Ego Defense Mechanisms: Displacement and Denial

EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS
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EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud first described ego defense mechanisms. They are unconscious reactions, and their purpose is to reduce the conflict between the id and superego when someone experiences cause stress. They protect from anxiety resulting from unacceptable feelings. Altwaijiri et al. (2022) state that ego defense mechanisms are considered normal and only psychological disorders when they are excessively used. Freud described several defense mechanisms, including regression, repression, denial, projection, displacement, and sublimation. This essay analyzes two ego-defense mechanisms and provides examples of how they protect individuals from reality.
Displacement
Displacement is an ego defense mechanism that involves the direction of an impulse to a substitute object considered less powerful. It occurs when the id demands something unacceptable to the superego, and thus the ego finds a substitute object to direct the id’s psychic energy (Altwaijiri et al., 2022). An example is when a husband quarrels with his boss at work, the id develops some psychic energy which may be anger, but the superego cannot allow him to satisfy the id by talking back to the boss. Therefore, when they get home, his ego will redirect the psychic energy to a less powerful person or object, and in this case, it may be his wife and c...