Mechanisms of psychological protection of the personality

Mechanisms of psychological protection of the personality

Each of us, at least, time in life got not into the most colourful situation which responsible, alas, there were ourselves. There are two options of reaction – self-critical and justification. If at the person the self-criticism is well developed, he realizes and will accept the oversight, and will continue to live further. As for justification, it is the main mechanism of psychological protection of the personality most of which of people perfectly knows. By psychologists it is proved that the person very quickly forgets the harm done by him to itself and people around, but very seldom forgets the errors allowed in relation to it by others. This human property also is the simplest definition of psychological protection of the personality.


Now we will go deep into mechanisms of our brain which in a certain measure save from emergence several times on the date of psychological frustration. Ways of psychological protection of the personality join when the interior is not capable to apprehend surrounding reality. There is a conflict: in a brain of the person there are images him, people, the world and when the world suddenly shows that it at all not such as person imagined it, we are protected by primary mechanisms of psychological protection.

  1. Isolation – the most characteristic at children. When the child is upset, disappointed, offended by something, he can fall asleep suddenly (off-schedule) to disappear in the illusory world from evil reality.
  2. Denial is a type of psychological protection of the personality which is started when you do not accept your feelings, thoughts and you refuse to think of them, believing that if she is allowed not to think of a problem.
  3. Idealization – belief in omnipotence someone. This someone – great, powerful, he will save you from everything. At the same time, the idealizing person every day thinks of himself worse and worse, the self-assessment promptly falls.
  4. Splitting of the Ego is one of the main mechanisms of psychological protection of the personality when the person consciously divides the world into the Good and evil, the Gloom and Light, Enemies and Allies, God and the Devil. The person refuses to perceive existence of both bad, and high qualities in one person, at the same time, having concentrated on positive aspects of a certain personality, all bad is already perceived by him separately.

Psychological protection is primary reaction of a brain to the conflict. Any obstacle in a way to the purpose stops the person until the obstacle is overcome, or the person will not refuse an invention. That is the next stage after primary protection – the choice: to overcome or refuse intentions. The refusal of the purpose is another type of psychological protection when the person convinces himself that not really and it was necessary.

Author: «MirrorInfo» Dream Team