Defense Mech, Vertrees Flashcards
Defense Mechanism definitions
unconscious protection from emotional pain
keeps conflict out of conscious mind
dec anxiety
maintain sense safety and self esteem
Denial
refuses to acknowledge truth
normal in children
in adults could indicate severe pathology
projections
attributing own personally unacceptable feelings to others
clinical syndromes with projection
paranoid delusions and hallucinations
acting out
avoiding painful feelings by behaving in attention getting socially innappropriate manner
somatization
turning an unacceptable feeling or impulse into physical Sx
HA before work because anxious
what is splitting
believing peiple or events are either all bad or all good because of intolerance of ambiguity
what is undoing
adopting acts which symbolically cancel or reverse previous unwanted act
handwashing compulsion after child develops pneumonia
abnormal: compulsive or obsessional thoughts
what are narcissistic defense mechanisms
denial
projection
what are immature defense mechanisms
acting out
somatization
splitting
undoing
what is displacement
unconscious transfer emotions from unacceptable to acceptable person
cant yell at boss, yell at spouse
dissociation
separation function of mental illnesses, mentally separating part of consciousness from reality (forgetting events have occurred)
clinical manifestaion of dissociation
dissociative disorders
intellectualization
using minds higher functions to avoid experiencing uncomfortable emotions
isolation of affect
separating feelings assoc with significant uncomfortable event
physician Dx pancreatic CA only talks about stats of illness with colleagues and family
intellectualization
a person who expresses no emotion when talking about death of loved one
isolation of affect
reaction formation
denying unacceptable feelings and adopting opposite attitudes
being friendly to someone you don’t like
OCD is an example of what defense mech
reaction formation
neurotic defenses
reaction formation isolation of affect intellectualization dissociation displacement
Mature defenses
protect person from fear and anxiety without social cose and maybe with benefit altruism sublimation humor suppression
altruism
unselfishly assisting other to avoid negative feelings
i.e low self esteem helps in soup kitchen on day off
sublimation
rerouting unacceptable drive in socially acceptable way
man whose son killed by drunk driver speaks to high schools about dangers of drunk driving
humor
expression of feeling without causing discomfort
man who has leg amputate jokes about one legged people
humor defense
suppression
consciously putting aside but not repressing unwanted feelings
kids around now so stop thinking about wanting divorce temporarily
suppression
consciously putting aside but not repressing unwanted feelings
kids around now so stop thinking about wanting divorce temporarily
woman cheating on husband suspects husband cheating on her
defense mech
projection
military man has out of body experience watching himself rescue buds
dissociation
