How Harmful Is Sigmund Freud's Defense Mechanisms?

At some point in our lives we will all deal with stress, as it is inevitable. How individuals handle stress is what sets one apart from another. Within ourselves we have an id, ego, and superego. The id is an internal energy that operates on a pleasure principle. Sigmund Freud developed the pleasure principle theory which explains the motive of the id as an instinctual element. An example in our life where the id had the most control over our behaviors would be childhood. As children there is not much thought behind their actions, if they see someone thing they want or there is something they want to do, it is done with no further thinking involved. Id does not take into consideration the needs of others or the negatives that may come with actions. Our ego is the part of us that has the ability to weight the costs and benefits of our behaviors. The superego is the mediating factor between the two. Defense mechanisms are coping mechanisms that protect us from conflict, anxiety, shame, guilt, and unacceptable feelings or thoughts. Defense mechanisms include avoidance, denial, rationalization, repression, regression, reaction formation, projection, displacement, compensation, undoing, humor, passive aggression, and sublimation.
Denial and avoidance are two of the most common defense mechanisms I see in life whether it be through personal
interactions or figures on television and text. It is a coping mechanism where the individual does not have to cope at all. Instead of addressing the problems and handing them, they are ignored and the person may act as if they do not exist. Some examples of this include those with addictions and also people with anxiety. In my personal experience I have had a family member who became addiction to prescription drugs. Just by looking at her you could see that something was not right and suspect that she struggled with substance abuse. A once beautiful successful woman who had worked on well know networks now looked sick, and lost interest in many things that used to give her pleasure. However, when approached about receiving help she would say there was no problem. No matter how much my grandmother tried to get her to see the issue she would act as if my grandmother was crazy. She began running into trouble with the law and the only way she was forced to get help was when court ordered. I will use myself as an additional example of avoidance. I become extremely anxious in social situations and I have learned to deal with that by avoiding those situations overall. In middle school during presentations is when I became extremely anxious to the point where it would make me physically sick. Ultimately I would sacrifice a grade deduction for a few assignments because for a while I did not want to deal with the feelings that came with presenting to a group. I was forced to deal with that when I got to high school and took a class called teen leadership where we had weekly presentations. I would also practice my presentations in front of a mirror until I felt confident enough to present.
As a child, displacement is something many children get the blunt end of by parents.
With displacement, negative feelings or actions are redirected onto an innocent target. Targets can be people, pets, or objects but are symbolic substitutes. Personally, having a single parent who worked hard to support us both this is something I would be on the receiving end of. If my mom came home and had a stressful day at work she would be irritable and she the smallest thing would set her off. It was not because what I did was something horrible, but because she was mad about work and came home and took it out on the only person she
could.
For the examples used there are some healthy coping mechanisms I witnessed for some and recommendations I have for the others. With the family member who struggled with substance abuse she eventually got help with her addiction and maintained sobriety for some time. What helped her get through such a difficult time was finding other things to put her energy into. She would keep herself busy so that she did not have thoughts of going back to the addictive tendencies. For myself, to cope with my anxiety I use a lot of self reassurance. When I begin to feel uneasy and experience the physical symptoms that can come with anxiety I talk to myself and repeatedly assure myself that I am ok, I will get through whatever is causing my anxiety, and I will use deep breathing. For my mother, some unhealthy habits she has picked up that she uses as a way to cope with stress is smoking. No matter how much I try to get her to quit, and explain the toll it has on her health she tells herself she needs it to help with the stress. A healthy coping mechanism that she could swap out with the unhealthy habit is to write. Writing can be used as a therapeutic measure of dealing with stressful situations.
Developing healthy defense and coping mechanisms early in life is important in assuring we continue those habits as we age. If not, unhealthy habits such as smoking or drugs can become a person’s go to coping mechanism which poses an extreme threat to their health. Coping mechanisms are extremely individualized and what works for one may not work for another but it is important to find a way to cope with difficult situations to help a person persevere.