Session 7

Defense Mechanisms: The ego uses defense mechanisms to balance between what id and
superego want from the ego, and what the ego can actually doing in reality.

The ego is always one foot in reality and one foot in the internal world of the id and superego. It
is trying to find a balance between the inner and the outer.

The internalized superego is my way of stopping myself from doing things that I want which are
sometimes good for me, but I think that I should not do it and it is wrong.

Defense Mechanisms:

 They help protect our wholeness and intactness.

Freud talked about defense mechanisms, but he talked mainly about one. He defined defense
mechanisms as a process where the ego separates itself from the id but does not become fully
conscious until the phallic stage. In the beginning we are fully id then the ego superego are
being developed up until the ego becomes on its own and has its own boundaries within the
inner structure.

Suppression: trying to push away something that came up for me and it feels unacceptable or
too much for me. E.g., I might have a desire to be in a relationship with someone other than my
spouse, but my inner psyche could repress this desire into the unconscious. If the wish becomes
conscious there is anticipation that there will be punishment – above all from the person’s
superego in the form of shame, guilt, or anxiety. Hence, to avoid this punishment the ego avoids
bringing this wish into the conscious. Hence, repression involves the avoidance of unpleasant
feelings. There is shame so they might not even allow themselves to interact socially; they
would remain reserved, shy, or timid.

In that sense, triggers serve as a reminder of the wish that is unconscious. If I see somebody or
some thing that reminds me of that wish in a very unconscious way, I will feel that and repress it
even further. What I would feel in that moment would be guilt/shame/anxiety without me even
knowing where it came from. I could be in the exact same situation but very conscious of my
desire; yet, with a choice that I will not act on this desire because it does not align with my
values.

When the superego is strong, and the ego is weak, there would be suppression. Ego becomes
weaker over time with repression because you are not allowing it to exercises itself and become
stronger, since you are repressing the issues that might be there.

Asking questions and reflecting require strength. If you rely too much on defense mechanisms
at some point, the ego will become tired. Hence, symptoms could appear as a reality that
becomes too anxiety-provoking – defenses are no longer holding this ego. Symptoms could be
physical or psychological; especially during Freud’s era, there was conversion disorder (physical
symptoms serving as a solution to a problem when my own defenses are no longer able to do
so).