Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Psychotic denial / Denial
Psychotic / Narcissistic-Psychotic
Obliteration of external reality (Levenson) affects perception of external reality more than perception of internal reality. Seeing but refusing to acknowledge. (Kaplan)
Delusional projection
Psychotic / Narcissistic-Psychotic
Externalization of inner conflicts and giving them tangible reality - minimal reality testing (Levenson)
Perceiving and reacting to unacceptable inner impulses and their derivatives as though they were outside the self. On this level, it takes the form of frank delusions. (Kaplan)
Schizoid fantasy (Psychotic)
Psychotic
Withdrawal from conflict into social isolation and fantasizing (Levenson)
Splitting
Immature
Experiencing oneself and others as all good or all bad (Levenson)
Idealization
Immature
Seeing oneself of others as all-powerful, ideal, or God like. (Levenson)
Devaluation
Immature
Depreciating others (Levenson)
Projection (non-psychotic level)
Immature
Attributing unacceptable impulses or ideas to others (Levenson)
Attributing one’s own unacknowledged feelings to others (Kaplan)
Repression (and its 2 types)
Neurotic
Involuntary forgetting of painful feeling or experience (Levenson)
Expelling and withholding from conscious awareness of an idea or feeling (Kaplan)
- Secondary Repression - excluding from awareness what was once experienced on a conscious level
- Primary Repression - may curb ideas and feelings before they have reached consciousness
(Kaplan)
Control
Neurotic
Manipulation of external events to avoid unconscious anxiety (Levenson)
Excessive attempt to manage or regulate events or objects in the environment in the interest of minimizing anxiety and solving internal conflicts (Kaplan)
Displacement
Neurotic
Transfer of an experienced feeling from one person to another or to something else (Levenson)
Purposeful, unconscious shifting of impulses or affective investment from one object to another in the interest of solving a conflict. Object changed but instinctual nature and aim remains unchanged. (Kaplan)
Reaction formation
Neurotic
Expression of unacceptable impulses as directly opposite attitudes and behaviors (Levenson)
Management of unacceptable impulses by permitting expression of the impulse antithetical form. Expression of the impulse in the negative (Kaplan)
Intellectualization
Neurotic
Replacing feelings with facts or details (Levenson)
Control of affects and impulses by way of thinking about them instead of experiencing them. A systematic excess of thinking (Kaplan)
Rationalization
Neurotic
Inventing a convincing, but usually false, reason why one is not bothered (Levenson)
Justification of attitudes, beliefs, or behavior that might otherwise be unacceptable by an incorrect application of justifying reasons or the invention of a convincing fallacy (Kaplan)
Isolation / Isolation of affect
Neurotic
Separating a painful idea or event from feelings associated with it (Levenson)
Intrapsychic splitting or separation of affect from content resulting in repression of either idea or affect or the displacement of affect to a different substitute content (Kaplan)
Undoing
Neurotic
Ritualistic “removal” of an offensive act, sometimes by atoning for it. (Levenson)
Suppression
Mature
Consciously putting a disturbing experience out of mind (Levenson)
Conscious or semiconscious decision to postpone attention to a conscious impulse or conflict (Kaplan)
Altruism
Mature
Vicarious but instinctively gratifying service of others (Levenson) even to the detriment of the self (Kaplan)
Humor
Mature
Overt expression of normally unacceptable feelings without unpleasant effect (Levenson) and without personal discomfort or immobilization (Kaplan)
Sublimation
Mature
Attenuated expression of drives in alternate fields without adverse consequences (Levenson)
Gratification of an impulse whose goal is retained but whose aim or object is changed from a socially objectionable one to a socially valued one (Kaplan)
Anticipation
Mature
Realistic planning for inevitable discomfort (Levenson)
Asceticism
Mature
Elimination of directly pleasurable affects attributable to an experience (Kaplan)
Dissociation
Neurotic
A temporary but drastic modification of character or sense of personal identity to avoid emotional distress. Fugue states and hysterical conversion reactions. (Kaplan)
Externalization
Neurotic
Tendency to perceive in the external world and in external objects components of one’s own personality, including instinctual impulses, conflicts, moods, attitudes, and styles of thinking (Kaplan)
Thoughts and feelings are attributed to the external world. (G)
Inhibition
Neurotic
Unconsciously determined limitation or renunciation of specific ego functions to avoid anxiety arising out of conflict with instinctual impulses, superego or environmental forces (Kaplan)
Sexualization
Neurotic
Endowing an object of function with sexual significance that it did not previously have, or possess to a lesser degree, to ward off anxieties connected with prohibited impulses (Kaplan)
Distortion
Narcissistic-Psychotic
Grossly reshaping the experience of external reality to suit inner needs (Kaplan)
Acting out
Immature
Direct expression of an unconscious wish or impulse in action to avoid being conscious of the accompanying affect (Kaplan)
Express urges, conflicts and fantasies in uncontrolled action. Usually, in order to get relief from tension or anxiety. (G)
Blocking
Immature
An inhibition, usually temporary in nature, of affects especially, but possibly also thinking and impulses. Similar to repression in its effects but has a component of tension arising from the inhibition of the impulse, affect or thought (Kaplan)
Hypochondriasis
Immature
Transformation of reproach toward others arising from bereavement, loneliness, or unacceptable aggressive impulses, into self-reproach in the form of somotic complaints (Kaplan)
Introjection
Immature
Internalization of characteristics of the object with the goal of ensuring closeness to and constant presence of the object. (Kaplan)
Keyword is characteristics.
Passive-aggressive behavior
Immature
Aggression toward an object expressed indirectly and ineffectively through passivity, masochism, and turning against the self (Kaplan)
Regression
Immature
A return to a previous stage of development or functioning to avoid the anxieties or hostilities involved in later stages (Kaplan)
Somatization
Immature
Defensive conversion of psychic derivatives into bodily symptoms; tendency to react with somatic rather than psychic manifestations. (Kaplan)
Schizoid fantasy (Immature)
Immature
Tendency to use fantasy and to indulge in autistic retreat for the purpose of conflict resolution and gratification (Kaplan)
