Psychology for Writers

Defense Mechanisms

Hello all.

This is the first (if you don’t count the introductory post) in a new recurring series of articles. In addition to my author updates, book reviews, and other content, I will be periodically spending some time talking balancing my Writer Hat on top of my Psychology Professor Hat, discussing some topics within my favorite field, and connecting them to the writing of stories.

Today’s Topic: Defense Mechanisms

We all experience stress in our lives. Inner turmoil over decisions that we’re making. Fear that our self-control might slip and we might do something that will get us in trouble. Anxiety over an upcoming unpleasant task. Stress from work. Family conflict. Money. And on and on. Your characters also experience these anxieties, and the way that they deal with them can tell the reader a lot about who the character is.

Many psychologists claim that, as a part of our personalities, we have our default strategies of handling anxiety. We call these strategies “defense mechanisms.” People tend to be fairly consistent in their use of particular defense mechanisms, so establishing your character’s Go To mechanism(s) can be a way of building a complex and believable personality for this character. George Vaillant is one of the leading researchers on the topic of defense mechanisms, and I will be drawing heavily from his work here. The list of defense mechanisms below is taken from his book Adaptation to Life.

Vaillant organizes these ways of dealing with stress from the most healthy and mature to the most dysfunctional and immature. This means that having your character display one of these can be a way to indicate the level of maturity and emotional stability of that character. Showing your character moving from a less healthy to a more healthy mechanism can also be a way of indicating personal growth.

Level IV: The Healthiest Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms at this level show the most maturity. They are characterized by honesty with oneself and conscious awareness that we are deliberately employing the mechanism. Characters who display these defense mechanisms will tend to be seen as happy and highly-functioning.

Sublimation: This defense mechanism involves the character choosing to express his or her desires in a way that is both healthy and beneficial. (Story example: Jeremiah is a troubled youth, given to fits of rage. He meets a wise old man who teaches him Kung Fu, and inspires Jeremiah to use his aggressive energy only to protect the innocent.)

Altruism: The character transforms anxiety-laden situations into a way to help and serve others. (Victor lost his sister to the bite of a vampire. Now, after grieving for her, he hunts the bloodsucking fiends wherever they may hide, motivated by the desire that nobody else go through the trauma that he experienced.)

Suppression: The conscious and deliberate setting aside of one’s feelings during a crisis, postponing them but not avoiding them. (Kevin’s wife just died in an automobile accident. He wants to fall apart, but he has to take care of their son. So he decides that he will fall apart later.)

Humor: Choosing to find something funny about a situation is a way of taking away the situation’s power, and asserting one’s agency over against stressful events. (Captain Lightblast is a wisecracking super-hero, taunting murderous villains and giving them silly nicknames while making cheesy puns in the midst of battle.)

Anticipation: Realistic but overly careful and worrying preparation for expected future problems. (Ever since Susan’s husband was abducted by aliens, she has obsessively studied every scrap of information about UFOs, spent countless hours at the shooting range, and stockpiled canned food in preparation for the day when the aliens invade Earth.)

Level III: Common Neurotic Mechanisms

These defense mechanisms are less than ideal, but are the kind of thing that many normal people sometimes indulge in. There is “spinning” of the character’s perceptions of self and others.

Intellectualization: The character avoids dealing with his or her feelings by adopting a detached attitude of clinical analysis. (Marty finds out that his girlfriend has been cheating on him. He calmly begins writing a research paper for his Introduction to Psychology class on the topic of infidelity.)

Rationalization: Coming up with a seemingly reasonable-sounding (to the character at least) reason for one’s behavior. (Superiona, Grand Autarch of planet Alpha Prime 4, has prepared a ten-page document, detailing the many many many reasons why it is in fact a good thing that she had her brother assassinated and took the throne. Have a seat and she will explain it all to you.)

Repression: The character experiences the emotions, but cannot remember the reason for them. (Melissa feels afraid when she sees the large oak tree in the back yard but does not know why. Later in the story, we discover that this was the place where she first transformed into a werewolf, and that the roots of the tree are where the bones of the first person she ate are buried.)

Reaction Formation: Responding to something undesirable about oneself by overcorrecting and going to the extreme opposite. (Sir Malcolm visits the cave of Brother Argyle, a kindly hermit who is so gentle that he refuses to swat the mosquito that bites him. In the course of the conversation, Brother Argyle is revealed to have once been Ragnar Bloodfist, the most feared raider in the Five Kingdoms.)

Displacement: This mechanism involves redirecting feelings from one target to another. (General Doom berates his incompetent underling Captain Lethal for allowing the prisoners to escape the Fortress of Blood. Captain Lethal sucks up his feelings of rage and meekly apologizes, leaves the room, and punches Sargeant Facepunch in the face. Sargeant Facepunch does nothing until he is within smacking distance of Private Lowlife. Having just been smacked, Private Lowlife goes in search of a dog to kick.)

Dissociation: This mechanisms involves “cutting out” a part of oneself so as to not have to deal with the anxiety. This could include a feeling of emotional numbness, or the sense that what is happening is unreal and being watched as if from a distance, or keeping a part of one’s identity separate from the rest of the self. (Professor Goodman is the author of three books on the psychology of building a flourishing marriage. He was arrested yesterday for domestic violence.)

Level II: Immature Mechanisms

At the this level, the character is probably a deeply immature person (or literally immature, because you might be writing a 13-year-old character), or emotionally troubled.

Schizoid Fantasy: The character avoids dealing with unpleasant reality by retreating into fantasy. (Dread Galactic Warlord G’Lar was overthrown by the Greeble uprising. He sits smiling in his prison cell, knowing that his loyal followers are everywhere, and will soon come to rescue him. He has been smiling there for seventeen years.)

Projection: Attributing one’s unacknowledged feelings to others. (Prince Ronald loses his temper with the stable boy, calling him a stupid filthy worthless peasant. Later he loudly proclaims himself to be the only member of the royal family who cares about the poor, accusing the rest of the nobility of being a bunch of elitist snobs.)

Hypochondriasis: The transformation of negative emotions into physical complaints. (Ever since he betrayed his friend to the Secret Police, Jack has suffered from terrible headaches that no doctor seems able to cure.)

Passive-Aggressive Behavior: Aggression toward others expressed indirectly, or turned against oneself. (Susan feels that having children ruined all the plans that she had for her life. She was supposed to sign a permission slip today for her oldest to go on a school field trip, but without meaning to she accidentally forgot because it completely slipped her mind totally by accident. Really.)

Acting Out: Lashing out against others or oneself to avoid dealing with one’s feelings. (Commander Cruel has just received a report by phone that the Soldiers of Good thwarted his dastardly scheme to melt the Statue of Liberty. He responds by smashing the phone and stomping it to pieces, then drawing his blaster pistol and shooting the pieces. And then he shoots a passing pigeon.)

Level I: Psychotic Mechanisms.

These are the lest mature, and most likely to indicate severe psychological problems. Here, the character responds to stress by doing violence to their own connection to reality. Children under the age of 5 might display these, but when we see them in adults, we think that those adults are nutcases.

Denial: The character refuses to believe something about objective external reality. (Ben has been attracted to Bea ever since he met her. He confidently strides up to her and asks her out on a date. She laughs and kicks him in a very vulnerable spot. Doubled over with pain, Ben smiles and begins making plans for their date.)

Distortion: The perception of reality is not outright denied, but twisted to match one’s desires. This can include feelings of unrealistic superiority and entitlement, and denial of responsibility for one’s behavior. (Emperess Eleanor, whose idiotic economic policies have bankrupted the realm, blames the widespread famine on forest elves. After all, someone as amazing and brilliant as herself could never be wrong about anything.)

Delusional Projection: This mechanism involves separating oneself from one’s own desires and either believing that they are actually in other people, or believing that others’ desires have invaded oneself. (Ever since he moved to his new house, Kyle has been hearing the voices of ghosts telling him to murder his wife and children, In reality, the house is not haunted; it’s just Kyle.)

I hope that you found this helpful, and that it gave you some ideas about possible ways to add depth and coherence to your characters. If you liked this, click that subscribe button so that you don’t miss the next installment. If you have any feedback or questions, feel free to leave a comment below.