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!**

As complicated as we humans are, there are certain rules that hold true for pretty much everyone. For instance, we don't do things for no reason. Whether it's conscious or not, we do things for some kind of payoff (or to avoid some type of negative consequence). This is why "they" tell you to not shower your child with attention when they are acting out--don't give them a reward for a bad behavior. This is also why you know not to touch a hot stove--you want to avoid the consequence.

For those of you who took Psyc 101, you'll recognize this as behavior theory or operant conditioning.

So why am I going all psyc student on you? Because the other day I read Tina Lynn's post on the difficult journey of trying to get published and the fact that even if the dream comes true, we're most likely not going to be rich and famous or anything. It got me to wondering, what keeps up going despite the bleak outlook and lack of monetary reward? Are we just stupid?

So let me insult everyone and compare us to rats...

There are four factors that determine if a rat/person will continue to do a certain behavior:

1. Satiation/Deprivation

Rats: If a rat is really hungry and the reward is food, then he's more likely to perform whatever action. However, if he's full, he will be less motivated.

Writers: We are STARVED for publication, so we are like those girls on Survivor, taking our clothes off for a spoonful of peanut butter.

2. Immediacy

Rats: If the reward is given right after the behavior, the rats are more likely to perform. If it's delayed, they aren't as motivated

Writers: There is very little immediacy for us. Writing and editing take time, query responses can take months (if you ever get a response). If you're lucky enough to get a agent--then the shopping to publishers takes time and it still may not sell. Then if you do sell, to get on the shelf takes even longer. Which means--we're dumber than rats in this respect. :) However, I think this is also one reason we get crit groups and blog--this offers small bouts of immediate gratification to keep us going--we'll take crumbs.

3. Contingency

Rats: If the food pellet is offered every time they hit the lever, they're more likely to keep doing it. If it only happens some of the time, they won't do it as much.

Writers: We hit that lever over and over and over again hoping someone will dish out a pellet. Even though the big one hasn't come out yet, we're still hopeful. We're also happy if just a bit comes out (a good crit, a nice comment, a breakthrough in writing our plot , a personalized rejection letter, etc.) We have this in common with slot machine players--one day we could hit the jackpot.

4. Size

Rats: If the reward is lame, the rat isn't that motivated. Give that rodent a big hunk of cheese and he's good to go.

Writers: The reward is HUGE, if elusive. Having a professional believe in our writing, getting published, seeing our name on a book, having others read what we wrote and enjoy it, being able to do what we love for a living, etc. I think this, above all, is what keeps many of us on the path.

So in a lab, we wouldn't be the smartest rats, but at least we're dedicated, right? Why am I telling you all of this? Well, first it's because I'm a psychology nerd. But really it's because when you get down or feel like giving up, remember these things. Go seek out some crumbs--talk to your crit group, focus on the positives you've experienced, think about the end goal.

Earlier this week I was having one of those days where I just felt down. Why am I doing this? Will this ever happen? Do I totally suck? Am I wasting my time? I love to write, but should I be more practical? Blah, blah, blah.

Then, I got two positive crits back from my group on chapters. This perked me up and I felt a little better. However, I still was feeling frustrated. I did the whole--I need some kind of sign, universe. And seriously, later that day, I was answered.

I received a full request on Wanderlust from a publisher (who will remain nameless, but let's just say I'm beyond thrilled.) So the rat inside me ran around in circles because I got a big chunk of cheddar. And my motivation was renewed. Now I have enough juice in my tank to wait the months to hear back and to continue writing my next manuscript.

So what about you? What keeps you going despite the adversity? If you're having a bad day, what turns it around for you? If you knew you would never get published, would you still write?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" - Smashing Pumpkins

AKA Despite All My Rage I am Still Just a Rat in a Cage

(player in sidebar if you'd like a listen)