 beautiful people it's Ashley here and today's video is all about well since it's my birthday tomorrow I thought what better way to celebrate than with making a brand new video and this time we're gonna be talking about defense mechanisms and we're gonna go through the 10 common defense mechanisms so what is a defense mechanism well it's a coping technique that reduces anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful impulses they also help us to cope with reality while also preserving our self-esteem now the thing about defense mechanisms is that they are unconscious which means that most of us are not aware that we're using them in the moment defense mechanisms are also one way of looking at how people distance themselves from a full awareness of unpleasant thoughts feelings and behaviors a psychiatrist named George Eamon Baland introduced a four level classification of defense mechanisms level one is pathological defenses level two is immature defenses level three is neurotic defenses and level four is mature defenses now normal and healthy people use defense mechanisms regularly but in this video I'm gonna be including the unhealthy defense mechanisms all right now that we're done with the definition of defense mechanisms I'm gonna be going through some of them now there are many defense mechanisms out there but as of now in this video I'm just gonna go through 10 of the common ones number one acting out now this is directly expressing an unconscious impulse without realizing what is driving that behavior instead of saying I'm angry instead of saying I'm angry with you a person may act out by throwing a book at that person or punching a wall when a person acts out it can act as a pressure released and often helps the individual to feel calmer and more peaceful self-injury may also be a form of acting out expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally number two fantasy this is a defense mechanism that I think a lot of us are guilty of this is retreating to a fantasy world to escape or resolve conflicts that we're currently battling with it's using day dreaming or your imagination to escape from reality into a fictitious world a world full of success or pleasure number three idealization now this is where a person chooses to see themselves or other people as more ideal or perfect than they really are it's a mental mechanism in which the person attributes exaggeratedly positive qualities to oneself or others number four passive aggression I think I'm a little guilty of this sometimes this is expressing our anger indirectly for example through being late for something or doing something that inadvertently destroys another person's plans number five projection now this is where you project your own undesired thoughts feelings or impulses on to another person for example a spouse may be angry at their significant other for not listening when in fact it's the angry spouse who does not listen projection is often the result of a lack of insight and acknowledgement on one's own motivations and feelings number six somatization wow I think I'm a little guilty of this one too this is translating negative thoughts and feelings into physical symptoms for example suffering from migraines when you're dealing with a difficult relationship whenever I have any negative thoughts or feelings and I've got no one to talk to my body just starts getting itchy that is so not cool number seven denial now this is refusing to accept reality simply because it is too painful or threatening many people use denial every day of their lives to avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas in their life that they don't wish to admit for example a person who is a functioning alcoholic will deny that they have a drinking problem pointing out how well they function in their jobs or relationships number eight regression now this is where a person temporarily reverts to an earlier stage of development in order to avoid handling problems and concerns in a more appropriate adult way for example an adolescent who is for example an adolescent who is overwhelmed with anger fear and growing sexual impulses may become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood behaviors that he has long since overcome such as vet wedding an adult may regress when under great deal of stress refusing to leave their bed and engage in normal everyday activities number nine distortion now this is where a person totally reshapes their picture of reality in order to suit their own internal needs this can include unrealistic megalomaniac beliefs hallucinations wish fulfilling delusions in addition to reshaping their reality a person can also use sustained feelings of delusional superiority or entitlement number 10 splitting also known as the black and white thinking or the all-or-nothing thing but this is a defense where the positive and negative aspects are split off there is no integration between these two parts at all it's a failure in a person's thinking to bring together both positive and negative qualities of themselves and others into a cohesive and realistic whole for example a person may view others as being completely good or completely evil rather than a mixture of the good and bad traits and there you have it 10 common defense mechanisms now as you go through this list do some of you realize that some of these defense mechanisms remind you of distorted thinking or cognitive distortions then why not check out my video on the 15 styles of distorted thinking well I'm actually on my six week vacation right now from polytechnic I still need to prepare for a school trip to Australia as well as a music theory exam but I think you guys can expect a lot more videos from me for the next six weeks so stay tuned okay and that is my time thank you so much for watching this video all of my sources are gonna be in a description box below