Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Narcissistic types
Projection, denial, and splitting
Projection - Putting your own beliefs or behavior onto someone else
Example: Not liking a person and saying you know the person hates you
Denial - Not acknowledging that there’s a problem
Example: The doctor tells you that you have a terminal illness and you don’t believe them
Splitting - Perceiving or experiencing things as all good or all bad
Example: “The nurses from the day shift are terrific. The ones from the night shift are terrible.”
Immature types
Blocking, regression, somatization, introjection
Blocking - Temporary inability to remember
Example: “I don’t remember his name. It’s on the tip of my tongue”
Regression: Returning to an earlier stage of development
Example: A seven year old starts wetting the bed again after learning that he’s having a sister
Somatization: Psych problems become physical
Example: “I had a terrible headache during the exam”
Introjection: Unconscious imitation
Example: The resident acts & dresses like the attending he admires the most
Neurotic types
Displacement, repression, isolation of affect, intellectualization, acting out, rationalization, reaction formation, undoing, passive-aggressive, dissociation
Displacement: Emotion or drive shifted to another person
Example: “My dad was angry with my mother, and starts yelling at my baby sister”
Repression: Suppressing a memory until it disappears into the subconscious
Example: A person is abused and they don’t remember any of it
Isolation of affect: Reality accepted without emotional response
Example: A person is shown the body of a deceased loved one and they don’t show any kind of emotion
Intellectualization: Use of intellectual process to avoid affective expression
Example: Being diagnosed with a terminal illness and taking interest in all the methods that were used to get to the diagnosis
Acting Out: Emotional outbursts covering up reality
Example: Temper tantrums
Rationalization: Making up explanations for something that has happened
Example: “I didn’t pass the exam because it was way more difficult that other years”
Reaction formation: Defending against unacceptable feelings and behavior by exhibiting the opposite of one’s true wishes or impulses
Example: A person who is unsure of their own sexuality, frequently makes homophobic remarks
Undoing: Acting in a way to compensate for unacceptable behavior
Example: A pyromaniac becomes a firefighter
Passive-Aggressive: Unconscious passive hostility
Example: “She agreed to share her notes with me, but after class she went straight home”
Dissociation: Separates from ones experience, like outer body experience
Example: When a person is raped and they feel they’re watching it from above
Mature types
Humor, altruism, sublimation, suppression
Humor: Overt expression of feelings/thoughts without discomfort
Example: Self-Deprecation
Altruism: Constructive service to others that brings pleasure and personal satisfaction
Example: A person whose child develops a rare chronic disease starts an organization to bring awareness
Sublimation: Unacceptable impulse into acceptable channel
Example: Channeling aggressive drives into playing football or inappropriate sexual desires into art
Suppression: Conscious forgetting
“I’d rather forget that my dog was ran over by a car”
