Defensive Strategies

Defensive strategies, also called ego defenses or escape mechanisms, are unconscious psychological strategies or behaviors we use to protect ourselves from overwhelming emotions, thoughts, or situations. In Sigmund Freud’s 1894 psychoanalytic theory, the ego unconsciously protects itself from anxiety arising from psychic conflict. Karen Horney viewed defensive strategies as ways to cope with anxiety, maintain a sense of security, and avoid feelings of helplessness and isolation that arise from perceived threats in the environment or from within oneself. In more modern theory, defense mechanisms can be a positive way of coping with everyday problems and external threats. But excessive or repeated use of  immature defenses can be considered pathological. Also see Narcissistic Defenses. Defense mechanisms range from mature to immature, depending on the degree to which they distort reality [in alpha order]:

• Arbitrary Rightness: Holding a rigid, dogmatic belief in one’s opinion, dismissing doubt or challenge.
• Blind Spots: Ignoring or remaining unaware of obvious contradictions and inconsistencies in one’s behavior or beliefs.
• Compartmentalization: Separating conflicting thoughts, feelings, or actions into isolated compartments to avoid recognizing inconsistency.
• Cynicism: Denying and devaluing moral beliefs, often projecting these negative views onto others. 
• Denial: An immature defense as it negates reality or the consequences of that reality.
• Displacement: An immature as it redirects an emotional reaction or impulses to a less threatening target (stressed at work leads to lashing out at family).
• Elusiveness: Avoiding commitment or being pinned down on any issue to escape responsibility or the possibility of being wrong.
• Excessive Self-Control: Suppressing emotions and impulses to the point of becoming rigid and overly controlled, potentially leading to resentment.
• Intellectualization: Focusing on intellectual/factual aspects of a situation to avoid emotional distress.
• Projection: Attributing one’s unacceptable feelings or traits to others.
• Rationalization: Creating plausible but false explanations to justify undesirable behavior or beliefs.
• Reaction formation: Behaving in the opposite way one is feeling.
• Repression: An immature but subconscious mechanism blocking undesirable ideas/impulses, with no recollection of a traumatic event—even though conscious/aware during the event.
• Self-idealization: Viewing oneself in an overly positive light, exaggerating strengths and minimizing flaws, to provide a sense of self-esteem and protection from perceived threats
• Sublimation: A mature mechanism as it channels unacceptable emotions/impulses into socially acceptable or creative activities, allowing indirect satisfaction of an actual desire.