DeepSummary
Dr. Rick Hanson and his son Forrest discuss the concept of psychological defenses - unconscious strategies people use to protect themselves from uncomfortable emotions and experiences. They explain that defenses distort reality to reduce anxiety, often related to fears about our true nature or shame. Common defenses like repression, projection, and rationalization are explored through examples.
The discussion delves into the psychoanalytic roots of defense mechanisms, including Freud's model of the id (instinctual drives), ego (reality principle), and superego (moral conscience). Defenses help mediate between these aspects of the psyche. The evolutionary and social factors that shaped psychoanalytic theory are also examined.
Practical strategies for working with defenses are covered, such as developing self-compassion, mindfulness, social support, and healthy outlets like exercise or creative pursuits. The importance of truth, awareness, and integration is emphasized for reducing reliance on maladaptive defenses over time.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Psychological defenses are unconscious strategies to reduce anxiety by distorting reality in some way.
- Common defense mechanisms include repression, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, and others.
- Defenses have roots in psychoanalytic theory about conflicting mental forces (id, ego, superego) that need to be managed.
- Defenses can be functional in managing difficult emotions, but often become maladaptive and dysfunctional over time.
- Increasing self-awareness, self-compassion, social support, and healthy outlets can help work through defenses adaptively.
- The goal is not to eliminate defenses, but to relate to them with more truth and wisdom to address underlying issues.
- Defenses often manifest interpersonally, making relational awareness and skillful communication important.
- An attitude of curiosity, not criticism, is most effective when addressing someone else's defenses.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Freud himself was a neurologist. The 18 hundreds were characterized by the discovery of all these previously unknown unseen forces, electricity, magnetism. There's a lot of interest in what powerful dynamic forces could be lurking in our biology and in our physics unbeknownst to us. And so that notion of dynamic processes in conflict with each other, in forms of turbulence with each other, and needing to be managed in various ways also very much informs the backdrop in which were going to be exploring defenses.“ by Rick Hansen
- “We have then with regard to the sense of the eye, ego functions, the executive functions we talk about a lot today. Self regulation being deliberate, deliberate control, willpower. We have a pretty common sense understanding of ego. We also probably have a pretty common sense experience, near sense of our conscience, as well as the shoulds that we internalize from all kinds of other sources as we grow up.“ by Rick Hansen
- “Theres a lot here thats just about coming into truth, about very normal processes that can still have problematic consequences.“ by Rick Hansen
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Episode Information
Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson
6/24/24