Humans don’t like to feel pain, most particularly psychological distress, and so we endeavour to avoid it. One of the ways we avoid it is the use of drugs however there exists more organic default settings in our mind that allow us to pretend that a reality does or did not exist.

One of the mechanisms the mind uses to defend itself is Suppression/Repression. This is where the mind refuses to think about the issue. It is as though the conscious part of the mind simply “forgets”.

Fortunately or unfortunately, like all avoidance mechanisms, there is typically some leakage of repressed events into the conscious mind. Another common defence that takes up the gauntlet here is Displacement.

Displacement is where we express the emotion from one event in another situation where we may perceive it to be easier or safer. For example a person who is angry with their boss but has to suck it in may take their anger home and rouse on the kids.

Another defence is named Denial. This is the refusal to accept that a reality is or will occur. Strongly associated with denial is Minimisation. This is where the reality is acknowledged but in a mild or watered down version.

An example of this might be a person who perpetrates violence. Such a soul might say or think, “ I was defending myself”, or  “ It was only a tap, I didn’t really hit them”.  Associated with denial is rationalisation where the defence is to construct an excuse that redirects responsibility via blame, “ I only behaved that way because they provoked me”.

Avoidance behaviours including drug use have a place. It is natural to protect yourself from distress when you don’t have the resources to resolve it. Avoidance mechanisms provide you space to develop in order to meet the challenge.

These mechanisms are not however the solution in them selves. When you recognise in yourself these and other avoidance behaviours be aware that they point to a treasure of opportunity to face up to facts and feel some growing pains as you become a bigger person.

Martin Hunter Jones is an honorary life member of the Australian Counselling Association. He operates a Counselling and Hypnotherapy practice on the Northern Beaches. Phone 9973 4997.