To understand Anna Freuds defense mechanisms we have to talk about Sigmund Freuds. According to Sigmund Freuds a reduction of tension is major drive for most people and that this tension was largely caused by anxiety. There are 3 types of anxiety:
1. Reality anxiety: the fear of real-world events occuring. For example a person is afraid of being bitten by a dog because they are near a ferocious dog. The easiest way to rude is to remove oneself from the situation.
2. Neurotic anxiety: the unconscious fear that we will be overpowered by and lose control of the urges of the id, and that this will lead to punishment.
3. Moral anxiety: the fear of our moral principles and values being violated, resulting in feelings of shame or guilt. This type of anxiety comes from the superego.
When anxiety occurs, Sigmund Freud claimed that defense mechanisms are used to cope with the anxiety amd shield the ego from reality, the id and the superego. This is when Anna Freud comes to play, she is responsible for identifying the specific defense mechanisms that the ego uses to reduce tension.
I. Denial: refusing to admit or recognize that something is occuring or has occured.
II. Displacement: taking one's feelings and frustration out on something or someone else that is less threatening
III. Intellectualization: thinking about something from a cold and objective perspective so you can avoid the emotional part.
IV. Regression: reverting back to childlike behavior. Anna Freud claimed that a person would act certain behaviors based on the stage of psychosexual development that they were fixtated on.
V. Repression: moving thoughts that make us uncomfortable into our subconscious
VI. Sublimation: converting unacceptable behaviors into a more acceptable form.