Protecting Us from Ourselves: Defense Mechanisms
Channel: Prof. Sam Vaknin
Date: 21/05/2023

Watch Narcissist's Psychological Defense Mechanisms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AOJXOoQz3k

The evolutionary conundrum: why would evolution allow for self-deception?

Defenses separate internal reality (instincts, pain, guilt, shame, fear, anxiety) from external reality to avoid conflict, real dangers, interpersonal failures, and anxiety (they are anxiolytic). They are, therefore, dissociative.

Narcissists have no functioning ego and only primitive defenses. Borderlines have a functional ego, but their defenses are either primitive or compromised.

They reflect an internal working model of a bad object (I am inadequate, will catastrophically fail, am a danger to myself, need to be defended from myself).

To avoid ego dystonic conscious contact with the bad object, the defenses remain unconscious. To affect reality and render it ego-congruent, they operate via behaviors (watch my video on IPAM).

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