I have a habit of smiling all the time, and I've been told that it might be a defence mechanism. I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me why I do this. What is the smiling supposed to achieve?

Maybe you're just happy. If anyone is trying to make you feel like you've got a problem because you are an upbeat, pleasant person to be around, I think that person is the one who needs help.

However, if you aren't happy, maybe you are trying to cover something up. Or maybe you're just mature enough to recognize that you don't need to share your problems, verbally or non-verbally, with people whom you hardly know.

This is the only information I could find for you, but to be honest it doesn't strike me as very professionally presented, and thus I doubt that it is authentic. It seems to argue that people who smile constantly feel unloveable and overwhelmed by the world, and feel unable to cope with the challenges life presents. "At base, they feel that they are pulling a gigantic scam, and that they are faking it to make it, and that there is really nobody home inside." The smiling is supposed to keep "Bruce the shark" (what?) away, and is a way of avoiding the miserable reality of life.

The article annoyed me with its constant (useless) pop-cultural references and reminded me of all of the reasons why psychology strikes me as a field that is 10% science and 90% imagination.

I would take it with a grain of salt. In my humble opinion, a smiling problem is a problem more of us should try to have!

I just found this article, which seems to be a bit more trustworthy to me (it's more straightforward with fewer pithy sayings and pop-cultural references).

It describes a defense mechanism as:

quote:

---

Any technique used to avoid, deny, or distort sources of threat or anxiety. Also used to maintain an idealized self-image so that we can comfortably live with ourselves. Most of the defense mechanisms are distortions of reality and are mostly unconscious. A Psychological defense mechanisms may lessen anxiety caused by stressful situations or by our own shortcomings and limitations. People who overuse defense mechanisms become less adaptable. They consume great amounts of emotional energy to control anxiety and to maintain an unrealistic self-image. Can, however, provide time for learning to cope in a more effective manner with continuing threats and frustrations.

---

It then lists several defense mechanisms. The one that seemed most likely to apply to smiling were these:

quote:

---

Compensation. Counteracting a real or imagined weakness by emphasizing desirable traits or seeking to excel in other areas. Defenses against inferiority. May go to unusual lengths to excel in other areas to overcome a real or imagined weakness. (+)

---

You might feel that you are sad or angry or unpleasant to be around, and thus be trying to prove that you can be happy and pleasant to be around.

quote:

---

Reaction formation. Preventing dangerous impulses from being expressed by exaggerating opposite behavior. Impulses are repressed, but also -- are held in check by exaggerated opposite behavior to block threatening impulses or feelings ("smother love" rather than hostility towards children).

---

This one sounded possible. If you are not a happy person and yet you feel compelled to smile all the time, maybe you are so unhappy that you are exaggerating the opposite behaivor.

Again, however, I believe it is quite possible that you are simply happy or at least mature. However, if you are really miserable inside, maybe you really are using a defense mechanism.

I wonder if it's really a problem even if it is a defense mechanism, however. I mean, if it defends you from feeling bad, and if it hurts absolutely no one, isn't it a useful and good thing?

Hope this helped!

Actually that makes a lot of sense. When I'm uncomfortable in a public place I smile. Just to make myself appear more comfortable with the place or people. I just been calling it my "perma-grin"

We all use defence mechanisms. We rarely are aware of it at all. I'm sure that you get sick of hearing it out of people for smiling. You could do a whole lot worse as a defence mechanism that actually hurt people without even intending to.

If this is a defence mechanism, smiling, then it is a good one. By smiling when you are uncomfortable in a group of people you are unfamiliar with and uncomfortable, you are actually doing a positive thing. When people smile, it does put others at ease. I would guess that you are making people feel more comfortable around you and easy to approach for conversation by sheer body language.

This is a good thing, not a bad one. Most of us are not comfortable in an unfamiliar group, but you are not avoiding the situation, which is good. You are not making others feel uncomfortable being around you that are not familiar to you.

Keep smiling!!