Page 23 - ISABS Here and Now

As an aside: the term Psychological This task of the ego can be presented - of
Defense Mechanisms was first elaborated dealing with internal and external tension,
upon by Anna Freud, daughter of the by modifying one or more of the above.
famous psycho-analyst, Sigmund Freud. It can be represented diagrammatically as
(incidentally, Anna Freud too is considered follows:
a pre-eminent psycho-analyst in her own
right!) The concept of Psychological
Defense Mechanisms has been elaborated
and deepened by people such as George
Valliant - this write up is essentially based
on the work of Valliant, called 'The
Wisdom of the Ego".

Going back to our concept of
Psychological defence Mechanisms, the
job of the ego is to defend the person
from the tensions caused by the above
cited internal and external events. The
ego does that by distorting or modifying
one or more of the following:

The awareness of self (the notion: the
kind of person I am)
The way the idea (of what is happening to
us) is interpreted.
The emotional impact of the cause of
tension.
The way the cause of the tension (the
other person or event) is interpreted.

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