Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and the psychodynamic approach to psychology. This school of thought focused on the influence of the unconscious mind on human behaviour.

Sigmund Freud’s provocative theories have made significant contributions to psychology. So even if you’re not Freudian yourself, you have to be familiar with his works, particularly defence mechanisms.

Here are some useful resources to help you teach defence mechanisms during your lessons:

• Denial is the refusal to accept reality or facts. Here’s a video that you can show to your class.
• Projection is the misattribution of an undesirable feeling onto another person. Here’s a video that you can show to your class.
• Sublimation the channelling of unacceptable feelings into more acceptable ones. Here’s a video that you can show to your class.
• Intellectualisation is the overemphasis on thinking when confronted with unacceptable feelings. Here’s a video that you can show to your class.
• Rationalisation is putting something into a different light or offering a different explanation. Here’s a video that you can show to your class.

I hope that you’ll find these videos useful in explaining to your students Freud’s ideas. For more useful videos which you can share with your class, visit and subscribe to Psychreg’s YouTube channel.

Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.

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