Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Defense Mechanisms- Definition

Answer 1

• Psychological strategies we use unconsciously that help protect us to cope with anxiety and unwanted/ unaccepted thoughts and emotions
• Helps protect our EGO

Question 2

Neurotic/ Mature DMs (List - 10)

Answer 2

= Does not distort reality

• Repression
• Sublimination
• Humor
• Suppression
• Altruism
• Undoing
• Reaction formation
• Idealization
• Intellectualization
• Displacement

Question 3

Repression

Answer 3

Mature
unpleasant thought/feeling is pushed out from consciousness (can no longer be obtained - pushed out from consciousness and memory)

Question 4

Sublimination

Answer 4

Mature
expressing a personally unacceptable or unattainable feeling in a socially acceptable or useful way
e.g., boy who always got into fights, now goes to boxing class

Question 5

Humor

Answer 5

Mature

expressin unpleasant feeling/ thoughts in the form of a joke without causing oneself discomfort

Question 6

Suppression

Answer 6

Mature
pushing unplessant feeling deliberately out of consciousness (attempting not to think about sth.)
-> only DM with some sort of conscious effort

Question 7

Altruism

Answer 7

helping others to feel better about oneself, gratification received through response from others
-> can make us aware of why we are doing certain things (e.g., AA-support member)

Question 8

Undoing

Answer 8

Mature
behaving in a way as to reverse unacceptable behavior (= correcting a past mistake), can involve (religious) rituals
-> e.g., praying after doing sth. bad

Question 9

Reaction formation

Answer 9

Mature
manifestation of a feeling/ action that is the opposite of the underlying unacceptable impulse
-> e.g., teasing the people you love the most

Question 10

Idealization

Answer 10

Mature
creating an ideal impression of a person, place, object by emphasiszing the positive qualities and neglecting the negative

Question 11

Intellectualization

Answer 11

Mature
using higher functions instead affect to deal with a uncomfortable situation
-> somehow dealing with difficulties, but more from a rational perspective

Question 12

Displacement

Answer 12

Mature
emotion remains the same, the target of emotional outlet is changed
-> e.g., fighting with partner because your boss annoyed you

Question 13

Immature DMs (List)

Answer 13

= severe alteration of painful mental contents & radical distortion of external reality

• Projection
• Acting out
• Denial
• Dissociation
• Regression
• Passive aggression
• Isolation (of affect)
• Splitting
• Autistic fantasy
• Somatization

Question 14

Projection

Answer 14

Immature
attributing one’s own feelings, desires, thoughts into someone else
-> may lead to paranoia
-> e.g., being angry, then asking bf “are you angry at me?”

Question 15

Acting Out

Answer 15

Immature
strong display of emotions/ behavior, in order to hide unacceptable feelings
-> actual emotion is being masked
-> e.g., slamming doors at partner when angry

Question 16

Denial

Answer 16

Immature
avoiding an obvious part of reality by pretending that it is fake or it does not exist
-> blocking external events from awareness

Question 17

Dissociation

Answer 17

Immature
momentarily loosing connection to the world around
-> feeling separated from the outside worls, as though one exists in another realm

Question 18

Regression

Answer 18

Immature
reverting to behavior that is child-like or younger in age
-> e.g., when sick, wanting one’s mum to take care of oneself

Question 19

Passive aggression

Answer 19

Immature
passive (indirect) way of expressing aggression
-> distorting reality by undermining one’s real feeling
-> e.g., playing nice even though you are angry

Question 20

Isolation of affect

Answer 20

Immature
seperating ideas or feelings from the rest of your thoughts
-> pretending not to have feelings about something, even though we have strong feelings

Denial = about events
Isolation= about feelings

Question 21

Splitting

Answer 21

Immature
“either-or” approach when making evaluations about the world around them (objects, situations, people)
-> seeing everything in black-and-white

Question 22

Autistic fantasy

Answer 22

Immature
autistic retreat to an imaginary life to avoid facing unacceptable feelings or unpleasant reality
-> e.g., world with superpowers

Question 23

Somatization

Answer 23

Immature
conflicts between superego, id, ego take on physical characteristics
-> e.g, having a headache when stressed