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In psychoanalytic theory, ego defenses are unconscious processes that we deploy to diffuse the fear and anxiety that arise when who we think we are or who we think we should be (our conscious ‘superego’) comes into conflict with who we really are (our unconscious ‘id’).
There are a great number of ego defenses, and the combinations and circumstances in which one uses them reflect on one's personality. One could go so far as to argue that the self is nothing but the sum of its ego defenses. While people cannot entirely escape from ego defenses, they can gain some insight into how they use them.
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MORE IDEAS ON THIS
In dissociative amnesia, the person suffers a loss of memory, most commonly for the period surrounding the traumatic event. Such a condition has long been recognized. Already in the first century, the naturalist Pliny the Elder remarked that, ‘Nothing whatever, in man, is of so f...
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In possession trance, the person reacts to the traumatic event by entering a dissociative state in which her identity is replaced by that of another person, animal, or inanimate object, or, more commonly, by a ghost, spirit, or deity.
In many cultures, certain form...
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The basic form of dissociation is called isolation of affect. This involves a dissociation of thoughts and feelings, with the feelings (the affect) then removed from conscious attention
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Isolation of affect is very common. Other forms of dissociation, while much more dramatic, are correspondingly less common. They are usually precipitated by an intensely traumatic event, leadi...
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Isolation of affect is probably most apparent when someone refers to an emotionally loaded event or situation in a casual, matter-of-fact, or otherwise dispassionate way. This can be called for in certain circumstances, for example, in providing the distance and objectivity that ...
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In dissociative stupor, the person reacts to the traumatic event by becoming immobile and mute, failing to respond to stimuli such as the human voice, bright lights, or extremes of hot and cold.
Dissociative stupor—that is, stupor as a reaction to a trauma...
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It should be borne in mind that, just like dissociative fugue, revenge and fame can also be construed as ego defenses.
Agatha Christie, the world’s most famous mystery writer, pulled a, now, famous vanishing act. On a cold December night in 1926, she went out in her belove...
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A fourth kind of dissociative disorder is dissociative fugue, in which the person embarks on an unexpected journey that may last for up to several months. During this journey, there is memory loss and confusion about personal identity or even assumption of another, entirely diffe...
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Agatha never discussed this perplexing episode and also excluded it from her biography. Perhaps she contrived it as an act of revenge, maybe even as a publicity stunt, but a dissociative fugue is an equally likely explanation and also the one upheld by her then doctors.
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CURATED FROM
psychologytoday.com
11 ideas
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IDEAS CURATED BY
We deceive ourselves to protect ourselves, but the fact remains: we deceive ourselves; and, so, we harm ourselves. We can’t do a lot about it, but maybe we can do a little, if we know what it is that we do. A 10-part series.
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Other curated ideas on this topic:
The ego has its one internal, silent and invisible measures, known as defense mechanisms to curb the ‘id’. These measures are not visible and can only be known retroactively, like repression, for example.
Our basic and primal instincts are regulated by our ego, and our mor...
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