Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Defense Mechanisms- Definition
- Psychological strategies we use unconsciously that help protect us to cope with anxiety and unwanted/ unaccepted thoughts and emotions
- Helps protect our EGO
Neurotic/ Mature DMs (List - 10)
= Does not distort reality
- Repression
- Sublimination
- Humor
- Suppression
- Altruism
- Undoing
- Reaction formation
- Idealization
- Intellectualization
- Displacement
Repression
Mature
unpleasant thought/feeling is pushed out from consciousness (can no longer be obtained - pushed out from consciousness and memory)
Sublimination
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
Humor
Mature
expressin unpleasant feeling/ thoughts in the form of a joke without causing oneself discomfort
Suppression
Mature
pushing unplessant feeling deliberately out of consciousness (attempting not to think about sth.)
-> only DM with some sort of conscious effort
Altruism
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)
Undoing
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
Reaction formation
Mature
manifestation of a feeling/ action that is the opposite of the underlying unacceptable impulse
-> e.g., teasing the people you love the most
Idealization
Mature
creating an ideal impression of a person, place, object by emphasiszing the positive qualities and neglecting the negative
Intellectualization
Mature
using higher functions instead affect to deal with a uncomfortable situation
-> somehow dealing with difficulties, but more from a rational perspective
Displacement
Mature
emotion remains the same, the target of emotional outlet is changed
-> e.g., fighting with partner because your boss annoyed you
Immature DMs (List)
= 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
Projection
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?”
Acting Out
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
Denial
Immature
avoiding an obvious part of reality by pretending that it is fake or it does not exist
-> blocking external events from awareness
Dissociation
Immature
momentarily loosing connection to the world around
-> feeling separated from the outside worls, as though one exists in another realm
Regression
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
Passive aggression
Immature
passive (indirect) way of expressing aggression
-> distorting reality by undermining one’s real feeling
-> e.g., playing nice even though you are angry
Isolation of affect
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
Splitting
Immature
“either-or” approach when making evaluations about the world around them (objects, situations, people)
-> seeing everything in black-and-white
Autistic fantasy
Immature
autistic retreat to an imaginary life to avoid facing unacceptable feelings or unpleasant reality
-> e.g., world with superpowers
Somatization
Immature
conflicts between superego, id, ego take on physical characteristics
-> e.g, having a headache when stressed
