Defense mechanisms are avoidance techniques that are typically used at a subconscious level to protect us from getting hurt. Unfortunately, as we grow older they generally start to do more harm than good with the cost of protecting ourselves coming at the expense of the intimacy of our closest relationships. They were originally developed by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic psychology, but they are so important that most clinicians are familiar with them and will address them in therapy. The first step in changing anything is creating awareness of the problem.
Denial - Actively dismissing reality in order to avoid discomfort.
Avoidance - Distracting oneself in order to not have to deal with something uncomfortable.
Repression - A subconscious retraction of an idea or event so that it’s no longer consciously accessible in order to avoid it.
Suppression - Consciously choosing to censor desires seen as undesirable.
Regression - Reverting to behaviors of a lower developmental stage after such behavior is no longer present. For example, bed wetting as a teenager.
Projection - Placing one’s subconscious fears, desires, or insecurities on to another. For example, someone who desires to have sex with someone other than their partner accuses their partner of cheating.
Displacement - Displacement occurs when you assign negative emotions from one aspect of your life to another less threatening one in order to avoid confronting difficult emotions. Here is a picture of displacement that illustrates the concept.

Reaction Formation - hiding desires/ urges by proclaiming the opposite or hating what is desired. In other words, you convince yourself that you don’t want, or hate, the object of your desire in order to avoid the discomfort of not having it.
Sublimation - converting or channeling socially undesirable emotions into socially acceptable behavior. For example, someone who has anger issues who decides to take out their anger in a boxing ring or by playing football.
Intellectualization - using logic and analysis to distance oneself from one’s emotions.
Rationalization - Attempting to justify behavior by making it seem understandable or reasonable so that you don’t have to face the discomfort of having done something wrong or harmful either to yourself or others.
Compartmentalization - separating aspects of one’s life into boxes which can then be ignored or managed.
Compensation - Focusing on one area of life in order to distract from another. For example, losing yourself in your work in order to avoid conflict at home.
Isolation of Affect - Separating an uncomfortable emotion from an experience in order to avoid feeling it.Â
Acting Out - Engaging in behavior that distracts from the problem at hand.
Conversion - the development of physical symptoms which serve to distract from the psychological problem or pain point.
Identification - adopting the thoughts or behaviors of another person in order to avoid pain. This is most often a subconscious process.
Schizoid Fantasy - purposefully living in a fantasy in order to avoid reality.
Splitting - hyper focusing on the negative or positive aspects of a person while negating its opposite resulting in a black or white mentality about the multifaceted nature of a person.
Anticipation - Attempting to solve problems before they occur in order to avoid discomfort.
Humor - using humor to deflect and avoid difficult emotions.
Sexualization - Using sexuality to distract oneself from inner pain.
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