Defense Mechanisms Psychological Strategies and Techniques for Protection Essay

Defense Mechanisms Psychological Strategies and Techniques for Protection Essay

One of Freud’s legacies was his identification of defense mechanisms. This is a construct that we can all relate to because we have all used at least a few of these defense mechanisms at one time or another in our lives. After reading Chapter 2 in your text, write the following two-part paper:

Part 1:

• Define defense mechanisms in your own words.
• Why do we use them? What benefits do we get from employing defense mechanisms?
• What is the negative side of using defense mechanisms?

Part 2:

• Choose five defense mechanisms that you have personally used or have seen another person use, and cover the following points for each:
  • Describe the defense mechanism.
  • What benefit comes from employing the specific defense mechanism?
  • Give a specific example of a time that you have either used it or seen another person use it.
  • What was the outcome of using this defense mechanism in your example?