Introduction
Cracking fingers... Alright, we are here in Part 2 on "How Do You Adapt To Stressful Circumstances?", and despite the fact that my title might seem a little boring or common, trust me, it's not what you are thinking the topic would be. I really need to be more creative in these titles, butttttt maybe you can help me with some recommendations 👀.
Oki, on my previous post I gave the general definition and some info about ego defenses and how they help us get through stressful life circumstances and cope with anxiety, so I would suggest checking the previous post rather than saying everything again, you know it might seem boring, eh. In this post, I'm going to mention few more ego defenses, so yeah, let's jump right in.
Six More Ego Defenses
- Reaction Formation: This one can probably be explained in one example. Have you ever come across those parents who show excessive love to their child but when they talk to someone, they tell them that they don't accept their child? No? Maybe seen it in a movie then?... So simply, it's doing the opposite of what someone feels as a way to deny their own feelings.
Generated through leonardo AI
Undoing: And I can't think of a smart, easy way to put this, so I will give it as its definition. Undoing is trying to "undo" a previous unacceptable action or thought by engaging in contrary behavior. I can think of it as if you stole something from a shop and then started paying extra money for other things later in life with no explanation.
Suppression: Your friend parked his lambo inside your house because he is going on a trip to another country, so you say, yea lemme ride it once, and you end up hitting the car. Now you might think that things can't get worse, but it is because you are a doctor, and you must focus on your job and not screw things up. Where is the suppression in that? It's you suppressing the thought that you hit the car, so you can focus on what you are doing.
Again Leonardo AI
Isolation: This is an interesting one, it's about isolating some traumatic event in your mind that you can talk about without showing emotions. The most obvious example here is when someone saw someone close to them killed in front of them, and later you can see them talk about it in detail yet with no emotions.
Humor: Well, I found myself to be most humorous when most stressed, especially before decisive exams. I will be making jokes about it like it's nothing, and that actually helps me cope with the stress. And by the way, humor is considered a mature ego defense.
Passive-Aggression: Very popular, and I'm almost sure that when I explain it, you will end up thinking of someone you know. It's indirectly being angry at someone, how is that? Well, just like a husband ignoring his wife just because she pissed him off or made him mad. So instead of talking about it they be sitting at the couch with a straight pissed face 😑.
You know what I'm about to say right? LEONARDO AI 😆
In The End
Despite the various ways to cope with stress, every one of us ends up using one or more of the most famous ego defenses without knowing it, so maybe if we end up thinking about it more and try to use the mature ones, we can cope better with stress and end up with a positive outcome for us and for the people around us.
Hope the new typing style and image use are catching your attention, and any feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading through. Until next time.
PS: I decided to make them 2 posts instead of 3, so I will edit the title for the first post. I just don't want you to get bored reading the same topic with different points each time.
References:
- BnB video and slides (Psychiatry)
- #2