Communication issues

Defense Mechanisms
At some point in our life each of has experienced a time where we felt personally attacked. This is not always a physical scenario; many times words can bring about defensive behaviors that hamper the communication between the involved parties. The scenario that sticks out most in my mind as to a time where I used a defense mechanism occurred with my father. As he has aged seems to be more obstinate, her very rarely concedes a point even when he is proven to be wrong. He also is less afraid to say precisely what is on his mind. Many times this combination makes communication difficult.
The situation occurred while my husband was deployed. I was changing a couple of things around the house, mostly decorating stuff, and my dad laid into me with a lecture about how unfair of me it was to change our home while my husband was out at sea and did not have a say in the decision. I became immediately defensive and turned to attaching my father and some o...