Sam Vaknin Defense Mechanisms REDUCE ANXIETY w/ 1 Dissociation 2 Reality Distortion 3 Self Deception
Channel: Visceral Gravitas
Date: 2023-05-29

sourced from https://youtu.be/4mrJ-jE6zPM

transcript: 
no external enemy can be as pernicious vindictive and damaging as we can 
we can and very often become self-destructive, self-defeating, self-harming and self-trashing, suicide comes to mind
we undermine ourselves 
the Civil War within
and it is the permanent state of being human

the main role of defenses is to separate internal reality from external reality 
the Civil War within
in order to avoid conflict, real dangerous, interpersonal failures and anxiety
their main function is to reduce anxiety 
how we deceive ourselves
because internal reality sucks populated by uncontrollable instincts and impulses and drives by pain, negative effectivity, and ego Dystony
if we were to let the internal environment interact unbridled unfiltered with the external reality we would have had Mayhem

if you're Psychopathic you end badly they are bad consequences for your actions 
similarly if you are Riven and struck by pain and guilt and shame and fear you are very unlikely to function appropriately in your environment 
you are going to end up failing or defeated or punished

so we can already see the defenses are dissociative in nature
they leverage dissociation

all defense mechanisms are thought to protect the individual from anxieties 
but the mature defenses do not threaten interpersonal relationships and don't distort reality in order to avoid anxiety or reduce or mitigate 
now there's an intermediate level of neurotic defense mechanisms and they function to keep distressing thought content out of awareness they involve minimal reality distortion

now the lowest level of defenses immature or primitive defenses 
so these defenses Act through strong reality Distortion or even total Detachment from reality they impair reality testing dramatically
and they are characteristic for example of severe mood and anxiety disorders and of course they are associated in personality disorders

we are in a constant state of impending dissonance
we do everything we can to reduce anxiety 
reality distortion
to reduce anxiety 
they impair reality testing dramatically
to reduce anxiety 
dissociative in nature
to reduce anxiety