Monday, August 15, 2016

15 Common Defense Mechanisms/Denial

Today we are going to begin exploring one of my favorite topics. Defense mechanisms! Defense mechanisms are fascinating because most run in our subconscious. These mechanisms are comparable to survival techniques and come as naturally as breathing. According to Psych Central (http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/), there are 15 main defense mechanisms which I will split up into a series of posts over the upcoming days. Without further ado, let's begin with number one on their list, denial.

Denial: Denial is the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of early childhood development. Many people use denial in their everyday lives to avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas of their life they don’t wish to admit. For instance, a person who is a functioning alcoholic will often simply deny they have a drinking problem, pointing to how well they function in their job and relationships. (http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/)

This is the first defense mechanism that will pop into our head's whenever an uncomfortable situation occurs. Most times, we can think of a better way to cope with the situation rather than simply pretending it didn't happen, but sometimes it is the only option we have.  Have you ever been caught farting? There aren't many ways to deal with that situation, in fact there are only two. You can either admit that you did it and subject yourself to a variety of criticisms, or you can simply pretend it wasn't you. You can pretend not to smell it, you can pretend it was someone else, you can even pretend it was the person blaming you! Regardless, you know the truth and you aren't going to take responsibility unless you have to. This level of denial is relatively harmless and can be humorous, but there are situations which are much worse!

MLMer denial is very bad! MLMers are the best at denial, because their uplines have conditioned them to never take responsibility for their actions. They have taught them there is an excuse for anything and everything.  In fact, most uplines teach their downlines to make excuses first before understanding the business and often it is all about excuses without any real understanding. Whenever you are trying to explain a situation to an MLMer it is their job to be correct rather than accurate and to have an answer for everything.  This is when you know the denial is at its strongest point.  The best part of denial for an MLMer is, they don't have to make sense in order to feel like they are winning.

Denial is the hardest thing to combat, because it is usually based on an illogical premise.  It is very difficult to have a constructive dialog if the person you are talking to is playing with a set of rules that nobody else can understand.  Denial is also extremely difficult to deal with because it is one of our most primitive skills.  We have spent our entire lives developing our denial abilities and being able to justify our denial excuses in our heads.


2 comments:

  1. Denial is not a river that runs through Egypt.

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    1. LOL, I just found a different good one. What do you call a Jedi that is in denial? Obi-Wan Cannot Be.

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