Introduction:every individual will have certain goals/aims in his or her life to lead a fairly comfortable

and productive life.when their felt needs are fulfilled automatically.

the gratification will occur and balance in human life will result.
Life is nothing but adjustment.the individual has to strive hard to have the inner harmony.
Change is the law of nature.every movement, change occurs in our life,one has to accommodate and
adjust themselves for all those changes or stimuli or factors /hurdles will interfere with the smooth
functioning of the individual,resulting in to severe frustration and emotional conflicts. These will
threaten the individual’s psychological balance.the individual is equipped with certain mental
capacities to safe guard himself against psychological dangers or distress.
A person may not succeed and reach his goals according to his desires and efforts because of
unfavourable situations or limited capacity of the individual.however ,a person make efforts to adjust
himself to his environment by using inner resources.

Sigmund freud’’ the father of modern psychiatry coined the term defense mechanism .it is
unconscious processes that defend a person against anxiety.they protect against external threats.
Human mind consist of three parts
1. ID:
2. EGO
3. SUPER EGO
EGO makes the usage of varied methodology to fulfill its tasks by avoiding danger,anxiety,unpleasant
or distressing situations.hence defense mechanism also called as ego defense mechanism. Or mental
mechanism or coping mechanism.

Definitions; any method used by a person to give relief from stress and anxiety or to improve ones’
self image.-ANN.J ZWEMMER.
The individual has mental capacities or devices for protecting himself against psychological dangers
and distress.--
BHATIA AND CRIAG
It is an intra psychic process which provides relief from stress and anxiety or operate unconsciously.
.an adjustment mechanism is a device resorted I n order to achieve an indirect satisfaction of a need
so that tension may be reduced and self respect maintained.-carroll

Purpose of ego defense mechanism:to reduce anxiety

To reduce a mental conflict
To protect ones self esteem or sense of security

List of ego defense mechanisms are the following

1. Compensation
2. Denial
3. Displacement
4. Day dreaming
5. Identification
6. Repression
7. Regression
8. Reaction formation
9. Rationalization
10. Substitution
11. Sublimation
12. Sympathesim
13. Withdrawl
14. fantasy
15. Acting out
16. Undoing
17. Projection
1. compensation:a tendency of human being to make up the deficiency of one area or trait of
development in another area.
Eg.a student who is not successful in studies ,tries to compensate at sports or other extra curricular
activities.
2. denial:it is primitive mechanism the individual refuses to accept or face the reality.eg.
Individual do not accept when diagnosed with cancer . or do not accept death of beloved one.
3.displacement or transferance: it refers to a process of displacing or shifting of thought,feeling or
action from one person or situation which is high dangerous than the original.
To another.eg.employee working in a company receives scolding from the boss,he may displace on
children,wife at home.
4.Day dreaming: is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current external tasks when
attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction.
5.Identification:it is a psychological act of taking other persons achievements as their own to derive
satisfaction and success.they may identify themselves with a person or institution to meet their
needs.
Eg.teenage people use this method by considering as role model of famous hero,actress,politician,etc
imitating mannerism,the characteristics ,and way of dressing .
6. Repression;its called as unconscious forgetting. An individual forcibly keeps the unpleasant
situation,unfulfilled desires,and emotional conflicts which causes shame ,guilty and unworthy
in to unconscious compartment
.eg.a girl who has repressed the painful memories of her first love affair may not able to write letter to
husband.
eg A student may not be able to remember her school name and teacher name.
7. Regression: it means going backward or returning to the past to an infantile or childish level
of behaviour when they face problems in life.
Eg.a student when attending examination may exhibit childish behaviour by crying or saying headache
in order to overcome present problem.
8. Reaction formation:it is a kind of refutation by argument or explanation of implied inadequacy or
unworthiness..one strives to behave in ways that are sharply in contrast with the the way that he
tends to behave for protecting ones self esteem. By using this an individual tries to inhibit,mask or
overcome certain impulses that threaten ones self esteem. Or general welfare by emphasizing the
opposite or contradictory ones.
Eg.a person who is strongly motivated by undesirable sex needs may react by being extremely
perfect,humble persons towards others.homosexual may join in gay hetero group.
9. Rationalization:it is a defense mechanism in which person tries to justify his unacceptable social
behaviour or act by giving socially acceptable reasons for it and thus attempts to deceive others and
himself by inventing good reasons to explain his conduct.
Eg.a child uses when he tries to give lame excuse for his failure.he may try to disguise his own
weakness and deficiency eg.sour grape mechanism.when a person can not succeed his
efforts,consoles him that goal is worthwhile and undesirable.
10. substitution: original goals or desires are replaced by others when an attempt in achieving may
end in failure.eg.student who did not get MBBS seat will choose dentist,or pharmacy or any other
degree.
11. Sublimation: it is a re-channel or redirect our repressed and undesirable wishes ,impulses
drives ,emotions or actions in some socially acceptable form and thus save from mental agony.eg. A
young man may found to write beautiful poems and sketch beautiful portraits. Who has more sexual
desires, and those are having high anger can join in wrestling and boxing.
12. Sympathesim: an individual tries to get satisfaction by seeking sympathy and pity for his own
failures and in adequacies.avoid the necessity of solving problem.eg. A student who fails in his
examinations gets sympathy by saving that,he fell sick during examination.but he might be irregular to
the classess.
13. Withdrawl:an individual tries to withdraw himself from painful stimuli or difficulty situations as he
can not face the problems in real life. Eg.the individual may have a desire of acquiring good result in
his exams,sincerely tries ,but does not succeed.instead of achieving the goal by attempting again ,he
withdraws himself and not appear for the exam,because of threat of failure.
14. Fantasy;it is satisfied with the unreal,imaginary success,it may lead to psychotic disorder.eg.in real
life the person does not get success,then he tries to feel success in his own mind by imagination and
derive satisfaction without putting efforts to solve the problem.
15. Actingout:expression of an unconscious impulse through action there by gratifying the
impulses.eg: when a person express love to girl,if she is not accepting his love immediately he will
come out and trow the articles .
16. Undoing:Asking excuses for wrong deeds.eg.a student who comes late to the class asks excuses to
the teacher. To avoid pain.punishment and self devaluation.
17. Projection:the individual tries to defend himself against his repressed guilt feelings by projecting
them on to other people. Blaming others for their once own mistake .eg.the student found copying in
the exam,when he /she was caught she says other students are also copying in the examination .
SUMMARY
Summaries the whole content of ego defence mechanism.
conclusion
Ego defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological processes that help an
individual to prevent anxiety when exposed to a stressful situation. These mechanisms
are important in psychiatric practice to assess an individual’s personality dynamics,
psychopathologies, and modes of coping with stressful situations, and hence, to
design appropriate individualized treatment. Our study delineates the relationship of
ego defense mechanisms with anxiety, depression, and academic performance of
students.
REFERENCE
. DR.s.k Mangal (2012),
“psychology for nurses”, 1 edition,
published by Avichal publishing
company,Newdelhi. Page no.317-
326.
2. r.sreevani (2009,” psychology
for nurses ”, Published by jaypee
brothers, New Delhi. 1 st edition, pg
no: 174-178.

3.vijayarani and .Dr.Balamurugan’’,

a comprehensive textbook on
psychology for post bost basic bsc
nursing’’,published by Emmess
medical publishers,bangalore,1st
edition,page no-176-180