Psychological Defense Mechanisms

Psychological Defense Mechanisms:

Entering an addiction treatment center is a wise decision if you are dealing with an addiction, dependency, or substance use disorder. In many cases, it’s necessary for people with alcohol or drug problems to seek help immediately after they discover an addiction-related problem.

Once, an individual discovers that they are dealing with a substance use disorder to avoid more severe consequences the best thing the individual can do is seek help from a drug rehabilitation program. People in general deal with psychological defense mechanisms all the time.

People experience psychological defense mechanisms for many different reasons. Some of the more common reasons are related to major life change events. Below is a list of common reasons for experiencing a psychological defense mechanism:

Rapidly Changing Circumstances
Difficult life Events of changes
Emotional Problems or Mental Health Disorders
Developing Substance Use Disorder
Job Loss or Employee Layoffs
Traumatic Events
Crisis
Natural Disasters
Death of a Family Member or Friend
Divorce, separation, or relationship breakup

Some of the reasons people experience psychological defense mechanisms are because their mind is trying to protect them from the reality of the difficult situation they are experiencing. In the beginning, this is a good thing, but after the adjustment of reality is realized then the defense mechanism can keep a person from accepting the truth or dealing with the problem. This is what happens to people that are in active alcohol or drug addiction.

Protecting The Mind from Reality:

When someone develops a substance use disorder there is some shocking truth that begins to surface. The most common is experiencing outright denial thoughts. There can be a bargaining process that an individual experiences an example is below:

Example: “I know I have been drinking more alcohol lately, but I can just cut back my drinking, and then the family won’t bother me so much. If I cut back my drinking, I won’t say harmful things and they are just being dramatic about how bad my drinking is hurting them anyway”.

In the above situation, the individual has been confronted by his or her family and asked to stop their use of alcohol, because it’s affecting the relationship between the family and the individual at this point. The individual goes into “outright denial, justification & rationalization” to avoid seeing the truth.

This is just one way the individual with an addiction to the substance will psychologically defend their right to use the alcohol and therefore keep from doing something about the problem. This is a protective mechanism that often is difficult to see past the defense mechanisms in the beginning.

How To Get Help for A substance use disorder?

The best thing is for the individual with a substance use disorder to enter a drug rehabilitation program to get help for their alcohol use disorder or substance-related disorder. Summer Sky Treatment Center® has several Texas Drug Rehabs that can help you with your addiction to addictive substances. The process for admission is simple, and our admissions specialist can guide you through the process once you call to discuss your situation.

Many people misunderstand the struggles and difficulties that people go through when they are dealing with an alcohol or drug problem. People don’t wake up one day and say I am going to use an addictive substance and become addicted to alcohol or drugs. Keep this in mind when helping someone who is struggling with an alcohol or drug problem. They did not set out to become addicted to alcohol & drugs.

The Addiction Process:

You will discover that there are 30, 60 & 90-day treatment centers when you begin your search for treatment services. The process of addiction is more complex than you can imagine. This is why 90-day treatment centers are needed to help people with severe addictions to alcohol or drugs. You or your loved one can recover from a severe addiction. There are times when you may feel hopeless because of how your addiction spirals out of control.

However, this is the exact course of development that people experience in their addiction to alcohol, prescription drugs, or other addictive substances. The number one delusion is the belief that by yourself you can stop your addiction without seeking help for your problem.

If you are already experiencing this delusion, then it’s time to reach out for help and request assistance from a substance use disorder treatment program. Don’t try to minimize the impact of your use of alcohol or drugs. One of the psychological mechanisms that keep people locked into their addiction is denial. The denial that you can beat your addiction alone is astonishing, many people believe this untruth and experience unnecessary consequences as a result of the lie.

Psychological Defense Mechanisms:

Here is a list of delusions and psychological defense mechanisms that are common in people with substance use disorders. It’s important to know that addiction is a chronic brain disorder and you or your loved one need to be aware of this reality. Continued use of alcohol or drugs only makes the progression of the chronic brain disorder get worse with continued use of the substances.

List of Psychological Defense Mechanisms:

Outright Denial
Minimizing
Justifications
Rationalizations
Repression
Projection
Displacement
Regression

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