Defense Mechanisms
Unconscious defense mechanisms act as a protective measure, shielding individuals from anxiety-inducing thoughts and emotions associated with internal conflicts and external stressors. There are many forms of defense mechanisms, but we will take a look at some of the most commonly used ones.
People with BPD have shown elevated scores on specific defense mechanisms, including undoing, acting out, emotional hypochondriasis, passive aggression, projection, splitting and projective identification.
These defense mechanisms contribute to common clinical features of BPD, such as impulsivity, demandingness, masochism, and suspiciousness.
Projection
This is categorized as an immature defense. Projection serves as a defense mechanism where undesired emotions are transferred onto someone else, making them seem like a threat from the outside.
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Example: A person, feeling threatened by their own anger, accuses another individual of having hostile intentions.
Regression
Regression is a psychological defense mechanism where individuals revert to a previous developmental stage during times of stress, such as a child going back to bedwetting or thumb-sucking. This behavior is often a way to cope with anxiety and seek comfort.
Example: head banging, throwing temper tantrums, screaming, thumb sucking, bed wetting, hyperventilating, and crying uncontrollably.
Displacement
Shifting emotional weight or response from one source to another is a defense mechanism that can manifest when an individual experiences a challenging day at work and subsequently directs their frustrations towards their family in a home environment.
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Example: A boss screams at an employee, the employee doesn't scream back—but they may yell at their spouse later that night.
Rationalization
Rationalization is as a defense mechanism where individuals rationalize challenging or unacceptable emotions by providing seemingly logical justifications.
Example: A student rejected from their desired college convinces themselves that attending a less competitive and more inclusive school is actually preferable.
Repression
Unconsciously suppressing unwanted ideas or impulses is a defense mechanism that can occur in individuals who have no memory of a traumatic event, despite being fully conscious and aware at the time.
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Example: A young child is bit by a dog, develops a fear of dogs, but is unaware of how this fear developed due to unconsciously forgetting the traumatic event.
Projective Identification
This is an image distorting defense. Projective identification is a mental process that naturally involves the therapist's countertransference, utilizing them as a translator, a receptacle for toxicity, or a unique reservoir for the patient's unwanted, confusing, or threatened parts of themselves that their ego struggles to handle.
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Example: When a client (entering the session already feeling persecuted and worthless) spends the whole hour session talking to their therapist about how “the system” is against them, claiming “they/the system” are making countless accusations that make them appear to be a real criminal.
Denial
Denial serves as a defense mechanism where individuals choose to disregard the truth of a situation in order to evade feelings of anxiety. Denial specifically entails either refusing to acknowledge the truth or rejecting the repercussions associated with it.
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Example: Someone denies that they have an alcohol or substance use disorder because they can still function and go to work each day.
Intellectualization
Intellectualization serves as a defense mechanism that employs logic to avoid facing an unconscious conflict and the emotional distress that comes with it. It involves using rationalization to escape from experiencing emotions.
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Example: Repeatedly listing the benefits of being single instead of facing the pain of rejection after a breakup.
Suppression
Suppression involves the conscious decision to block unwanted ideas or impulses. This defense mechanism is commonly seen in individuals who experience intrusive thoughts related to a traumatic event but actively push these thoughts away from their mind.
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Example: An individual is upset with their spouse at a party but chooses to postpone addressing the issue and withholding her reaction until they are alone. Suppression can be unhealthy when the supressed emotions surface over time and manifest in an unhealthy way (outbursts, yelling etc).
Compartmentalization
Compartmentalization serves as a defense mechanism where individuals seperate conflicting thoughts, emotions, or experiences to prevent the discomfort of contradiction.
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Example: Someone might compartmentalize a wrongdoing of their own, such as loving their husband while having an affair with another person.
Splitting
This is categorized as an image distorting defense. Splitting serves as a defense mechanism that enables individuals to hold conflicting views about themselves and others simultaneously, while also hindering the ability to integrate these opposing qualities at the same time.
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Example: Telling one's romantic partner to leave, then begging them not to leave when they actually do.
Compensation
Psychological compensation can be defined as concentrating on success in a specific aspect of life to divert focus from feelings of inadequacy or fear of failure in another aspect of life.
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Example: If you are aware of your inadequate public speaking abilities, you may seek to offset these shortcomings by excelling in written communication in the workplace.
Self-Mutilization
This can be categorized as an immature defense. Self-harm refers to the act of causing harm to oneself as a means of coping with intense emotions, distressing recollections, or overwhelming circumstances. It encompasses not only physical harm but also emotional and psychological harm.
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Example: Harming ones-self via cutting, burning, choking, hitting, head banging, scratching, biting, etc. Additionally, genital mutilation, swallowing foreign or dangerous objects, starving oneself, overuse of exercise, misusing drugs or substances, etc.
Dissociation
Dissociation is characterized by a sense of detachment from a distressing or traumatic situation, leading to a perception that the event is not occurring. This coping mechanism serves to shield the mind from excessive stress by creating a mental barrier. In some cases, dissociation can result in an individual being unable to recall traumatic incidents from their history. Dissociation can also include depersonalization and derealization.
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Depersonaliation is feeling severed or detached from one's body. Some report an 'out of body experience', emotional numbness, or feeling they do not recognize themselves.
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Derealization is feeling isolated from your surroundings, like being in the middle of a crowded party and feeling like you’re just vaguely watching it on TV.
Idealization
Idealization is a defense mechanism that distorts images by attributing exaggerated positive qualities to oneself or others in order to cope with emotional conflict or stressors, whether internal or external.
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Example: You might idealize your beach vacation, completely forgetting that it rained almost every day. Or idealize your partner as being 'perfect', after dismissing they just punched a hole in the wall or screamed at you.
Devaluation
Devaluation is a psychological defense mechanism that involves viewing oneself, an object, or another person as deeply flawed, worthless, or excessively negative.
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Example: Mocking, criticizing, or humiliating others, or withholding praise and recognition for their accomplishments, without acknowleding one's own faults.
Acting Out
Acting out is categorized as an immature defense - it is the development of negative actions and behaviors to distract attention and pull energy away from other stressors.
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Example: One may act out when their parent is caring for their sick sibling but starting an argument, breaking curfew or breaking a house rule, to garner attention from said parent that has been providing more attention to their sibling.
Passive Aggression
Passive aggression is categorized as an immature defense. It is a negative coping mechanism that hinders the resolution of emotional conflicts and leads to unproductive problem-solving strategies by using passive means of confrontation.
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Examples of using passive aggression can be found in backhanded compliments, silent treatment, ghosting, sabotage, disguised hostile humor, sarcasm, excuses, procrastinating, blaming, tardiness, resistance, contemptuous comments, evasion of issues, stalling, withholding or silence.
Emotional Hypochondriasis
This is categorized as an immature defense. This is a newly explored defense mechanism specific to indivuduals with BPD, where one insists that no one can understand their feelings. This can interfere with treatment.
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Example: A client begins therapy, the therapist attempts to explore the client's feelings but the client consistently insists that no one can understand the pain they are feeling. The client believes the feeling is intolerable (i.e feeling abandoned). Due to this mindset, the client shoots down everything the therapist says and never actually tries anything offered to provide relief. The client may then drop out of sessions and blame the therapist for 'not understanding'.
Undoing
This is a neurotic-level defense, meaning the client experiences the feeling that a desire, idea, or intention is not acceptable or dangerous and needs to be suppressed from conscious awareness.
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Undoing is when an individual attempts to avoid or eliminate an unhealthy, harmful, or potentially dangerous thought or behavior by engaging in opposite actions.
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Example: After thinking about hurting someone, one may be overly nice or overly accomodating to them.