Ego Defenses Flashcards
Transference vs countertransference
Transference = patient projects feelings about formative or other important people onto the physician
- (i.e the patient views the physician as a father figure)
Countertransference = physician projects feelings about formative or other important people onto the patient
- (i.e the physician views the patient as a son/daughter)
What are ego defenses
Thoughts and believes that can be involuntary or voluntary that a person expresses in order to resolve internal/external conflict and/or prevent undesirable feelings
“Acting out”
An immature ego defense where the person subconsciously copes with stressors/conflicts by using actions rather than reflections or feelings
(I.e: a student skips school the next day after feeling discomfort about a previous test)
“Denial”
An immature ego defense where a person avoids the awareness of some sort of painful reality
(I.e: a patient with cancer plans a busy work week after being warned about the fatigue side affects of chemotherapy)
“Displacement”
An immature ego defense where a person redirects negative/unacceptable emotions or impulses to a neutral person or object unrelated to the source of emotion/impulses in order to alleviate the negative emotions/impulses
- this differs from projection because an action is occurring to alleviate the emotions, not transferring the emotions to someone else in order to alleviate them.
- this differs from sublimation because the action used to Alleviate the negative emotions/feelings are destructive/not socially acceptable.
(I.e: after being written up at work, a man goes home and yells at his significant other about the house being unkept instead of confronting his boss or HR)
“Dissociation”
An immature ego defense where there is a temporary drastic change in personality/memories/consciousness or motor behavior to avoid a direct emotional stress.
- patient has incomplete or no memory of a traumatic event
(I.e: a victim of sexual abuse suddenly appears numb and detached when she is exposed to her abuser)
“Fixation”
An immature ego defense where a person partially remains at a more childish level of development usually in response to stress
- this is voluntary (compared tor regression where it is involuntary)
(I.e: a surgeon throws a temper tantrum in the OR because the last case ran very late)
“Idealization”
An immature ego defense where a person expresses extremely positive thoughts of self and others while ignoring negative thoughts
- this usually results in a person only acknowledging the positives and being blinded to any flaws the idealized person may have
(I.e: a fan of a movie star rants and raves about how amazing the movie star is without acknowledging any of their obvious flaws)
“Identification”
An immature ego defense where a person assumes the characteristics, qualities or traits of another person or group unconsciously.
(I.e: a resident starts putting his stethoscope in his pocket because his favorite attending does this)
“Intellectualization”
An immature ego defense where a person uses facts and logic to emotionally distance themselves from a stressful situation
(I.e: a person recently diagnosed with heart failure becomes obsessed with discussing and researching the pathophysiology behind the disorder)
“Isolation of affect”
An immature ego defense where a person separates their feelings from ideas and events
(I.e: a person describes a murder in graphic detail with no conscious and unconscious emotional responses)
“Passive aggression”
An immature ego defense where a person demonstrates hostile feelings in a non confrontational manner, while showing indirect opposition
(I.e: a girl who was recently dumped gives brief one worded answers to her ex when they try to converse with them, but wont admit they are acting any differently or treating them poorly)
“Projection”
An immature ego defense where a person attributes an unacceptable internal impulse to an external source.
- this is a social unacceptable impulse that is projected still as an unacceptable impulse just onto another person
(I.e: a man who wishes to commit adultery accuses his wife of being unfaithful)
“Rationalization”
An immature ego defense where a person asserts plausible explanations for events that actually occurred for other reasons
- this is usually in response to avoiding self-blame
(I.e: a person who was recently fired claims that the job was not important anyway)
“Reaction formation”
An immature ego defense where a person replaces a unacceptable/immoral idea or feeling with an almost exact opposite course of action
- emphasis on its opposite
- this opposite sublimation where the unacceptable idea/feeling is replaced with a similar but more socially acceptable course of action
(I.e: a stepmother who resents their stepchild goes overboard with nurturing and protection)
