Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies brought into play to cope with reality and to maintain self-image. These defenses make possible compromise solutions to personal problems or conflicts. The compromise generally involves concealing from oneself internal drives or feelings that threaten to lower self-esteem or provoke anxiety.
They are more accurately referred to as ego defense mechanisms, and can thus be categorized as occurring when ones underlying impulses are in conflict with each other, when the underlying impulses conflict with ones moral values and beliefs, and when an external threat is posed to the ego.
There is nothing inherently wrong with using defense mechanisms. Healthy persons normally use different defenses throughout life. They tend to become pathological (self-destructive) only when its persistent use leads to maladaptive behavior such that the physical and/or mental health of the individual is adversely affected.
The American Psychiatric Association has published a breakdown of different defense mechanisms putting them into different categories. Level 1 are considered the most self-destructive, moving up to level 4 which are considered the most “normal”, or healthy (even though their use is still not the best solution to cope, or maintain self-image). The following is taken from the APA book, but somewhat re-written by me to take all the “doctor” language out. I put each level on a different post to follow. Try to go down the list and see which ones you may have used.
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