Many people endure experiences throughout their lives that are either auspicious or malevolent. Furthermore, people also have desires and impulses that are deemed socially popular or unacceptable within society. However, it is malicious experiences and unacceptable impulses that sometimes have a greater influence on people that distort reality. This is because people often want to forget or ignore their unpleasant experiences and predilections. As a result, to protect oneself from awareness of anxiety or guilt, a public and somewhat unconscious facade is displayed to hide the inner tension. By perceiving life in a way that is discordant with reality, inner tensions are tamed and one can approach life in a way that fosters the ability to cope and be content. The misleading strategies that people often use to obscure or hide their conscious, unwanted thoughts or memories in order to feel comfortable are known as defense mechanisms first coined by Sigmund Freud. Freud postulated the defense mechanism theory because he believed that people distort reality. to protect your ego. For this reason I agree with Freud's theory of defense mechanisms because I believe that before everything fails and an influx of anxiety arrives, a person will use strategies to mitigate their inner tension, even at the cost of living untruthfully . Defense mechanisms are interesting because they allow people to avoid the agony of remembering negative experiences or remembering personal flaws. In essence, people use defense mechanisms to unconsciously live as a different person than they currently are or have been in their past unpleasant experiences. Defense mechanisms also provide relief from self-deprecation whenever it is shameful… middle of paper… that they are fleeing from an injustice. Dexter's life is a contradiction because he works against people who kill, even as he kills himself. From the experiences I am aware of, whether it be from my personal life, television programs or the media, I must say that Freud's extrapolation of the Defense Mechanisms Theory is indeed plausible. It is surprising that people place so much importance on forming an identity and, at the same time, are unconsciously held back by motivations antithetical to their external identity. Reality may be harsh, but we don't all want our lives to be swamped by contempt. Therefore, we create our reality and influence the ego so that our perception of reality is the ideal one. Works Cited Freud, A. (1946). Ego and Defense Mechanisms (CB Baines, Trans.) New York: New York (original work published 1936).