Guest Post: Using Defense Mechanisms for Characters by Laura Diamond

 


Today I'd like to welcome Laura Diamond to the blog. Psychiatrist by day, writer by night, Laura is going offer her expertise in how you can use some principals from psychology to help in building your characters and determining their behavior.

 

So, Laura, take it away!

Using Defense Mechanisms to Determine Our Characters’ Behaviors


Defense mechanisms (developed by Sigmund and Anna Freud) are “unconscious” (meaning the person is not directly or consciously aware of it happening) emotional and behavioral strategies that allow every human being on the planet cope with reality. Some defense mechanisms are productive…others, not so much.


So how does this tie into writing?


Writers must create tension—if not, their story/novel/novella falls faster than a two ton anvil dropped off a cliff.


One of the ways to keep tension high is to create conflict between characters. Below are a list of defense mechanisms and common associated behaviors you can use in your writing to torque up the conflict.

 

 

  • Denial—the person is unable to accept the reality of a situation because it is too frightening to perceive. Ex. Frank refuses to have life-saving surgery to cure his cancer because he doesn’t believe he is sick.
  • Splitting—the person sees people as either all good or all bad. They cannot “see” that people are made up of a mixture of good and bad. Ex. Denise is best friends with Sherri. Sherri doesn’t call Denise to go out shopping. Denise feels hurt and now refuses to speak to Sherri for all the terrible things Sherri has done to her.
  • Acting out—the person acts out an impulse without really thinking it through. Ex. Max doesn’t like the fact that his ex-girlfriend, Nancy, chose another guy over him, so he punches the guy in the face when they run into each other in the mall.
  • Idealization—the person holds another individual to such high esteem, that they feel the person can do no wrong. Ex. Amber believes her husband is the perfect man, even when he confesses that he’s been cheating. Amber decides to forgive him because of all the good things he’s done, like buying the kids awesome presents or taking her to Hawaii last year for vacation.
  • Projection—the person projects onto another person character defects that they cannot tolerate within themselves. This often takes the form of extreme jealousy and prejudice. Ex. Mary thinks Harry is having an affair because he talked to another woman at a party. She picks a fight with him after they get home.
  • Projective Identification—the person behaves in such a way as to make the other person feel what they are feeling. Ex. Joan is angry about being dumped and is quite mistrustful of men. She makes her best friend, Sally, wonder if her husband is going to leave her.
  • Rationalization—the person separates their emotional side from their “smarts,” such that any interaction becomes watered down and “non-emotional.” Ex. Sam is disappointed that Lucy doesn’t want to date him, but he tells himself they weren’t a match anyway, because she likes science and he likes history. 
  • Isolation (of affect/emotional display)—the person has a separation of feelings from ideas and events. Ex. Inez witnesses a murder, but is able to describe the graphic details without showing an emotional response.
  • Reaction formation—the person converts unconscious wishes or impulses to their opposites. Ex. Larry fantasizes about having sex all the time, but he becomes a celibate.  
  • Repression—the person “forgets” a certain terrible thing in order to do what they need to do. Ex. Phoebe witnesses her brother getting shot, but is able to call 911 and perform CPR rather than disintegrate into tears because she is putting action ahead of emotions.
  • Altruism—the person puts others’ needs ahead of themselves. Ex. Becky is a match for Cindy and donates her kidney.
  • Humor—the person uses “wit” and jokes to give pleasure to themselves or others. Ex. Lucas finds out his girlfriend, Talia, is pregnant and says, “Well, honey, you always wanted a shotgun wedding.”

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope it gets your creative juices flowing and helps prompt ideas for tension-filled scenes. Please note that this post is for writing purposes ONLY and is NOT intended for medical advice or treatment. If you have a mental health related question, be sure to visit my blog and ask away! I’d love to feature your question on Mental Health Monday.

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist with aspirations of becoming a published author. She writes urban fantasy, young adult urban fantasy, young adult dystopian, and middle grade adventure. Come visit her blog, Diamond, Yup Like the Stone, where Mental Health Mondays, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog, and Flake-our Fridays are regular features.



Thanks so much to Laura for stopping by. So what do you think? Do any of your characters use these things? What's your favorite defense mechanism to use?


**There will be no posts until next Monday. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!**

 

I'm Not Defensive! Psyc 101 for Character Development

 

Freud exhibition

Freud Exhibition Photo by Regine Debatty (click pic for link)

As many of you know, my background is in psychology and social work. Although I'm sure my writing could have benefited from an English degree, I'm happy that I chose the path I did because all those psyc classes provided loads of information on why people act the way they do. And this of course is invaluable when creating characters stories.
I love developing a character's backstory (even if most of it never makes it into the book). This makes the character "real" to me. It gives me a base so that I can answer those questions that come up later in the book: How would MC react to this situation? What emotions would she have?
One of the most basic things that you should know about your characters is what is their go to reaction to stress? In other words, what's their favorite defense mechanism?
Freud came up with many different defense mechanisms so I won't list them all, but I'll hit some of the highlights that could help you in character development.
Level 1 Defenses
These are normal in young childhood, but in adults indicate psychosis.
 
  • Denial--Refusing to accept reality. This is a common joke-"you're in denial". But true denial means the person honestly doesn't believe the reality.
  • Distortion--Recreating a new version of reality to meet their needs.
Level 2
These are normal in adolescence. In adults, this can indicate severe depression and personality disorders.
 
  • Fantasy--Retreating into fantasy world to deal with conflicts.
  • Projection--Taking your unacceptable feelings and impulses and assigning them to someone else. It's a version of paranoia. Think of the guy who is always accusing his wife of cheating, but in fact he's the one who's cheating.
  • Somatization--Emotional hurt manifesting as physical symptoms. Common in depression--person complains of body aches and feeling tired. I saw this a lot when I worked with teens. If they had a bad night at home, the next day they were feeling sick at school.
  • This also can be a cultural thing. Some cultures are not as accepting of people (particularly men) expressing depression/anxiety/etc. so often physical symptoms will pop up instead. Remember this is not a conscious decision on the person's part, this happens subconsciously.
  • Passive Aggression--Expressing aggression through indirect means. You're mad at your boss, but instead of confronting her, you "forget" to give her a really important phone message.
  • Acting Out--Expressing unconscious desire through action. Teen isn't getting attention at home, so acts out at school to get adults to care.
Level 3
These are commonly found in adults, although they are technically considered "neurotic" in Freud-land.
 
  • Displacement--Taking your emotions about something or someone and directing it at a "safer" target. A mom has a bad day at work, but comes home and yells at the kids.
  • Dissociation--Completely separating from yourself and the uncomfortable emotions. This is extreme. Can happen when someone is being abused, tortured, raped, etc.
  • Intellectualization--Separating the idea/event from the emotions. A cop finds the body of someone he knows, but has to do his job, so he focuses on the forensics of the scene instead of letting himself feel the emotions.
  • Reaction Formation--Flipping your feeling to the opposite. You hate your mother in law, but are overly nice when she's around.
  • Repression--Pushing thoughts/events that you can't handle into your subconscious. This is what "repressed memories" mean.
  • Regression--Reverting to an earlier stage of behavior or development rather than handling the emotions in an adult way. This can be seen in children as well.
  • Rationalization--Convincing yourself that your initial impression of a situation was wrong. Someone who loves their job is fired and he starts thinking--I hated that job anyway, the hours sucked, etc.
Level 4
Defenses of the "healthy" adult
 
  • Altruism--Finds comfort in helping others. People who were traumatized by Katrina, but went to the Red Cross and volunteered.
  • Humor--Ah, my personal favorite. Taking a negative situation and disarming it by seeing the humor in the moment.
  • Sublimation--Taking unacceptable impulses and channeling them into something positive. The idea of cutting someone open is fascinating? What do you do? Become a serial killer or a surgeon. Sublimation would be picking surgeon. (Not that all surgeons are sublimated serial killers, lol.)
  • Compensation--Counterbalancing your weak points by emphasizing your strong points. This is my first thought when I see the five foot tall guy climbing into one of those monster trucks.
  • Suppression--Tucking away unwanted emotions or impulses to deal with later. A woman is attracted to her married neighbor, but chooses to push down those thoughts since they are not productive.
Alright, hope that wasn't too dry and boring. I really do find knowing which of these my characters possess helps me a lot with story decisions. My romance MC is big on humor and suppression with a touch of repression, so I have a lot to use with her.
So do any of your characters have any of these in their baggage? Do you have a personal favorite among these that you use in your stories? And, do the psyc posts make you want to poke your eyes out or do you find them helpful? Let me know so that I don't continue to go down a road if no one is interested. :)
**Today's Theme Song**
"I Don't Believe You" - Pink
(player in sidebar, go ahead and take a listen)