INTRODUCE TOPIC
I teach three 3-hour lectures on this each semester, using my book, '101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself' and Brenner's book 'The Mind in Conflict'. I explain that defenses are like circuit-breakers. Defenses shut off some aspect of affect (sensation or thought content) when the current (intensity) gets too hot. I elaborate on this in the intro to my book.
Jerome S. Blackman, M.D.
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Virginia Wesleyan College
Jsbmd1@cox.net
jblackmanmd@aol.com
*****
I really stress how important unconscious defenses are in human mental life, beginning with readings in The Interpretation of Dreams about the dream work of displacement, symbolization, secondary revision, etc. I use case illustrations to show how defenses work.
*****
How wonderful defense mechanisms are even though they sometimes get us in trouble. Everybody (students) has had an experience with using the defense mechanisms to deal with an exam they're worried about. Exams loom importantly in the world of students.
*****
I have students read the section of the chapter, then in class compare how we can understand the ways a person feels threatened by how they defend themselves. I compare to military defenses: the thick stone walls of medieval castles to the stockade fences of Western forts. Why? The perceived threat drives the defense system.
*****
Robert W. Grossman
Professor of Psychology
Kalamazoo College
*****
I spend the most time on repression, and intro/projection because they are so important to understanding identification.
*****
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
The Interpretation of Dreams introduces the defense mechanisms. I bring in case material to illustrate these.
Freud, S. (ed. R. Robertson;J. Crick, trans.) (1999). The Interpretation of Dreams. London: Oxford Univ. Press
*****
Blackman, J. (2003). 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Brenner, C. (1982). The Mind In Conflict. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Cramer, P. (2000). Defense mechanisms in psychology today: Further processes for adaptation. American Psychologist, 55, 637-646.
Cramer, P. (1999). Ego functions and ego development: Defense mechanisms and intelligence as predictors of ego level. Journal of Personality, 67, 735-760.
Cramer, P., & Block, J. (1998). Preschool antecedents of defense mechanism use in young adults: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 159-169.
Vaillant, G. E. (1994). Ego mechanisms of defense and personality psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 44-50.
*****
Grossman, R. W. (1994). Encouraging critical thinking, using the case study method and cooperative learning techniques. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 5 (1), 7-20
Dr. Robert Grossman's article about using cooperative learning techniques to teach undergraduates about defense mechanisms.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
I subject the teaching assistant or one of the drama majors in the case to a simulation in which they play a patient (I have given them the case formulation in advance). I ask the students to watch and write down what they think is going on with the patient why he's behaving the way he is how do they understand his difficulties. I stop the interview every few minutes and help them to formulate the case in accordance with these theories. And, of course, I ask them to identify which mechanisms are in evidence.
Lynn Friedman, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty
Carnegie Mellon/ Johns Hopkins University
Email: drlynnfriedman@comcast.net
www.drlynnfriedman.com