Exhibited Many of Freud\'s Ego

¶ … exhibited many of Freud's ego defense mechanisms including regression, repression, projection, and reaction formation. My ego uses regression often, so the defense mechanism can be easy to recognize. When I catch myself gnawing on the end of my pen, I know that Freud would claim that behavior indicates regression to the oral stage. Freud might also say that when I go days without cleaning my room that I have regressed to an anal stage fixation, indicating a purposeful lack of control over my physical environment.

I have also demonstrated more complex forms of regression, such as when I go over to my friend's house and play with his little brother's toys. It makes me feel like a little kid again. Similarly, I have sentimental attachments to the foods we used to eat in the house when I was a kid and the restaurants we used to go to. I still play a lot of pranks on people, and I believe those silly games might be a form of regression as well as entertainment. When I'm bored I often watch the cartoons I used to watch on television because they have a comforting feeling. Regression feeds the id, and keeps the ego entertained.

Repression is another ego defense mechanism that I sometimes catch myself using. Although I do not have many repressed memories, some have resurfaced at key moments in my life. For example, I have a fear of sharks and I think that might be because I repressed a memory of watching a very scary shark movie when I was a very little kid. The fear stuck with me so much that I sometimes am afraid to go into the ocean without realizing why. I have repressed desires for things too, like foods I was forbidden to eat when I was a child.

Projection is something I have caught myself doing, especially when I get annoyed with people. I got mad at a friend of mine for not showing up to a party and I called him a flake. Then I realized that I have done the same thing to other people, and I just project my faults onto them. I used to strongly dislike one kid in class because he was really shy and never spoke up, even though he was smart. I used to get frustrated with him and wanted to tell him to be more assertive. Then when I reflected on this kid one day, I realized that when I was in elementary school I was also shy. I still have the tendency to be shy but have worked on it, so projection is a defense mechanism. My projecting my shyness onto other people, I pretend that my own insecurities no longer exist. Now that I have become more self-confident, I end up projecting those same insecurities onto other people.

My ego also uses projection as a defense mechanism in more general ways. For instance when I'm feeling tired, the whole world seems boring to me, when I'm depressed, I only see sad things, and when I'm feeling happy the whole world seems to be filled with joy. These are only a few examples of how my ego uses projection as a defense mechanism.