Mental Health Monday - D-E-F-E-N-S-E (Part I: Repression)

Fall is just around the corner and football is in the air! As the attention of millions of Americans turns to defense on the gridiron, Sound Advice reviews defense in the psychological sense. More specifically, throughout the next month we’ll consider Sigmund Freud’s theory of defense mechanisms. Basically, these mechanisms are an individual's attempt to protect him or herself from emotional hurt. Also known as ego defenses, engaging in such mechanisms are a pursuit of self-preservation. Some defense mechanisms are healthy; others are pathological, immature, and even downright neurotic. Many mechanisms distort reality.

We begin with what is perhaps the granddaddy of all the unhealthy defense mechanisms: repression, also known as motivated forgetting. Repression is considered a primary ego defense because it underlies many other mechanisms; it is the intentional “forgetting” or blocking of unacceptable thoughts and feelings which often are related to a deep emotional hurt. Although the forgetting is intentional, it is almost always done without the individual’s awareness. For example, someone who is victimized may be unable to later recall the event. This happens because it is just too painful for the person to re-experience the trauma. However, the emotional scars of the event are neither gone nor forgotten; they reside outside a person’s realm of consciousness but remain very influential. Getting back to football, repression will "run interference" in a person’s life.

Given the nature of repression, we often don’t know for ourselves when it is a force in our lives, although it can be relatively easy to spot the effects or repression in someone else (if you know a person’s history). It is possible to overcome repression although the process of doing so can be long and painful. At its core, repression therapy involves “digging through the muck;” bringing the repressed pain back to the surface for analysis, processing, and ultimately, peace. Naturally, it’s best to undergo the "re-remembering" of repressed thoughts and feelings with a trained, trusted professional.

After Labor Day, we’ll consider why we might take anger for the boss out on our spouse, the phenomenon of finding one’s own faults in others, and a classic standby of d-e-f-e-n-s-e, denial.