THE MENTAL MECHANISMS

Mental mechanisms (mental dynamisms, ego defensesl operate solely in the unconscious mind. At the time we are using them, or over­using them, we are not aware of the fact. In retrospect we can sometimes recognize how our egos were defending themselves, and we are usually acutely aware of the mental mechanisms grossly employed by other people.

It is possible to identify some types of behavior originating in the use of mental mechanisms; childish behavior in an adult, for example, indicates the use of a mental mechanism called regression. Different people habitually use different mechanism; most people use several- When one com­promise fails, the uneasy ego grasps des­perately for another.

We must not blame ourselves or other peo­ple for using mental mechanisms; they are sometimes necessary to a particular individ­ual to enable him to deal with his real-life situations. We may, however, fairly question the persistent overworking of one or another mental mechanism. This betrays serious un­resolved conflicts in the unconscious mind, or, in other terms, an unsettled personality or a troubled person.

Repression

The most important mental mechanism is called repression; it is an emotional block that keeps us from remembering something even if we want to. In brief, the ego buries unpleasant memories and associations and frightening feelings. It also inhibits pleasant feelings, which arouse the threat of the id going out of control and prompting socially unacceptable behavior of a sexual or aggres­sive nature. Repressed material represents emotional reactions that we want to hide even from ourselves. But this repressed, buried, warded-off, hidden material does not disappear. It seeks expression one way or an­other. Since it is barred from directly entering the consciousness, it usually appears in a disguised and distorted form.

Among the ways in which repressed memo­ries and experiences may assert themselves are dreams, amnesia, purposeful forgetting, slips of the tongue, and the formation of neu­rotic anxiety symptoms. Dreams are "the royal road to the unconscious mind"; in them appear disguised images of the circumstances that have been repressed into the uncon­scious. Dreams usually represent wish ful­fillments—but of wishes we would not dare harbor in the conscious mind. Very often they are wishes to harm those we love —parents, spouse, children, brothers, and sisters.

Amnesia means loss of memory forgetting or repressing whole spans of time. Unpleas­ant war experiences, for instance, are some­times thus blanked out. Again, we do not like to look forward to events that threaten pain,   difficulty,   or   embarrassment.   So we purposefully forget a dental appointment; we stand up a date we didn't want in the first place. Of great significance is the universal experience called infantile amnesia. Almost everyone "forgets" the feelings of frustration, fear, and other experiences that occurred dur­ing infancy and early childhood.

Identification

Identification is the process by which the ego gains strength through attachment to another person, group (notably the family), or institution. The infant, as noted, identifies himself first with his mother, then with other members of his immediate family. The young child feels and behaves as though he were the parents themselves. He uncritically imi­tates their ways; he unconsciously adopts their traits, habits, ideas, prejudices, and values. When he is angry at them, he may hit himself!

Identification in later life represents the need for belonging to some group or "herd" and being accepted by that group. Even out­casts and outlaws huddle together for mutual reassurance. Identification is on the whole one of the most satisfactory adjustment mechanisms. However, overidentification with one's family, school, or other group may sharply limit one's personal development, inhibit outgoing feelings toward other people, and indicate unresolved inner feelings of a childlike dependency on others.