Editing Psychoanalytic theory (section)

==Defense mechanisms==
The ego balances demands of the id, the superego, and of reality to maintain a healthy state of consciousness, where there is only minimal intrapsychic conflict. It thus reacts to protect the individual from stressors and from anxiety by distorting internal or external reality to a lesser or greater extent. This prevents threatening unconscious thoughts and material from entering the consciousness. The ten different [[defence mechanisms]] initially enumerated by [[Anna Freud]]<ref>Freud, A. (1937). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis. (Revised edition: 1966 (US), 1968 (UK))</ref> are: [[Repression (psychoanalysis)|repression]], [[Regression (psychology)|regression]], [[reaction formation]], [[Isolation (psychology)|isolation of affect]], [[Undoing (psychology)|undoing]], [[Psychological projection|projection]], [[introjection]], turning against the self, reversal into the opposite, and [[Sublimation (psychology)|sublimation]]. In the same work, however, she details other manoeuvres such as [[identification with the aggressor]] and [[intellectualisation]] that would later come to be considered defence mechanisms in their own right. Furthermore, this list has been greatly expanded upon by other psychoanalysts, with some authors<ref>Blackman, J. S. (2004). 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself, New York: Routledge.</ref> claiming to enumerate in excess of one hundred defence mechanisms.