Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Repression
Painful feelings are conscious initially and then forgotten, but return occasionally. Repression can range from momentary memory lapses to forgetting the details of a catastrophic event, such as murder or an earthquake.
Denial
Unpleasant reality is ignored , and a realistic interpretation of potentially threatening events are replaced by benign but inaccurate ones.
Suppression
Unpleasant feelings through a conscious effort to ignore them. (Happy place)
Projection
Undesirable feelings are attributed to another person or people.
Thinking that someone is mad.
Displacement
Object displacement, anger or another emotion is initially felt toward a person against whom it is unsafe to express it.
Reaction formation
Involves behavior that is diametrically opposed to the impulses or feelings that one is repressing.
Ex. If you don’t like someone, being very very nice to them.
Regression
When confronted by stressful events , people abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development.
Fixation
Ex. Oral fixation have problems with nail biting, or drinking in times of stress.
Identification
Taking on the characteristics of someone else.
Rationalization
An attempt to deny ones true motives by using a reason that is more logical or socially acceptable than owns reasons.
Ex. I didn’t like him anyway, he smells.
Isolation
An event becomes separated from the feelings that it is associated with, allowing it to be part of your conscious mind without the threat of painful feelings.
Sublimation
Rechanneling the energy connected with an unacceptable impulse into one that is.
Compensation
Devoting unusual efforts to an achievement in order to overcome feelings of inferiority.
Ex. Dyslexic people learning how to read.
