5 Common Defense Mechanisms (& How to Tell if Yours are Holding You Back)

Defense mechanisms are strategies people use to fight back against stress and worry. Everyone uses them at some point, and there are different defenses that seem to work better for some people than others. 

Unfortunately, not all defense mechanisms are helpful. First, some of them might be allowing you to ignore reality. When you don’t face your stressors head-on, you’ll never get to the bottom of what is causing them. 

With that in mind, let’s look at five common defense mechanisms and how to tell if they might be holding you back. 

1. Denial

Perhaps the most common defense mechanism, denial, may also be one of the worst. Again, by ‘denying’ something that you don’t want to deal with, you are only holding yourself back. 

Acceptance of a problem or situation is the only way to move forward from it. Denying something might make it seem like you can forget it, but it doesn’t make the problem go away. Many times, it even makes it worse. 

2. Projection

Projection is often a result of guilt or shame. Deep down, you’re struggling with something, but instead of dealing with it, you accuse someone else of exhibiting that behavior. 

For example, let’s say you’re having issues in your marriage and you know that your anger issues are partially to blame. You might tell your spouse that they argue too much or they don’t treat you with kindness, instead of admitting that you are part of the problem. 

3. Displacement

If you have negative energy toward a certain person, displacement is the practice of directing that energy toward a different object. Using the same marriage example from above, let’s say you are angry with your spouse but too scared to confront them about it. You might let those feelings build up all day instead, only to yell at your children that night for their messy rooms. 

Displacement is dangerous in that it can quickly turn someone you care about into a victim. 

4. Repression

Repression is a bit like denial, but it goes deeper. When you repress something, you can actually “hide” it from your conscious mind. It is still there in the subconscious. Because of that, it may show itself later in different ways. Thoughts or feelings that are repressed often return with more intensity. 

Repression is often used when someone experiences a traumatic event or something that is so terrible, their mind simply cannot handle it. That is a different type of repression. Although it’s still important to address it, using repression as a defense mechanism against a situation you simply don’t want to face is more of a tactic and less of an involuntary response. 

5. Rationalization

Rationalization is the process of trying to explain away your behaviors. You might develop a story using things you consider to be “fact”. This allows you to be comfortable with your decisions, even if you know you’re in the wrong. Really, though, rationalization is often nothing more than a list of excuses. 

Because of this, you’re never owning up to anything you do, and never getting ahead. 

As you can see, although they might seem effective in the moment, it’s important to consider your defense mechanisms very carefully. Don’t let them become so extreme that they hold you back from reality. 

By accepting things that are difficult, or that you don’t want to think about, you can get through them faster and in healthier ways. 

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Finally, if you struggle with defense mechanisms and facing the reality of difficult situations, Please read more about anxiety treatment and feel free to contact me. Together, we can work through those problems and help you to limit how often you use defense mechanisms as a means of coping.