Help me: the protective mechanisms of our psyche here I tried to figure out what problems our brain is forced to face constantly
It can be difficult for our brain to cope with the stream of negativity that hits us almost every day. The psyche uses mechanisms to reduce the influence of negative experiences, these mechanisms work on an unconscious level, so we often wonder at our own reaction to a particular event.
It became interesting to us which of these mechanisms are useful, and which pose a danger to our consciousness, let’s look at an example of the five main defensive reactions.
crowding out
No matter how strong the psychological shock is, our brain can simply take and erase this information from memory. However, it cannot be said that a negative memory is completely erased from the database, no.
The psyche spends a huge amount of energy to suppress memories, so this process can be compared to building a dam that impedes the flow of information that can harm.
It is impossible to predict at what point the memories of negative experiences will erupt, which is why the brain needs a tremendous amount of energy to protect consciousness from frustration.
Projection
Each of us has come across this phenomenon, and this does not necessarily happen to you personally: you can surely remember a person who ascribed to others thoughts and needs that in reality were unique to himself.
With the help of projection, the brain tries to make us relieve ourselves of responsibility for negative traits that are unacceptable for a given person, and, having them in reality, he cannot put up with it. Therefore, he has to constantly look for another person, and ascribe his own feelings and thoughts to him. A vivid example is the unfounded accusations of betraying a partner, since the person himself is prone to infidelity, he begins to suspect a soul mate in her.
Introjection
A feature of this mechanism is the “ingestion” of other people’s norms and rules of behavior without realizing how all this can be applied to one’s own life. A person simply does not want or cannot critically assess the situation in order to correctly use the knowledge gained.
In fact, let our whole life be built on introjection. First, parents give us certain settings, for example: “Put on your hat, catch a cold in the cold!” Without this, the child will simply perish. As we get older, we begin to copy the behavior of high school students, then high school students, and then we go into “free swimming”, where we should begin to build our own line of behavior. However, many continue to copy the style and lifestyle of other people, completely ignoring their own desires and needs, which can lead to the destruction of personality.
Merger
A striking example of a merger can be called a young mother and her newborn baby. Women in this situation are completely immersed in caring for a tiny person, without which he simply cannot survive, and you can often see and hear how young women use the pronoun “We” instead of “I”, “He / she”. This is a normal reaction in the first year of a child’s life, the main thing is that such a merger is not delayed, otherwise you can get a lot of problems with self-identification, which will have to be solved with a specialist.
Negation
Another popular defense mechanism. It would seem that in front of a person is an obvious fact, which in his right mind is difficult to challenge, but there is stubborn ignoring. Most often, this way our body responds to pain from loss, so you should not worry about this if you or your friend refuses to accept the situation. But, again, it all depends on the length of time: if you understand that your loved one needs psychological help because of the inability to get out of this protracted state, be sure to start acting.
