| What can we do to overcome the effects of stress? Several solutions
are in use at the present time, One way described in the psychoanalytical
theory of Freud is that we defend ourselves psychologically against the
results of a stressful situation, thus helping us to cope by redeploying
our stress energy into one of several different channels. These defence
mechanisms are unconscious and work by distorting reality in some way.
Denial is the most primitive defence mechanism where the individual blocks out the situation by refusing to acknowledge it. Rationalisation is the translation of the situation into a logically or socially desirable one and serves two purposes a the easing of disappointment eg. I didn't really want it anyway and b it gives acceptable motives for socially unacceptable behaviour eg. I told a lie because I thought it would be harmful to tell the truth. Projection is where the individual sees his own faults to an exaggerated degree in other people, thus his own faults do not seem so bad in comparison eg. 'Everyone in the department is cruel and unkind so I have to treat them harshly'. Reaction formation is the expression of opposite feelings. An example can be seen where a mother lavishes protection and indulgence on her unwanted child - compensating for her lack of love by being a 'good mother'. Intellectualisation is the detachment from an emotionally threatening situation by explaining it in abstract or intellectual terms. 'My sister died because the car hit her'. Undoing is seen in an action designed to prevent or atone for unacceptable thoughts or impulses. eg. confession prevents punishment: Lady Macbeth kept washing her hands in an unconscious desire to cleanse the blood of murder from her soul. Repression is a kind of denial where an event or situation is entirely wiped from the memory giving rise to amnesia eg. when a person acts out of character by doing something they are ashamed of - then completely forgetting it. Displacement is a channelling of stress energy into a new acceptable outlet - eg. the employee is 'ticked off' by the boss. He cannot kick the boss (as he would like to) so he goes home and kicks his wife! Another example can be seen where a childless couple displace their love for children they cannot have into the sphere of animals by taking in stray cats and dogs. Click here for previous page | next page | assignment | index |