anna Freud (1936) ranked regression first in her enumeration of the defense mechanisms', [16] and similarly suggested that people act out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are fixated. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental stage might cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.
Sharply hit the baby on their back, firmly but not hard enough to injure them, up to five times, the health care system advised. Recommended Heimlich maneuvers vary between adults and children.
George Vaillant divided defense mechanisms into a hierarchy of defenses ranging from immature through neurotic to healthy defenses, [12] and placed intellectualization – imagining an act of violence without feeling the accompanying emotions, for example – in the mid-range, neurotic defenses. [13]