I consider this as one of Freud’s greatest doctrines. Looking into the different types of defense mechanisms that he described, anyone can think of examples in which the term applies. Repression, for example, is the idea that (in most cases) a memory has been pushed into the unconscious part of the mind as a response to an upsetting or disturbing stressor on the individual. Freud believed that the ego can suppress the memory to the extent that it manifests into physical symptoms. Learning this from experiences in therapy, many had doubts, and psychologists like Rosenzweig and Davis & Schwartz conducted their own experiments testing memory and repression. Both studies found validity in Freud’s original hypothesis, even if they explored different applications. The other defense mechanisms (denial, projection, isolation, reaction formation, and sublimation) have equal success in the pursuit of understanding the self. Speed up time to 2015, and the prominence of this principle is seen in everything: the criminal justice system, the psychological medicines, and in our daily, minimal interactions or conversations. The wide range of lives this theory has touched or helped is astounding. The reach Freud has obtained through the diagnosing of these innate defenses is what makes it good. It was not a grasp at straws. This was a strong bound into the right direction of what truly matters in the context of our …show more content…
He was an intelligent man with an incredible ability to expand concepts by adding his own observations and thoughts. Such genius shined the most among his concepts of unconscious defense mechanisms and the levels of personality that control our drives and motives. On the other hand, he might have allowed such achievement to propel him to over exaggerate approaches without enough concrete explanation or observation. A practice clearly seen in his work concerning the application of sexual drives within children. All in all, I believe that without Freud, we would not have gained to ability to be as in-touch or intuitive with the inner workings of our minds in this day and