Coping strategies Flashcards
Coping stategy vs. Defense mechanisms
Coping strategies = voluntary
defense mechanisms = automatic, involuntary, and usually unconscious
acting out
emotional conflict is dealt with through actions rather than feelings
compensation
enables one to make up for real or imagined deficiencies (person who stutters becomes a writer)
Conversion
repressed urge is expressed disguised as a disturbance of body function
Decompensation
deterioration of existing defenses
Denial
primitive defense, inability to acknowledge true significance of feelings
Devaluation
frequently used by people with Borderline Personality Disorder. Person attributes exaggerated negative qualities to self or another
Dissociation
process that enables a person to split mental functions in a manner that allows them to express forbidden or unconscious impulses without taking responsibility for them (commonly known as daydreaming)
Displacement
directing an impulse or feelings elsewhere to avoid consequences (man mad at boss kicks his dog)
Idealization
overestimation of an admired aspect or attribute of another
Identification
person patterns themselves after a significant other. Plays a major role in personality development
Identification with the aggressor
mastering anxiety by identifying with a powerful aggressor. usually involves behaving like the aggressor
incorporation
primitive mechanism in which psychic representation of a person is figuratively ingested
introjection
loved or hated external objects are symbolically absorbed within self
intellectualization
person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic
isolation of affect
unacceptable impulse or idea is separated from its original memory source, thereby removing the original emotional charge associated with it
Projection
primitive defense. attributing one’s own attitudes and feelings to some external object or person
projection identification
form of projection utilized by people with Borderline Personality Disorder. Unconsciously perceiving others behavior as a reflection of one’s own identity
Rationalization
giving believable explanation for irrational behavior
Reaction formation
person adopts affect, ideas or behaviors that are the opposite of those than those they harbor (being excessively sweet to mask anger)
regression
partial or symbolic return to more infantile patters of reacting or thinking
Repression
expressed clinically as amnesia or forgetting serving to banish unacceptable ideas or impulses from consciousness
Splitting
Associated with BPD. Person perceives self and others as “all good” or “all bad”
sublimation
Potentially maladaptive feelings or behaviors are diverted into socially acceptable, adaptive channels (person who has angry feelings channels them into athletics)
Substitution
unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion or object is replaced by more attainable or acceptable one
symbolization
a mental representation stands for some other thing, class of thing, or attribute
Turning against self
defense to deflect hostile aggression or other unacceptable impulses from another to self
Undoing
person uses words or actions so symbolically reverse or negate unacceptable thoughts or feelings. (person compulsively washes hands to deal with obsessive thoughts)
