1. Personality Theorists - Psychoanalytical and Humanistic

Freud's Defence Mechanisms

Freud believed whenever the mind had trouble reconciling the needs of these parts of the mind, psychological problems occurred.

He suggested that when the ego cannot satisfy the id, it uses defense mechanisms such as the following:

• Denial: claiming/believing that what is true to be actually false.
• Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target.
• Intellectualization: taking an objective viewpoint.
• Projection: attributing uncomfortable feelings to others.
• Rationalization: creating false but credible justifications.
• Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way to the fear.
• Regression: going back to acting as a child.
• Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious.
• Sublimation: redirecting 'wrong' urges into socially acceptable actions.

All Defense Mechanisms tend to distort, transform, or otherwise falsify reality.