Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Acting Out

Answer 1

Emotional conflict is dealt with through actions rather than addressing or communicating feelings

(Ex. Instead of talking about feeling neglected, a person will get into trouble to seek & receive attention)

Question 2

Compensation

Answer 2

Enables one to make up for perceived deficiencies

Ex. A short man assumes cocky, overbearing manner

Question 3

Conversion

Answer 3

Repressed urge is expressed disguised as a disturbance of body function, usually of the sensory, voluntary nervous system

(Ex. Pain, deafness, blindness, paralysis, convulsions, tics)

Question 4

Decompensation

Answer 4

Deterioration of existing defenses; resulting in progressive loss of normal functioning and/or worsening of psychiatric symptoms

Question 5

Denial

Answer 5

Primitive defense;

Inability to acknowledge true significance of thoughts, feelings, wishes, behavior, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable

Question 6

Devaluation

Answer 6

Person attributes exaggerated negative qualities to self or others

Frequently used by persons with borderline personality

The split of primitive idealization

Question 7

Dissociation

Answer 7

A 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 the action

They are unable to remember the disowned behavior or it is not experienced as their own

I.e. pathologically expressed as fugue states (sudden loss of awareness), amnesia, dissociative neurosis (depersonalization or day dreaming)

Question 8

Displacement

Answer 8

Directing an impulse, wish, or feeling toward a person or situation that is not its real object

Permits expression in a less threatening situation

(Ex. Man mad at his boss goes home and yells at his kids)

Question 9

Idealization

Answer 9

Overestimation of an admired aspect or attribute of another

Question 10

Identification

Answer 10

Universal mechanism whereby a person patterns themself after a significant other

Plays a major role in personality development, especially superego development

Question 11

Identification with the Aggressor

Answer 11

Mastering anxiety by identifying with a powerful aggressor to counteract feelings of helplessness and to feel powerful oneself

(Ex. Abused child may bully others at school)

Question 12

Incorporation

Answer 12

Primitive mechanism in which a psychic representation of a person or parts of a person are figuratively ingested

Question 13

Inhibition

Answer 13

Loss of motivation to engage in certain activities avoided because it might stir up conflict over forbidden impulses

Enables delay of gratification from pleasurable activities

(Ex. Desire to hit someone when you’re angry)

Question 14

Introjection

Answer 14

Converse of projection

Loved or hated external objects are symbolically absorbed within the self

(Ex. unconscious, unacceptable hatred is turned toward self)

Question 15

Intellectualization

Answer 15

Avoid uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic

Emotional aspects are completely ignored as being irrelevant

Jargon and complex terminology is often used to place focus on words rather than emotions

Question 16

Isolation of Affect

Answer 16

Unacceptable impulse, idea, or act is separated from its original memory source

Removing the original emotional charge associated with it

Question 17

Projection

Answer 17

Primitive defense

Attributing one’s disowned attitudes, wishes, feelings, and urges onto some external object or person

(Ex. Man cheating on wife will become suspicious of her, assuming acts of infidelity)

Question 18

Projective identification

Answer 18

A form of projection utilized by persons with Borderline Personality Disorder

Unconsciously perceiving others’ behavior as a reflection of one’s own identity

Question 19

Rationalization

Answer 19

Third line of defense

Giving believable explanation for irrational behavior

Motivated by unacceptable, unconscious wishes or by defenses used to cope with such wishes

Question 20

Reaction Formation

Answer 20

Person adopts affects, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are opposite of those they harbor consciously or unconsciously

(Ex. Excessively sweet to mask unconscious anger)

Question 21

Regression

Answer 21

Partial or symbolic return to more infantile patterns of reacting or thinking

Can be in service to Ego

(Ex. Dependency during illness)

Question 22

Repression

Answer 22

Key mechanism

Expressed clinically by amnesia or symptomatic forgetting serving to banish unacceptable ideas, fantasies, affects, or impulses from consciousness

Question 23

Splitting

Answer 23

Associated with Borderline Personality Disorder

Person perceives self and others as “all good” or “all bad”

Serves to protect the good objects

Cannot integrate the good and bad in people

Question 24

Sublimation

Answer 24

Potentially maladaptive feelings or behaviors are diverted into socially acceptable, adaptive channels

(Ex. A person who has angry feelings channels them into athletics)

Question 25

Substitution

Answer 25

Unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion, or object is replaced by one more attainable or acceptable

Question 26

Symbolization

Answer 26

A mental representation stands for some other thing, class of things, or attribute

Underlies dream formation and some other symptoms (such as conversion reactions, obsessions, compulsions) with a link between the latent meaning of the symptom and the symbol

Usually unconscious

Question 27

Turning against Self

Answer 27

Defense to deflect hostile aggression or other unacceptable impulses from another to self

Question 28

Undoing

Answer 28

A person uses words or actions to symbolically reverse or negate unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions

(Ex. A person compulsively washing hands to deal with obsessive thoughts)