Psychological Defence

Mental strategies the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety, shame or threat - sometimes helpful, often invisible.

8 concepts

Compartmentalisation

Keeping contradictory beliefs, values, or behaviours in separate mental boxes so they never have to confront each other.

The refusal to accept an uncomfortable truth, even when the evidence is overwhelming.

Redirecting an emotional response - usually anger or frustration - away from its real source and onto a safer, less threatening target.

Judging others by a stricter moral standard than the one you apply to yourself.

When we use reasoning not to find the truth, but to defend what we already believe.

Attributing your own uncomfortable feelings, motives, or traits to someone else.

Constructing a logical-sounding explanation for a decision or behaviour that was actually driven by emotion.

Unconsciously expressing the opposite of what you truly feel, turning unacceptable impulses into exaggerated displays of the reverse.