states, phobias,
obsessions, or
hysteria McLeod,
2009,http:www.simplypsychology.org
, July 11, 2015
.
Defense mechanisms will provide defending systems in people’s mind in order to keep it from harm. According to Freud in Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist
’s book Theories of Personality there are eight kinds of defense mechanism. First is
repression. Repression is an unconscious mechanism that represses the ego to be conscious. Second is displacement. Displacement is an act that satisfies
himherself with substitute object. Third is reaction formation. Reaction Formation is the condition when someone disguises what they really feel. Fourth is fixation.
Fixation is the condition when someone is trapped in one of stage of development. Fifth is regression. Regression is the condition when someone only acts when they
feel it is safe for them. Sixth is projection. Projection is the condition when someone projects their desire toward other people. Seventh is introjection.
Introjectio n is the condition when someone tries to mimic other people’s positive
behavior. Eighth is sublimation. Sublimation is the condition when someone does something positive in order to let out their desire Feist and Feist, 2006: 34-38.
3. Theory of Trauma
Trauma had been investigated in the study of hysteria at the Paris hospital La Salpêtrière with French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, with whom Sigmund
Freud and Pierre Janet studied in the 1880s. At that time Freud developed the traumatic theory by treating cases of hysteria in mostly female patients. He tried to
indicate that the event or the memory of the experience becomes traumatic only
the second time around, after it has become internally revivified Freud and Breuer, 2001: 20.
Trauma comes from p eople’s minds. People’s mind will develop or
interpret the dangerous event unconsciously. “the psychical trauma – or more
precisely the memory of the trauma – acts like a foreign body which long after its
entry must continue to be regarded as an agent that is still at work” Freud and
Breuer 2001: 6. Memory as the core of trauma will act unconsciously after it gets triggered by something that is interpreted as harm. Trauma will occur when the
event, which is stored in the individual, is re-enacted at a later time when the people is confronted with a similar occurrence.
According to Mendatu, trauma can be divided into three kinds. First is physical trauma. Physical trauma is caused by physical injury that is dangerous
because of physical changes. For example: amputation, fracture, and severe bleeding. Physical trauma is used in medical terms. Second is post-cult trauma.
Post-cult trauma is caused by emotional problems experienced by the member of cults when they think they are not one of them. Third is psychological trauma.
Psychological trauma is caused by psychological injury as a result of experiencing events that depress or endanger people’s life. Psychological trauma is the most
common in people’s life Mendatu, 2010:14. So, when people talk about ‘trauma’ they usually talk about psychological trauma, as the researcher used in this thesis.
According to Mendatu, based on the event, Trauma can be divided into Impersonal Trauma, Interpersonal Trauma, and Attachment Trauma. Impersonal
Trauma is the traum atic event which does not involve the people’s feeling directly
as a person, for example: holocaust and accident. Interpersonal Trauma is the event which involves people directly as a person. In this kind of trauma people are
experiencing the traumatic events that involve other people, for example: betrayal, abuse, war, and criminal. Attachment Trauma or usually called Development
Trauma is a trauma which is experienced by children. This trauma involves the person who is really close to the victim, for example: children abuse by their
parents Mendatu, 2010: 22-25. Freud and Breuer 2001 said trauma is divided into several steps. First is
the traumatic event. In this step, people experiencing the event which has a great impact to his mind. Second is Trauma
. People’s unconscious mind starts to interpret the event which they have before into threat. The unconscious mind starts
grow awareness to stimulation that involves the traumatic event. Third is stress response. At this moment the unconscious mind reacting to the any stimulation
from the outside which is interpreted as threat. The unconscious mind build systems called defense mechanisms to protect itself from the threat. Fourth is
Post- Traumatic Disorder or PTSD. At this moment people’s mind has been hurt
by effect of traumatic event. People can have several symptoms when they have PTSD. Not all people who are experiencing traumatic event ends in PTSD. It can
be seen through this chart:
Freud and Breuer, 2001:13
C. Theoretical Framework
