Common Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Altruism

Answer 1

Reaching out to others to deal with anxiety.

Pt whose brother died of cancer volunteers for hospice care

Question 2

Sublimation

Answer 2

Dealing with unacceptable feelings or impulses by unconsciously substituting acceptable forms of expression

Pt is having an argument with his spouse and takes a long walk

Question 3

Suppression

Answer 3

Voluntarily denying unpleasant thoughts and feelings

Pt doesn’t think about recent loss of a pet so they can concentrate on their job responsibilities

Question 4

Repression

Answer 4

Unconsciously putting unacceptable ideas, thoughts, and emotions out of awareness

Pt is afraid to deal with authority figures and forgets to go for her yearly evaluation

Question 5

Regression

Answer 5

Sudden use of childlike or primitive behaviors that do not correlate with the person’s current developmental level

5-y/o child who is hospitalized wants to drink from a bottle

Question 6

Displacement

Answer 6

Shifting feelings related to an object, person, or situation to another less threatening object, person, or situation

Pt who has an argument with her boss punches a wall

Question 7

Reaction Formation

Answer 7

Overcompensating or demonstrating the opposite behavior of what is felt

Pt who dislikes a coworker goes out of her way to tell the coworker what a great job she’s doing

Question 8

Undoing

Answer 8

Performing an act to make up for prior behavior

Pt buys his wife a box of candy after a violent argument

Question 9

Rationalization

Answer 9

Creating reasonable and acceptable explanations for unacceptable behavior

Drunk pt tells his wife that he had to have “a few drinks” to be sociable with his buddies after work

Question 10

Dissociation

Answer 10

Creating a temporary compartmentalization of lack of connection between the person’s identity, memory, or how they perceive the environment

Student blocks out noise in the library to concentrate on studying

Question 11

Denial

Answer 11

Pretending the truth is not reality to manage the anxiety of acknowledging what is real

Pt tells a friend that the lab must have mixed up her biopsy result with someone else’s

Question 12

Compensation

Answer 12

Emphasizing strengths to make up for weaknesses

Pt plays video games instead of studying for a test they fear they will fail

Question 13

Identification

Answer 13

Conscious or unconcsious assumption of the characteristics of another individual or group

Pt sees movie with a favorite character actor and dresses like the character

Question 14

Intellectualization

Answer 14

Separation of emotions and logical facts when analyzing or coping with a situation or event

Nurse blocks out emotional aspect of client’s death so they can deal with the family’s concerns

Question 15

Conversion

Answer 15

Responding to stress through the unconscious development of physical manifestations not caused by physical illness

Pt develops left arm paralysis after they hit their child

Question 16

Splitting

Answer 16

Demonstrating an inability to reconcile negative and positive attributes to self or others

Pt tells nurse that she is the only one who treats him well. The next day after this same nurse uses limit setting with him he tells her she always mistreats him.

Question 17

Projection

Answer 17

Attributing one’s unacceptable thoughts and feelings onto another who does not have them

Married man who is attracted to another woman accuses his wife of having an affair.

Question 18

Which are the maladaptive defense mechanisms?

Answer 18

Projection
Splitting
Conversion

Question 19

Which defense mechanisms are never maladaptive?

Answer 19

Altruism
Sublimation