Hey guys It`s Nikki and in this video i`ll
talk about defensive mechanisms, interested
stay to find out more.
In the previous video we talked about the
different types of fear and where they come
from* in this video we continue the topic/theme
with defensive mechanisms but this segment
is a bonus to the series because it`s actually
Sigmund Freud`s daughter Anna Freud who talks
about them in her book: Ego and the mechanisms
of defence.
The defensive mechanisms are used as a protection
when the Ego sees a threat from Superego,
Id and so on.
Let`s start with something familiar, the first
mechanism is sublimation, remember That is,
when you have a crush on your best friend’s
mother and as a result you become a professional
tennis player out of guilt. That`s a defence
mechanism which tries to protect you from
the guilt itself. The ego redirects the libidos
energy into socially accepted goal.
Next one is Denial: there is a reason why
the first of the twelve steps in alcoholism
treatment (and not only) is acceptance. Just
think about it, you deny you have a problem
therefor you don`t have to deal with with,
life is good, you don`t have to worry. The
trouble with that is that you get kick out
of your apartment because you`ve spent the
money for the rent on drinking.
And then when you are kicked out but still
don`t want to deal with your own alcoholism,
you use rationalization- this apartment was
horrible I needed to move out anyway, it`s
better it happened like this. It`s all for
good and so on. You`ve used it so successfully
that now again you are free from worry just
homeless but hey you can always go back to
your parents’ house, right.
So now you live with your parents and still
continue to drink heavily but your father
starts making a problem out of it and once
again you feel threatened so you start going
to your mother as a refuge, crying on her
shoulder just like when you were a little
boy. That`s regression going back to a past
stage of development or in short acting like
a child.
Your father keeps bugging you nonstop. You`re
soo pissed off but the house is on his name
so it`s really not a good idea to enrage him
to deal with your own anger you use displacement
which means that you fight with everyone but
your father( who is the cause for your outbursts)
and just to make things more fun you use projection
and say that everyone around you is mad and
trying to pick a fight with you when in reality
you are the the one picking the fights.
Your mother had it and sits you down to tell
you, you`re acting like a complete jerk and
it`s time to get your shit together. You lash
out at her but she`s never done something
like that. Telling you those kind of words.
So that gets you thinking and suddenly you
see her point. Now you`re overwhelmed with
guilt, fear, anxiety. All these emotions are
too much to take so it`s time for intellectualization.
You start reading about addictive behavior,
at this point you`re aware that you`re alcoholic
but the thought of it is so unbearable that
you turn it into something academic by making
it a research and writing a scientific book
about it.
You`re finally gone successfully through the
twelve step program and you are at that moment
when you can`t even remember most of the horrible
things you`ve done, for real. You`ve buried
them so deep in your mind that you`re surprised
and don`t believe when people are telling
what you`ve done- that`s called repression.
But when you`re reminded about it you start
feeling guilty, trying to get rid of it you
use compensation- buying your mother a diamond
necklace, a new tv for your father and taking
excessive care to make your partner feel good.
A very obvious compensation mechanism is also
a parent who buys toys for his/ her children
when they work too much and they feel guilty
that they`re are unable to spent time with
their kids.
Those were the defence mechanisms or the reaction
formation we`ve talked about in the previous
part. What they actually do is to prevent
us from expressing dangerous instincts by
making us act in some kind of opposite way.
Much like how little boys pull girls braids
when they like them. That`s a reaction formation
in action. Later on we might not even understand
what is so scary about this particular instinct
but at this moment when we`ve had it, the
ego felt threatened from it and used defense
mechanisms as a protection.
In the next video i`ll talk about Ulrich Beck`s
theory so if you`re interested click on to
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