Narcissistic defense mechanisms are a series of actions or reactions which tend to be enforced by a person, either consciously or unconsciously, to attend to their desired eventualities. A narcissist or a person suffering from narcissism will want certain situations to pan out the way they want, certain relationships to be exactly what they desire and they would want their own selves to be the most important factor in any circumstance. Not delving into the traits of a narcissist, since it is a subject that warrants a long discussion, here is what the various narcissistic defense mechanisms are.
One of the most common narcissistic defense mechanisms is repression. In most cases, the repression is unconscious but if a person is aware of his or her narcissistic personality, he or she may consciously repress many things. Repression can be of facts, emotions, situations or expressions. There are various forms of repression of which the most pertinent and also the most dangerous or unhealthy is the repression of another person. Repression of everything associated with the person or the relationship the narcissist has with the person is a way to repress the individual in totality. A narcissist would seldom repress another person partially. Narcissism leads to absolutism and the unconscious or conscious repression may become absolute in no uncertain terms.
Another very common narcissistic defense mechanism is denial. A narcissist would be in denial of everything that he or she doesn’t consider to be in their best interest. If there is anything that they don’t like, don’t wish to accept or simply want to reject, there will be conscious denial on the part of the narcissist. Unconscious denials also exist but to lesser degrees. In most cases, repression is mostly unconscious but denial is almost always conscious. These are natural narcissistic defense mechanisms which will be prevalent in anyone who has any iota of narcissism in him or her.
Distortion is also one of the more common narcissistic defense mechanisms. One would indulge in distortion of facts, exaggeration of emotions or realities, minimization of grave situations to enforce their superiority or pseudo righteousness and would also indulge in blatant lying in the process.
Psychological projection is also a common narcissistic defense mechanism. Using this potent weapon, a narcissist tends to seek control of someone else. In most cases, it is blame or an enforcement of guilt on the other person.