Defense mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of the various unconscious reactions of the personality that the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud used defense as a psychoanalytic term for the first time (1894), but did not divide the concept into categories, considering it as a singular phenomenon of repression. His daughter, Anna Freud, furthered his theories in the 1930s, distinguishing some of the main defense mechanisms recognized today. Primary defense mechanisms include repression and denial, which serve to prevent unacceptable ideas or impulses from entering consciousness. Secondary defense mechanisms, which generally appear as a consequence of primary defense mechanisms, include projection, reaction formation, displacement, sublimation, and isolation. Defense mechanisms Freud's daughter, Anna, who still does psychoanalysis, summarized various ego defenses in The Ego and Mechanisms. of Defense (1936). As noted above, the ego protects itself from three threats: (l) The id, because the id's impulses can become so strong that they overwhelm the ego, bringing with them irrational chaos. Therefore, we may panic if our sexual or brutally hostile impulses emerge into our consciousness. (2) The outside world or real danger. For example, the ego would realize that a child's parents firmly forbid any aggression; therefore, showing them the slightest hint of homicidal impulses would produce severe anxiety. Likewise, the fear of driving recklessly or being rejected by a lover may have some basis in reality. (3) The superego is also a threat to the ego. The fundamental duty of the ego is to find some satisfaction for the id. If the superego detects any immoral aspect in our behavior, there will be hell to pay in the form of self-censorship and guilt. The ego tries to avoid this discomfort. But keep in mind that, according to Freud's original theory, ego defenses are only successful as long as the conscious part of the ego is not aware that another part of the ego is defending itself! Uncovering some of your ego's defenses can be interesting and fun, but your defenses against truly threatening impulses or ideas are unlikely to reveal what they are doing to your conscious awareness. Anna Freud used defenses as clues to repressed and fearful impulses (instincts). which were the basis of the patient's problems. For example, the sticky substance... in the center of the sheet... Psychiatric disordersSubstance abuse: regression, projection, rationalization, denial, fragmentation (form of denial, refer to time), minimization (refer to quantity) Schizophrenia: Fixation, Regression, Symbolization (keeping demons away), Identification Delusional disorders: Paranoid - Projection, Erotomania - Projection Greatness - Reaction formation, Omnipotence, Somatic - Regression Mood disorders (Depression): Introjection (loss, anger), Reaction formation (mania) Generalized Anxiety and panic disorder: regression (or repression?) Phobias: displacement, symbolization, avoidance Oedipus complex: displacement (father, horse) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: isolation of affection (ignoring the feelings of others? ), annulment (washing) Reaction formation, regression Somatoform Disorders: Repression, Somatization, ConversionBody dysmorphic disorders: repression, dissociation, distortion, symbolizationDissociative disorders (amnesia, multiple personalities): Repression, DissociationPersonality disorders: Paranoid - Projection, Histrionic - Dissociation Borderline - Splitting, Acting out, Projective identificationAlways pathological: Conversion, Somatization