Five Defense Mechanisms

  How do you protect yourself from pain? Do you know the way your unconscious mind defends you? As a matter of fact, we all have different defense mechanisms that kick in to protect us from highly stressful events. They’re usually unconscious. This means they’re mobilized before you’re aware of the pain, stupefaction, or confusion that a situation can generate. In effect, when they’re activated, your unconscious self protects you. Defense mechanisms provide you with a whole arsenal of tools that allow you to cushion the impact of events that can be potentially traumatic. As a rule, they’re adaptive. However,…