Our Defense Mechanisms – Iwori Ika

I find three concepts from clinical psychology helpful in looking at some of the ways we stop ourselves from becoming whole. “Flight from wholeness” is called repression. This refers to burying a basic part of who we are, a fundamental drive, within the unconscious. Once it is buried, we forget we buried it and have no conscious awareness of that part of our nature. A common outcome is physical illness.

If we block a basic drive in our psyche, it can hit the physical body as illness serves unconscious needs. For example, the individual who is extremely strong, competent and capable may have a hard time facing her vulnerable, dependent, childlike side. If she represses her need to sometimes lean on other people, physical illness can become her only route to being taken care of.  This is not the most comfortable way of getting closeness needs met, but no one ever accused the unconscious of being perfect — only of striving to fit in the missing parts. Read the rest of this entry