The purpose of the defense mechanisms, according to Freud, is to

A) protect the id.
B) achieve physical gratification.
C) gain access to the unconscious.
D) reduce anxiety.

Defense Mechanisms

Psychological strategies brought into play by the unconscious mind to manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order to defend against feelings of anxiety and unacceptable impulses and to maintain one's self-schema.

Anxiety

A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

Id

In psychoanalytic theory, the part of the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are manifest.