Structural defences have been around since humans first settled in agricultural communities and acquired land that they needed to protect – whether from other tribes, wild animals or neighbours. Loosely defined, a defence could be described as ‘the ability to protect against attack or harm, or something used to protect against attack or harm’. Defences still exist in the physical realm, of course, ranging from barbed-wire fences to nuclear weapons, but they’re also present in the psychological realm, where they take many forms.
What’s behind the barrier? It’s fair to note that psychological defensiveness gets a bad rap. It’s often used to refer to the behaviour of people who don’t want to acknowledge that they’ve done something wrong. Someone might say: ‘When I asked for an apology, she became really defensive and insisted she wasn’t to blame.’ When people feel defensive themselves, they make statements like: ‘You didn’t understand correctly’ or ‘I only said that because you attacked me first’. It causes people to deny responsibility, minimise the impact of their actions or seek to retaliate by being critical.