A person's reaction in difficult situations depends to a considerable extent on the structure, intensity and duration of the stressful factor. Unconscious, habitual ways of behaving are usually activated, reducing unpleasant emotional tension, mainly anxiety, in order to improve or maintain good self-esteem.
Natural personality defence mechanisms do not, in most cases, seek to fully understand and resolve the problem. They constitute a form of self-deception. Such mechanisms include, for example: rationalisation, projection, denial, suppression, identification, fantasising and reaction formation.
The emotions associated with experiencing stressful situations bring considerable energetic potential into a person's life. The disintegration caused by this state may be positive or negative. The negative kind leads to suffering and illness. The positive kind, despite a temporary lowering of mood, mobilises a person to fight existing difficulties, ultimately making it possible to acquire not only the ability to endure stress, but also to solve problems rationally, objectively and often creatively. The internal structures of the personality shattered by the stressful factor are used as material for building new, better values. Adaptive ability is improved. It is most beneficial to achieve such a state through compensation, overcompensation or even sublimation.
A separate and debatable issue is posed by overvalued ideas. Compensation consists in achieving success in an area for which one has, for example, greater predispositions, and thereby offsetting (compensating for) failures in another activity.
Overcompensation (hypercompensation) is expressed through achieving success in an area that previously brought failure and was a source of unpleasant experiences.
Sublimation enables the partial and substitute satisfaction of a drive whose motives are not approved or are impossible to fulfil. For example, unsatisfied feelings and the sexual drive may be elevated (sublimated) through literary or visual art, or another higher form that is socially accepted.
However, not everyone is endowed with the strength, courage, patience and ability to compensate logically and effectively.
There must be strong motivation to be healthy and function properly, a desire to strengthen one's inner "self", to believe in one's own abilities, as well as perseverance and patience in applying appropriate, scientifically developed relaxation and concentration exercises. In other cases, it is better to seek advice from a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist.