How To Overcome Unhealthy & Unhelpful Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms can cause problems in our daily lives, and those who use them may not even realize they’re happening. This article will show you how you can stop subconsciously relying on defense mechanisms when placed in stressful situations and start developing healthy coping skills instead.

Be Mindful

When we become uncomfortable or distressed, unpleasant feelings and emotions can flow through our minds, leading to people using defense mechanisms. To counter this, take a step back and recognize the negative response you’re feeling.

Simply by being aware of them, you can prevent yourself from utilizing defense mechanisms that you didn’t intend to use.

Think About Your Actions

Although having awareness is critical for overcoming defense mechanisms, it’s also essential to consider the outcome of your actions, or in some cases, inaction.

Defense mechanisms are a subconscious event, but that does not mean you lose control of yourself. Therefore, if you have a habit of lashing out, ignoring, or any unhealthy coping strategy to protect yourself, you can work on changing those behaviors.

Take Accountability

Just like recognizing your behaviors and altering them is essential for breaking the cycle of defense mechanisms, you can avoid them entirely by learning how to be accountable.

It’s acceptable to make mistakes, and things will go wrong from time to time, and while it can be challenging to accept, apologizing can make all of the difference. Of course, honing up and being honest will be uncomfortable, and it can draw criticism, but at least you won’t be in denial, project, displace, or use other defense mechanisms.

Learn More About Them

As mentioned before, awareness is key to stop using defense mechanisms; however, not just being mindful of your emotions, but also by educating yourself on the very topic itself.

Reading about the different defense mechanisms and what they entail can help you find better ways of coping with negative feelings and emotions so that you never have to resort to them. You can find more excellent resources at BetterHelp’s advice section about defense mechanisms so that you can understand what they look like. It will also be useful in allowing you to identify them in others.

Get Professional Assistance

Change isn’t easy, but you don’t have to do it by yourself. If you believe you struggle with defense mechanisms or have trouble handling stress and other issues that could trigger them, talking to a mental health professional can be extremely helpful.

Reaching out to a counselor or therapist can teach you valuable coping skills that can be applied anywhere in your life. This includes some of the strategies discussed here, like practicing mindfulness and accountability, which are crucial for making long-term behavioral modifications.

Conclusion

It isn’t obvious that we’re using defense mechanisms when they’re happening, but hopefully, this article has shown you that you can be aware of your feelings, emotions, and actions, and these are a fundamental part of how defense mechanisms work. Still, it’s worth understanding the signs of the different kinds of them so that you can prevent taking unhealthy and possibly, regrettable actions and instead focus on making healthier and productive choices, even if there is some emotional resistance in the process.