Defensive personality psychology definitioin

What Is Defensive Behavior and What Does It Look Like?

Updated October 5, 2022 by BetterHelp Editorial Team

At some point in your life, someone might have said to you, “Why are you being so defensive?” Maybe you’ve said similar words to someone else. However, often people talk about defensiveness without truly understanding what it means. We understand how to use “defensive” in a sentence, sure, but the word has a special meaning in psychology. Here’s a brief explanation of what it is, how to recognize it, and what to do about it.

Defining Defensive Behavior

To understand defensive behavior, you need to think about what it means to defend. Our modern word “defensive” from the middle English “defensif” means “Guarding or shielding from attack or injury.” We have several words from defensive that are in common use today that more-or-less convey the same idea.

A country can take military action to defend itself. Or parents might defend their child against danger. When you’re being defensive in a psychological sense, you’re often attempting to defend yourself from someone or something important to you.

You want to think that you’re a good, intelligent, or likable person, and you want others to think the same. You want to justify the decisions you’ve made, the things you’ve done, or even who you are as a person.

Everyone employs a defensive strategy from time to time, and that’s normal if you’re under attack. However, some people feel like they need to wear a full suit of defensive armor just to have a chat. Some people feel this way because they have experienced emotional abuse in the past. Others feel this way because they’re up to something.

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Why Defensive Behavior Happens

That’s a good thing because otherwise, you would be helpless. However, psychological defensiveness can be destructive. It’s a very complex type of behavior. It’s based on a combination of your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings, and your personality.

People usually start engaging in defensive behaviors early in their lives. When you were young, you may have learned defensive behaviors from others. When you felt threatened, as everyone does occasionally, you found a way to use deflection against the threat so that you could feel safer.

As you got older, you may have employed those same defensive behaviors both when you recognized a threat in your environment and even when you only anticipated a threat. And often, the defenses you rely on aren’t ones you need now, but only the ones you learned in the past.

One thing to remember is that usually, people who engage in defensive behaviors aren’t doing it for malicious reasons. Their only concern may be to feel better about what’s happening. However, defensive behaviors are usually harmful to both the person doing them and those on the receiving end.

In short, defense mechanisms aren’t inherently a bad thing, but sometimes they are employed inappropriately, or in ways that prevent the individual from communicating effectively.

Consequences Of Defensive Behavior

What harm can come from it?

Relationships

The truth is that it can affect all your relationships with the individuals in your life and in the groups you interact with. If you often defensively react to others, you might end up in a relationship that becomes unhealthier day by day. If you’re defensive with your loved ones, you may create a very hostile, tense environment in your home.

Work

Defensiveness at work can make it harder to get along with coworkers and supervisors. It can keep you from doing your best collaborative work, as well. Being emotionally defensive in your social group could make you an outcast, or you might remain at the center of the group but be secretly despised and unwanted.

Distrust

Rather than preventing you from aggression or attack, defensive behaviors can create animosity or distrust towards you that may not have been there before. This can lead to a vicious cycle of defending, frustrating, guarding against future frustration, and causing more bad feelings. All when being clear from the beginning instead of being defensive would have led to a more positive outcome for everyone.

Recognizing Defensive Behavior

Recognizing defensive behavior in someone else is usually fairly easy. You may be trying to solve a problem with them or just trying to have a pleasant conversation. But for some reason, maybe because of something you’ve said or done, or maybe for their reasons, they feel threatened. When that happens, they may respond in several ways. Here are a few of them.

They appear to not be listening to you.
They make a lot of excuses.
They blame you for the problem.
They say that you did the same thing that you’re unhappy about them doing.
They talk a lot about why they caused the problem, trying to justify their behavior.
They focus on things you’ve done wrong at other times rather than the current issue.
They try to tell you how you feel.

Psychologists over the generations have identified basic defense mechanisms that are commonly used and misused. You may have also noticed that several examples of defensive behaviors listed above also line up with common logical fallacies. While they aren’t always one-to-one, recognizing these signs of illogical reasoning can often tip you off to someone’s subtle defensive behavior.

While you might notice these behaviors in someone else, they can be hard to recognize in yourself. Part of the reason is that you justify your behavior in your mind.

However, if you want to have positive relationships at home, at work, and in social situations, it’s important to think through the ways you behave with others. Only then can you work on changing those destructive ways of interacting with the people in your life.

If you’re worried that your being defensive, opposing others without provocation, and lack of ease with communicating clearly might be hurting your relationships, talking with a therapist or counselor can help you to strengthen these relationships – and get to the psychological root of your defensiveness.

What Makes Defensive Behavior More Likely?

One way of thinking about defensive behavior is that it’s as if you come prepared for war in a neutral situation. You’re ready to fight for yourself, even when no one is interested in attacking you.

However, there’s more to defensive behavior. Sometimes, the way you behave may precipitate defensive behavior in others. Here are some of the behaviors to avoid if you don’t want to elicit defensive behavior from those around you:

Your words and actions are focused on judging, criticizing, or evaluating the person you’re talking to.
You treat the other person as an object rather than a human with feelings.
Your words and actions seem carefully designed for some purpose other than interacting with them. If people think you’re being fake to get something you want, they may become defensive.
Your words and actions seem to be geared toward controlling the other person. They may be even more defensive if it seems like you’re hiding the motives behind your behavior.
You emphasize that you’re superior to the other person.
You’re so sure that you know the right answers and the real truth that you aren’t willing to entertain the possibility that you might be wrong or even to listen to the other side.

The good news is that other behaviors will create a less defensive and more supportive climate. These are the behaviors that make defensive behavior less likely:

Best Ways To Respond To Defensiveness

Suppose you’re in a situation where the person seems to be defensive despite your best efforts to be supportive. How do you respond? The first thing you can do is to use the above tips to shift the climate to a more supportive one.

Find Something To Agree On

It’s great if you can find something to agree with them about, even if it’s a small thing. If they resort to extremely childish defenses, you may need to ignore at least some of those behaviors. It’s usually helpful if you can remain calm and talk about the issue as simply, directly, and honestly as possible, depending on how close your relationship is and the social setting you’re in at the time.

Avoid Negative Reactions

It may help you to avoid negatively reacting to their defensiveness to remember that it probably isn’t anything personal. As mentioned above, most defensive people learn the behavior early in life. Sometimes it is because they were the victims of emotional abuse themselves.

How To Manage Defensive Behavior

What can you do if you realize you’re engaging in a lot of destructive defensive behavior?

Find The Reason

First, you need to understand that there’s a reason you’re feeling so threatened. A part of decreasing defensive behavior is identifying the subjects that you feel threatened about. You might be able to discover those subjects by journaling.

Journal

Journaling is a common psychological technique that involves writing about your day with an emphasis on how events or interactions made you feel. For many people, this makes it easier to understand how certain things can trigger feelings that you may need to understand better.

Increase Feelings Of Safety

Once you understand where the perceived threat lies, you can often find ways to increase your feeling of safety. In some cases, you might decide that it’s best to avoid those subjects. However, it’s important not to become withdrawn or to emotionally abandon relationships that are important to you.

Counseling

So, you may need to learn how to communicate more effectively and positively. Individual counseling can help you learn what’s behind your defensiveness. Your counselor can also help you develop strategies for decreasing your defensive behavior.

Build Your Self-Esteem

You may also need to work on building up your self-esteem. If you feel comfortable with who you are, you’re less likely to feel threatened when someone else doesn’t. And if you grew up in a very defensive household, it may be very hard for you to let go of those behaviors.

Couples Therapy

If you’re being defensive with your partner, you may benefit from couples counseling where you can learn together how to interact more productively. Talking to a counselor may change the way you behave with others and improve your relationships significantly.

You can talk to a counselor at BetterHelp to understand and decrease your defensive behavior, learn how to respond to the defensiveness of others, and improve the relationships that matter most to you. If the idea of remote counseling seems strange to you, consider reading the following reviews from real BetterHelp users.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a defensive person?

A defensive person is someone who shows defensive behaviors. Psychology’s “Defensive” definition is important to understand.

One definition of defensive is “devoted to resisting or preventing aggression or attack”. Psychology Today shares that many times someone is defensive because of criticism they’re receiving. This can be an unhealthy cycle that relationships fall into.

People can be defensive because they struggle with their self-esteem. It’s difficult to handle criticism when you already feel bad about yourself. You don’t want others to point out this behavior in your life as well. It makes you feel even worse.

Then, some defensive people struggle with mental health challenges such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Their behavior can also be linked to a lack of healthy self-esteem.

What is defensive behavior?

Understanding the definition of defensive can help you know more about what it looks like when someone is defensive. Defensive means “in the state or condition of being prepared or required to defend against attack or criticism”. While it sounds good for someone to be ready to defend against an attack, the word can be used in different ways.

For example, defensive driving is good because you’re driving in a way to keep everyone on the road safe.

Defend can mean “serving to defend”. You can see how the explanation and definition of defensive would make sense from that.

However, the problem with the definition of defensive is that it leaves the negative emotion out of it that can be connected with the experience. For example, if a person constantly shows defensive behavior, it’s not a positive thing. This is when someone constantly tries to make excuses for their actions or explain why something happened or isn’t their fault instead of taking responsibility for it.

When this happens long-term it can become a big problem in relationships: romantic, friendships, and at work. If a person feels that they need to be “serving to defend” themselves at all times, they can come across as confrontational. People can get in the habit of feeling they need to defend anything.

How do you use defensive in a sentence?

Understanding the definition of defensive is important if you want to know how to use it properly in a sentence, particularly in a psychological context. There are different definitions of defensive based on what part of speech it is. There is a defensive – adjective and also a defensive – noun. It’s important to understand meanings, word choice can improve when you know exactly how to use it.

Other definitions of defensive (adjective) include “devoted to resisting or preventing aggression or attack” and “sports: of or relating to the attempt to keep an opponent from scoring in a game or contest”. “Defensively” (adverb) describes the nature of behavior.

But, simply reading the definition of defensive might not always help a person understand how to use it in a sentence. You can use it to describe the way that a person is acting or the state that someone or something is in. A person’s response can be defensive. Or you could keep someone on the defense during your debate.

What do you call a defensive person?

A defensive person can be someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It can also be someone that is a regular victim of emotional abuse that is constantly criticized. A defensive person can also be someone that has low self-esteem or that has a difficult time listening to criticisms about themself.

It’s best not to try to self-diagnosis why someone’s behavior is defensive. If you want to explore this behavior in yourself or your partner, you could try working with a therapist. Even then, knowing how a person is classified can be helpful but referring to them in that way may not be. Try to think of the other person as a person rather than as a “narcissist,” a “victim,” etc.

What is the synonym for defense?

To find the accurate synonym for a defense that you’re looking for, you want to know how you plan to use the word. For example, trying to find alternate words for “attack defensive”, “defensive attitude” or just the word “defend” will bring different results.

Synonyms for “defend” could be: contend, fight, or guard

Attack defensive is more about a type of fighting style

Defensive attitude synonyms could be opposing or thwarting

When you understand the meanings, word choice is easier.

If you’re interested in learning synonyms that match the definition of defense to expand your vocabulary, you may want to try using things like using a synonym of the day or word of the day calendar. You can even do things like play word quizzes, crossword solver, scrabble, or other games that help you use new words. Parent-teacher center tips for parents in schools can also provide resources for educational activities like this.

If you are looking for synonyms for things like the definition of defensive to use in school papers (English, science, technology, literature), look for tools, writing prompts, grammar 101, writing 2, or other classes that can help you expand your writing skills and word choice.

What is the antonym of defense?

When it comes to learning new words or understanding the meanings in a better way, it can help to look at the antonym of the word as well. For example, if you want to understand better the definition of defensive it can help to understand the opposite of the word.

When you understand both what a word means and exactly what it doesn’t mean, it can help you avoid mixed-up meanings, word choice can be important in getting your message across.

What are the best ways to learn new words?

There are many fun ways to learn new words. Some of them include doing a daily crossword puzzle, learning the word of the day, playing everyday word games like Words with Friends, or using a word finder.

If you’re looking to expand your vocabulary, it can also help to study the different parts of speech that applies to a word. For example, defensive – adjective vs noun. While there may only be slight differences between definitions and usage of defensiveness – adjective vs noun, there are other words where there’s a bigger gap. Learning this can help you understand the right usage of the words to use and the right times to use them.

Remember, you can have fun while you learn, learn new words by trying the following:

Word of the day calendar

Study words to choose a “word of the year”

Practice finding a synonym of the day to replace some words you commonly use

Grab a paper and do the daily crossword puzzle, learn new words as you find the right answers

Make it fun and get friends involved. Keep a game of Words with Friends going. Look for quizzes, crossword solver, scrabble, and other activities using words that you can do.

Getting creative with the arts, writing, writing, writing, and writing some more forces you to look for new words to get your point across

If you have a child in school, it can be easier to help them learn new words. Parent-teacher center tips for parents can be a place to start looking. It’s also important to know that emoji, slang, acronyms, pop culture, memes, gender, and sexuality have given new or secrete meanings to some words.

How can I learn new words?

If you’re ready to expand your vocabulary the best thing to do is learn, learn new words that you can start to use in your daily life. There are many different things that you can do to get started. Some apps will send you a new word of the day each morning. You can also study a synonym of the day to start to replace your commonly used words with better choices.

If you’re interested in improving creative arts, writing, writing, writing can help you. You can find tools, writing prompts, Grammar 101, writing workshops, and other classes that can help you. The more you’re able to learn, the more you can avoid mixed-up meanings, word errors, and mistaken pronunciation. This can help you in life and studies including English, science, technology, literature, and more.

Studying new words is different now than it was in the past. You may want to pay attention to the association with emojis, slang, acronyms, pop culture, memes, gender, sexuality, and more. There can be alternate meanings for some words and it’s important to make sure you’re saying what you think you are.

What causes defensive behavior?

A wide variety of things can contribute to defensive disorders. Any time that your mental health or physical health is compromised, it can lead to defensive behavior.

Symptoms of certain mental disorders may cause defensive responses. Bipolar disorder, panic disorder, personality disorders, eating disorders like binge eating, or sleep disorders which are called parasomnias, are some of the types of disorders that may cause a defensive response as part of their symptoms.

A defensive person may have developed a chronic defensive response as a result of the way they’ve been brought up as it was modeled by their parents or other adults in their lives. In other words, a defensive reaction may be a result of learned behavior. While people that react defensively can be difficult to relate to, chronic defensive communication is highly treatable.

Because the causes of most of these behaviors are social rather than chemical, when you approach an expert about becoming less defensive medicine is seldom the answer. Instead, various forms of talk therapy will attempt to get at the life experiences that led you to adopt this defensive approach in the first place.

How can you tell if someone is defensive?

A defensive person has trouble accepting responsibility for their speech and actions. They have difficulty with constructive criticism and may mistakenly take it as a perceived threat.

Anyone can be triggered by a personal issue that causes them to have a defensive reaction. But, it’s not normal to spout off a defensive response daily. If that’s a problem for you or someone that you know, you may want to find a therapist to help you respond to others and interact with them in more appropriate ways.

What is an example of defensive behavior?

As mentioned earlier, certain mental disorders can cause someone to react defensively.

Bipolar disorder causes alternating bouts of depression and “mania” – a state that some people experience as a form of anxiety. People living with bipolar disorder may deny things that are true or false to someone else, even when they’re presented with evidence to support the truth. When someone with bipolar disorder gets pushed too far, they may react defensively, or even aggressively.

Binge eaters and people with other eating disorders often react defensively when someone confronts them about eating too much or too little or purging after eating. Many people that deal with binge eating find that support groups can be very helpful.

Defensive people also tend to vent on social media to help support their positions.

How do you deal with a defensive person?

Clinical psychology is helpful for people that react defensively regularly, as well as other people that are in a relationship with a defensive person. A qualified therapist can put together an anxiety treatment program for people dealing with a panic disorder or other mental disorder. Goal setting ensures that you’ll make progress in your treatment program.

Many clinical practices offer support groups to supplement individual treatment.

How do you communicate with a defensive partner?

A marriage and family therapist that has either a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree makes a wise choice for a therapist to help someone dealing with relationship issues. Your therapist can also help you to find an appropriate support group if you need one.

Marriage and family therapy is designed to help people feel secure and non-defensive as they work on problem-solving together. A therapeutic session is a safe place where partners don’t feel intimidated or criticized. Typically, after a few therapeutic sessions, people feel like they can communicate better.

Do liars get defensive?

People that lie very often get defensive. Chronic liars may appear fidgety and uncomfortable. Not only do they get defensive, but they may also go on and on. They tend to give an excess of information in an attempt to try to justify their position. They believe that excessive talking will motivate others to believe them.

Note that this won’t necessarily be the case for compulsive liars. Compulsive liars are often able to spin their yarns without the usual telling – often because they don’t know themselves that the things that they are saying aren’t true.

How do I stop being defensive and argumentative?

Social media has become a haven for controversial discussions and public arguments. If you’re struggling with being defensive and social media is one of your weak spots, you might try to cut yourself off from it until you can get your behavior under control. Many people find this difficult at first but realize after a couple of days that social media made them feel worse rather than better.

Why Some People Can Get So Defensive

The range of relationships people have — family, platonic, romantic and professional — can be mostly positive or negative depending on the personality characteristics of the parties involved. The focus of this post is to consider one characteristic, defensiveness, and the impact it has on others in close relationships.

Examples of defensive reactions

Most individuals have had an experience with a person who has the tendency to get defensive. Getting defensive can take many different forms, including verbal attacks, denial (denying what has been said), fabrication (outright lying), avoidance (not allowing any discussion on the matter), gaslighting (e. g., calling the other person “crazy” or suggesting something is wrong with the other person) and others.

At their root, all defensive behaviors have this in common: sending a message to the other person that what the person is saying is wrong or a problem. What’s more, the message is that the person is “out of line” (authoritarian punishment language) for addressing them or attempting to hold them accountable for something in the first place. The takeaway message is that such confrontation — as fair or appropriate as it may be — is unacceptable and will not be allowed.

A brief personality profile of the individual who gets easily defensive

Defensive individuals often have control and power issues, and perceive anyone confronting them or holding them accountable as a threat. They are uncomfortable with feelings in general and managing their own. Defensive individuals don’t like to “work through” emotional issues in the collaborative way adults are expected to. They can be highly impulsive and quick in their emotional reactions, without pausing to think things through in a balanced way. Finally, they tend to avoid too much emotional closeness with others.

What happens in the brain when a person reacts quickly, intensely and defensively

When a person gets extremely defensive, the limbic system in their brain — the one involved with the processing of emotions — has been activated. Mental health clinicians refer to this reaction as primitive but another way to think of it is somewhat animalistic. Human beings have brains and a cerebral cortex, specifically, that are astonishingly sophisticated. Humans have the capacity for all sorts of mental activities that sets them apart from other mammals, but it is important to remember that, at root, human beings are still living, breathing organisms that have automatic survival systems built in for self-protection.

Put another way, no one would ever refer to an alligator as “mean” for tearing apart a fisherman. Why not? Because we understand that an alligator’s brain is structurally different from a human’s. Though a human being’s version of protecting himself will look different — say, in the form of getting defensive — the defensive reaction is just as primitive, quick and — yes, brain-based — as an alligator’s. It's important for humans in relationships to understand that what happens in our brains while we argue or fight is largely determining what we are saying or doing.

The short version of why the defensive person gets defensive

Someone gets defensive as a means of avoiding accountability and getting the other person to back off.

The in-depth version of why the defensive person gets defensive

Adults who are emotionally well-developed overall understand that successful relationships of any kind require mutual respect, which includes listening to the other person’s perspective and sometimes having to change behavior to meet the emotional needs of the frustrated party. When someone gets quickly and unjustifiably defensive, that individual sends a clear and intense message: "Back off; you’re wrong."

In the moment, the frustrated party often feels stunned and confused, as if they’ve been cast as an opponent or enemy all of a sudden, dismissing altogether the history the two have as allies. In this situation, people often feel like saying, “Wait, it’s me! Remember? You’re reacting like you don’t know me or, worse, like you hate me.” In moments when the defender gets quickly and unjustifiably defensive, psychological defense mechanisms that are years in the making have been activated as a means of protecting their ego.

Simple ways to manage the situation when someone gets defensive with you

First, what not to: Don’t say “You’re getting defensive.” In fact, don’t utter the word in any context because mere mention of the word will only make the situation more explosive. The defensive person knows that their defensiveness is a personality deficit because they’ve heard this complaint from many others who came before you.

Follow these simple steps: Pause for a few seconds or more as soon as you spot the defensive reaction; look away at something, anything, in the immediate environment to distract yourself and reduce the potential for your own potential limbic reaction; consider gently walking away from the conversation and calmly saying, “Give me a minute to put my thoughts together,” discuss the situation with a couple of trusted friends later to confirm whether the reaction was truly a problematic sign, and finally ask yourself whether this defensiveness reflects a long-term pattern or a rare occurrence.

The take-home message

Many people experience problems in a professional or personal relationship, but some relationships are undeniably more unhealthy than others. If a person becomes defensive once in a while, that may be something you can accept; if a person doesn’t ever truly allow you to address frustrations you have with them, you may not be able to accept that.

Some interpersonal problems are severe and frustrating enough that, over the long-term, the person who feels invalidated and frustrated decides that leaving that relationship — either finding a new job or ending a particular personal relationship — is what is required to protect their own mental health. Those struggling should keep in mind that working through such an issue with a licensed therapist is one of the most effective ways to make sure that any decisions being made are healthy ones.

Facebook image: Estrada Anton/Shutterstock

Psychology of defense mechanisms of personality | Article in the journal "Young scientist"

Authors : Zaikina Anna Igorevna, Krasnikova Alena Yurievna, Mustafinova Zhaniya Nikolaevna

Section : Psychology

Posted by in young scientist №11 (249) March 2019

Publication date : 03/18/2019 2019-03-18

Article viewed: 2806 times

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References:

Zaikina, A. I. Psychology of personality defense mechanisms / A. I. Zaikina, A. Yu. Krasnikova, Zh. N. Mustafinova. - Text: direct // Young scientist. - 2019. - No. 11 (249). — S. 219-220. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/249/57307/ (date of access: 11/28/2022).

The purpose of this article is to reveal the phenomenology of the psychological defenses of the individual. The relevance of the problem under consideration is associated with the low awareness of modern man about the presence of each of us personal protective mechanisms, which, in turn, help a person minimize his negative emotions and feelings, increase the adaptive abilities of people, play an important role in regulating various behavioral aspects, support neuropsychic stability. This article provides examples of such protections, the historical aspect and their impact on the social and psychological component of a person.

Keywords: defense mechanism, exclusive situations, adaptation, negative emotions, phenomenon, self-concept.

At this stage in the development of science, the concept of "psychological protection" is defined as an unconscious mental process that helps a person minimize the negative components of his emotional sphere.

Psychological defense, from the point of view of E. Kirshbaum: “not a normal, but a special, unusual way of resolving a situation and psychological regulation of behavior in situations of difficulty, in situations of some kind of impossibility. Psychological defense is initiated by such exceptional, exclusive situations” [1, p. 182].

For the first time this term was introduced in 1894 by the German psychoanalyst Z. Freud in his work "Neuropsychology of Defense", and later considered this phenomenon in the work "Interpretation of Dreams". Z. Freud believed that the only most positive and rational defense mechanism is sublimation.

S. Budassi also considered the problems of defense mechanisms. He believed that these mechanisms mainly perform a function that prevents a person from becoming aware of a huge range of such emotional experiences that can affect his general state [2, p. 39].

Based on the arguments of V. Stroo in the field of psychological defenses, it follows that this phenomenon also has negative properties, for example, creating interference with understanding one’s “I”, often not realizing one’s real feelings, but repressing or suppressing them. But at the same time, V. Stroo focuses on the positive influences of personality defenses: “with the help of protective mechanisms, a person unconsciously protects his psyche from injuries that can cause her real life situations that threaten to destroy the self-concept of a person” [3, p.54].

Thus, it can be concluded that a large number of authors considered the problems of psychological defenses, without coming to a common opinion regarding their "usefulness" or "harmfulness".

When analyzing this phenomenon, it is necessary to operate well with the concepts that are part of its specificity. These are the mechanisms themselves. In total, there are about 50 types of such "internal shields". The main and most frequently occurring defense mechanisms of personality are:

- crowding out;

– regression;

- care in the disease;

- retreat into fantasy;

- suppression;

- somatization;

- denial;

– projection;

– implementation in action;

– compensation;

- hypercompensation;

- rationalization;

- substitution.

All these mechanisms can be conditionally divided into the following groups (B. Karvasarsky, 2000):

1 group. This includes protections that do not process information. This is repression - the transition of the traumatic experience from the conscious into the unconscious; suppression - avoidance of traumatic conditions and denial - ignoring an unpleasant, traumatic situation for a person.

2 group. The function of the defense mechanisms of the second group: distortion of the course and content of thoughts, human behavior and feelings. It's rationalization and intellectualization . Often these mechanisms seem to be combined into one, because of their close mechanism. A person prone to rationalization is diligent, responsible, prone to analysis and introspection, shows a desire for individualism. This also includes reactive formation - this is the replacement of negative feelings or experiences of a person with the opposite ones. And projection is a tendency to single out in other people such personality traits that a person cannot recognize in himself, and even rejects [4, p. 5].

3rd group. This is a group of mechanisms that contribute to a significant weakening of emotional stress. These include somatization of anxiety when a person's unconscious problems are transformed into any somatic diseases; sublimation, in which the removal of internal tension is carried out by redirecting energy into a positive channel, and implementation in action , where the activation of expressive behavior occurs.

4th group. Manipulative type mechanisms. Regression, withdrawal into illness, withdrawal into fantasy. With regression , the psyche resorts to a return to the childish state if it is in danger. Care in the disease is characterized by the fact that a person ignores everything that is not connected with the disease, puts the disease in the center of his interests. And if a person cannot achieve something, then there is a departure into fantasy , where unfulfilled desires are fully satisfied.

In summary, defense mechanisms are the way we protect ourselves from internal and external stresses. They are formed initially in an interpersonal relationship, then they become our internal characteristics, that is, certain protective forms of behavior. It should be noted that a person often uses more than one defensive strategy to resolve a conflict or reduce anxiety, but several. But despite the differences between specific types of defenses, their functions are similar: they consist in ensuring the stability and immutability of the individual's ideas about himself, the world around him and the phenomena occurring in it.

Literature:

1. Kirshbaum E. I. Psychological protection. — M.: Meaning, 2000. — 182 p.

2. Budassi S. A. Protective mechanisms of personality. Special course program. M., 1998. - 39 p.

3. Shtroo V. A. Protective mechanisms: from personality to group // Vopr. psychology. 1998. No. 4. - S. 54 p.

4. Kruzhkova O. V., Shakhmatova O. N. “Psychological defenses of the individual: a textbook”. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing house Ros. state prof. - ped-unta, 2006–5 p.

Basic terms (automatically generated) : group, personality defense mechanism, mechanism, psychological protection, care.

Keywords

adaptation, i-concept, phenomenon, defense mechanism, exclusive situations, negative emotions

defense mechanism, exclusive situations, adaptation, negative emotions, phenomenon, self-concept