Defense Mechanism: Repression

Repression is more challenging to give relatable examples for compared to other defense mechanisms. And more challenging to become aware of without the help of mental health professionals.

Repression is when distressing thoughts, memories, or feelings have been pushed out of the conscious mind. Sometimes, people with deep phobias will not know when or how their phobia originated. There is a potential that there was an event that occurred that caused the phobia, but that memory was repressed so the person does not remember it (this is not a guarantee, so if you have a phobia do not feel as though you must have a repressed memory that caused it).

For example, a person with a phobia of dogs may have had an incident with a dog when they were younger that caused a heightened emotional reaction of fear, terror, and anxiousness. But, at some point, that memory moved out of their conscious memory, so they don’t remember the incident, but they know they have a fear of dogs.

A person could go their whole life without ever having the repressed experience move back into conscious memory and may not encounter a reason to need to. Other times people will experience PTSD symptoms but not be able to identify a known source from which the symptoms are originating. Through therapy, the triggers can become better managed, and, with a safe environment established, the repressed memory may work its way to consciousness and be able to be processed.