Defense Mechanisms - Vertrees Flashcards
defense mechanism
unconscious mental process serving to provide relief from internal emotional conflict or anxiety
narcissistic
psychotic defenses
denial and projection
denial
avoid awareness of painful aspect of reality - negate sensory data
denial abolishes external reality
projection
perceiving and reacting to unacceptable inner impulse and their derivatives as though outside the self
frank delusion of external reality - perception of ones feelings in another and subsequent acting on that perception
immature defense mechanisms
acting out
blocking
passive-aggresive
regression
acting out
giving into impulse to avoid tension that would result from postponement of expression
blocking
temporary or transient inhibiting thinking
tension arises when impulse, affect, or thought is inhibited
passive-aggressive behavior
aggression towards others through passive, masochism, and turning against the self
regression
return to earlier phase of function - to avoid tension and conflict evoked at present level of development
neurotic defenses
common in normal healthy adults in moderation
controlling displacement externalization inhibition intellectualization isolation - of affect rationilization dissociation reaction formation repression
immature defenses
in early adulthood - do less as mature
personality disorder - retain into adulthood
controlling
manage or regulate events or objects in environment to minimize anxiety and to resolve inner conflict
displacement
shift emotion or drive cathexis from one idea or object to another that resembles original
symbolic representation of origional idea
externalization
perceive external world and in external objects - elements of ones personality
impulses, conflicts, moods, attitudes, styles of thinking
inhibition
consciously limiting or renouncing some ego functions
to evade anxiety arising out of conflict with superego
intellectualization
excessive use of intellectual processes to avoid affective expression or experience
focus on inanimate to avoid intimacy with people
focus on extenal reality to avoid inner feelings
isolation of affect
splitting or separation of idea from affect that accompanies it
rationalization
rational explanation in attempt to justify attitudes, belief, or behavior
dissociation
modify personal character to avoid emotional distress
fugue states and hysteria
reaction formation
transforming unacceptable impulse into its opposite
obsessional character
repression
expelling or withholding from consciousness an idea or feeling
curbing of idea and feelings before they have attained consciousness
secondary - excludes from awareness what once was experienced
differ from suppression - effect conscious inhibition of impulses - to point of losing and not just postponing cherished goals
mature defense
health and adaptive throughout life