Defense and Coping Mechanisms Flashcards
Goal is immediate gratification of drives; unconscious
Id
Conscious and unconscious components
Superego
Mediator between the person and the reality
Ego
Acquisition of new knowledge
Learning
Collection, identification, organization and interpretation of sensory information to understand the environment
Perception
Capacity to distinguish what is occuring in one’s mind from external world; most important
Reality Testing
Ability to have logical, coherent and abstract thoughts
Thinking
Ability to understand
Comprehension
Experience of feeling or emotion
Affect
Capability of making decisions, discernment
Judgment
The Genesis of Defense Mechanisms (7)
Id seeks to satisfy > Superego contradicts > Anxiety > Ego recruited > Compromise > Defense Mechanism > Character trait is formed
What are the four classifications of defense mechanisms?
Narcissistic (psychotic), immature, neurotic, mature
A defense mechanism found as part of psychotic processes, projection of emotions
Narcissistic
Seeing but not acknowledging what one sees, denied reality is replaced by fantasy or delusion to avoid painful feelings and emotions
Denial
Replacing reality with a more acceptable version to suit inner needs
Distortion
Casting out unacceptable thoughts or feelings onto others
Projection
A defense mechanism mobilized by anxieities related to intimacy or its loss; can be improved
Immature
Retreating into one’s private internal world; compensatory relationship in the fantasy
Schizoid Fantasy
Expression of hostile feelings in a non-aggressive or non-confrontational manner
Passive-Aggressive
Exaggerating or overemphasizing an illness for the purpose of evasion and regression
Hypochondriasis
Extreme, inappropriate and impulsive behavior
Acting Out
Go back to an earlier phase of functioning to avoid situation
Regression
Converting emotional pain into physical symptoms
Somatization
Function in alleviation of distressing affects, common in apparently normal and healthy individuals
Neurotic
Attention focused on irrelevant details, thinking to deal with emotional issues
Intellectualization
Situations and people colored with sexual overtones that were not present
Sexualization
Expelling unacceptable ideas from entering consciousness
Repression
Separating an idea from its associated emotion
Isolation of Affect
Transferring an emotion associated to another where expression is more permitted, less forbidden
Displacement
Unacceptable wishes are transformed into the complete opposite
Reaction Formation
Attempt to justify behaviors that are unacceptable
Intellectualization
Socially adaptive and useful integration of personal needs and motives
Mature
Delaying of immediate gratification by planning and thinking about future achievements
Anticipation
Committing oneself to the needs of others over and above one’s own needs
Altruism
Take back an unconscious behavior or thought that is unacceptable or hurtful
Undoing
Delay paying attention to an emotion or need to cope with present reality
Suppression
Internalizing the qualities of another person and becoming like the person
Identification
Channeling of unacceptable impulse into acceptable ones
Sublimation
Finding something comic in difficult situations to reduce unpleasant affect and personal discomfort
Humor
Eliminate pleasurable aspects of experiences
Asceticism
3 Classes of Coping Mechanisms
Consciously seeking social support
Conscious cognitive strategies
Adaptive involuntary coping mechanisms
7 Involuntary Coping Mechanisms
Defensive Deregulation Action Major Image Distortion Avowal Minor Image Distortion Mental Inhibition High Adaptive Level
Distortions in the image of self employed to regulate self-esteem
Minor Image Distortion
Compromise function; keep potentially threatening out of awareness
Mental Inhibtion Level
Promote an optimum balance; maximizes gratification
High Adaptive Level
Dealing by action or withdrawal
Action Level
Pronounced break with objective reality
Defensive Deregulation
Keeping unpleasant or unacceptable stressors, impulses, ideas, affects out of awareness without misattribution
Disavowal
Gross distortion or misattribution of the image of self or others
Major Image Distorting Level
