Torah and Defense Mechanisms

We began our exploration of Defense Mechanisms with a verse from Parashat Devarim, which is always read just before Tisha B’av. Just as this verse contains a clear example of projection, every one of the defense mechanisms identified by modern psychology has an example either in the Torah or in the rabbinic writings and all of them can be categorized based on our identification of the three primary defense mechanisms—denial, projection, and repression—corresponding to the three Worlds of Creation, Formation, and Action.

(based on a class given on the 25th of Tammuz, 5779)

1. Deuteronomy 1:27.
2. Malachi 1:2.