LOWEST PROTECTIVE MECHANISMS OF PSYCHE

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

In this post, we will dwell on three primitive defenses, such as: split, idealization and depreciation.

Split

It is believed that this mechanism is formed in infancy, when the child still cannot understand that the people caring for him have both good and bad qualities for him. The child ascribes to everything around him polar "valencies", which makes it possible to order, structure the world around him and to adapt more easily to it.

It is assumed that the baby perceives his mother not as one person with different manifestations in relation to him, but as two different people (a good mother and a bad mother). Consequently, the attitude towards it within the child's psyche is split into good and bad. With a favorable development, the child should integrate his perception of the two “mothers” into one image. To begin to experience ambivalent feelings towards her, that is, often contradictory at the same time, feelings.

For example, to be able to be angry with the mother and at the same time realize that she is dear to him. Also, keep in mind that mom can be strict, even punish for misconduct, and at the same time continue to love him. However, such integration does not always take place.

An adult usually resorts to this protection when faced with difficult, unclear and threatening experiences for him.

In culture, religion and history, many opposing images are presented, such as: Ivan Tsarevich and Koschey the Immortal, angels and demons, power and people, etc.

From time immemorial, people have tried to simplify conflicting concepts. It is much easier to divide into black and white and not suffer from various doubts. For example, in fairy tales for children (as well as Latin American TV shows for adults), it is customary to conventionally divide characters into good and bad (Baba Yaga is a bad character, Just Maria is a good one). And if you think that Yaga always helps the main characters, while feeling like a lonely and unhappy woman, then this will greatly complicate the perception of her seemingly unambiguously negative image. The positive side of Yaga is usually left out as a bad hero.

So in life, a person can consider his colleague a very good and sensitive person today, but as soon as he does not borrow money tomorrow or does not marry him on his day off, his opinion of him changes dramatically. Despite the obvious distortions introduced into the perception by this defense, when splitting is used, a person ceases to notice the “good” coming from the object that he considers “bad” (and vice versa). Instead, he, depending on the situation, instantly changes his idea of the object to the other extreme, as if it were not ideas that were changing, but the object itself. It is this “splitting” of the object into “only good” and “only bad” that is one of the main characteristics of the operation of this protection.

The use of splitting is also aimed at reducing anxiety and maintaining self-esteem. An example is a student who fails an exam. Splitting can instantly work to maintain self-esteem, and the young person will begin to accuse examiners of being biased towards his flow. They will ignore the fact that several people from his group have successfully passed the exam, and will continue to justify their own failure by the disloyalty of teachers to his group as a whole.

Idealization / Devaluation

Idealization

The mechanisms of the psyche - primitive idealization and primitive depreciation - are two sides of the same coin. They often work in conjunction with the mechanism described above - splitting. But these mechanisms further complicate the tendency to regard all external objects as “absolutely good” or “absolutely bad”, since their “goodness” or “badness” is pathologically and artificially amplified. The origins of the formation of primitive idealization is the child's necessary faith in the omnipotence of his parents. The child relies on the unshakable belief that the parent will always protect him, thereby overcoming many of his own childhood fears and dangers on the way to growing up. Until a certain age, he believes that his mom and dad are the smartest, strongest and most beautiful parents in the world. The child wholeheartedly trusts his parents. If he is told that the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus exist, then these statements are not questioned, of course, for the time being.

In adulthood, many people continue to idealize. We still have partly the need to ascribe special dignity and power to the people on whom we are emotionally dependent. Teachers, bosses, doctors, priests and various "gurus" and professionals are often perceived by us in a distorted way, as if we endow them with superpowers. Often, from mommy on the playground, you can hear that her child's pediatrician is the most qualified specialist, and the yoga instructor is the best in the city. The idealization mechanism plays a significant role in the process of falling in love at the first stage of relationships, in the so-called candy-bouquet period. Falling in love presupposes an overestimation of the object of love, which is endowed with a wide range of positive qualities, including those that are not actually inherent in the individual. For example, such a partner's quality as authoritarianism at the beginning of a relationship can be perceived as a unique feature: “He is so thorough and judicious. It is so rare to meet a person who has his own personal opinion on everything, can argue and defend it! And he cares about me so much - he meets me every day at work! " The young lady does not assume that this "feature" in the future may negatively affect their relationship. A man, most likely, will not take her opinion into account on many issues, but he will control her every step and zealously demand consent (or obedience) with his beliefs and decisions regarding raising children or distributing the budget. Primitive idealization creates images of the superiority and omnipotence of significant people and the person himself, divorced from reality, which inevitably leads him subsequently to severe disappointment. After all, it is known that ideal people do not exist. And then the primitive devaluation mechanism enters into its legal rights.

Depreciation

Primitive depreciation is the flip side of the need for idealization. The more the object is idealized, the more cardinally it then depreciates. An example is a father, who in a rage threatens his son's teacher, on whom he had high hopes for preparing his son for the entrance exams to a prestigious university. The father did not notice the weak motivation of his son in preparing for admission, but he idealized the capabilities of the teacher. The teenager failed the exams, and all the righteous anger of his father fell on the tutor, who allegedly poorly prepared his child. The mechanism of depreciation can still be used by a person in relation to himself.

For example, a person's exaggerated sensations of his grandeur, his own splendor and a certain chosenness can be replaced by exactly opposite feelings of insignificance and self-loathing. "Am I a trembling creature, or am I entitled to ?!" - asked the Raskolnikov, driven into the framework of an illusory choice between the already mentioned splitting and the polar extremes. But everything can be easier. A student in his native school feels like a star, but if he does not take a prize in the regional Olympiad in mathematics, he begins to feel like a "brainless dumbass", burning with shame.

The mechanism of depreciation is often used by us in adverse events in order to calm down like: "It could have been much worse, but …". When a trip to Bali is disrupted, a person can reassure himself with reasoning: “Well, it's good that we didn't go, otherwise so many planes crashed during this time! And in general, why fly to countries where all sorts of tornadoes and tornadoes are constantly? God forbid!".

Devaluation is also exploited by our psyche as a way to increase subjective self-esteem, the level of claims and reduce the negative emotions that accumulate with envy of those characters whom we idealize. A man can secretly admire certain ZUN (knowledge, skills, abilities) of his colleague and envy him. In the smoking-room, discussing the hated fellow, devalue him with the following statements: "Igor Alekseevich may be a good" salesman ", selling an idea is his strong point, but he is not capable of leading the whole project!"

Some people throughout their life cannot break free from the bonds of defense mechanisms that work harmoniously in a strong bond with each other.

Veronica is in her thirties and still hasn't been able to build a good long-term relationship with one man for over 10 years. All the novels ended in tears for her. Now she once again broke up with a man who turned out to be a "goat", in her opinion, like all the previous ones. Let's try to figure out this recurring story.

The splitting defense mechanism unconsciously divides men in Veronica's mind into “mattresses” and “brutals”. "Mattresses" are caring and gentle men whom Nika devalues, not seeing masculinity and sexuality in them. Consequently, she initially rejects men with whom she could really build a good relationship. "Brutals", however, beckon her with their eccentricity, animal strength and feigned charm. The idealization mechanism is triggered and Nika endows these men with unimaginable qualities, which they often do not have. She, being in love, does not pay attention to those qualities of her chosen one, which clearly indicate the impossibility or unwillingness to build a serious relationship with her. After a certain time, Veronica is faced with an inevitable reality and, wounded by unjustified hopes, retreats from the battlefield. A woman will be able to break out of this vicious circle, realizing the work of all three primitive defense mechanisms, identifying cause-and-effect relationships. Revision of her attitude to herself and to others will allow Veronica, without "rose-colored glasses" or humiliation, to approach a truly good man (but not ideal) and build a strong relationship with him.