Lecture 2 Flashcards
Defense Mechanisms
MATURE/NATURE DEFENSE MECHANISMS
greater ability to adapt to reality; effectively distance threatening feelings without distorting the reality
REPRESSION
Mature - An unpleasant or unacceptable feeling or thought that is pushed out from consciousness. Differs from suppression in that the thought or feeling is unconsciously eliminated and the content can no longer be obtained.
SUBLIMATION
Mature - Expressing a personally unacceptable or unattainable feeling in a socially acceptable or useful way. Considered a more adaptive defense mechanism in that it can transform negative anxiety into positive energy (e.g. going to a boxing club, instead of having street fights).
HUMOR
Mature - Expressing uncomfortable feelings (in the form of jokes, for example) without causing oneself discomfort.
SUPPRESSION
Mature - Pushing the unpleasant or unacceptable feeling, thought, or desire deliberately out of consciousness. It is the only defense mechanism to have some sort of conscious effort, albeit partial. Suppression involves attempting not to think about a memory or feelings.
ALTRUISM
Mature - Helping others to feel better about oneself, thereby avoiding negative personal feelings. Gratification is achieved from the support of others (e.g. CEO donating a lot of money, but working for bad firm).
UNDOING
Mature - Behaving or acting in a way so as to reverse unacceptable behavior. “Correcting” a past mistake. May involve rituals to “un-do” a “sinful” thought or action (e.g. confession).
REACTION FORMATION
Mature - A manifestation of a feeling and/or action that diametrically opposite to that of the underlying unacceptable impulse. Thus, there is a transformation of the feeling to its exact opposite (e.g. “was sich liebt das neckt sich”).
IDEALIZATION
Mature - Creating an ideal impression of a person, place or object by emphasizing their positive qualities and neglecting the negative.
INTELLECTUALIZATION
Mature - Using higher functions (excessively) instead of affect to deal with unpleasant facts or situations. Dealing with emotions is avoided, and the intellectual content may be too academic in nature, drained of affective content.
DISPLACEMENT
Mature - The emotion remaining the same, the target of the emotional outlet is changed. This is different from acting out in that the primary emotion is not masked, only redirected (e.g. acting out at partner, because of frustration at work).
IMMATURE DEFENSE MECHANISM
characterized by severe alteration of painful mental contents and/or radical distortion of external reality; unacceptable feelings are kept outside of consciousness; feelings and impulses are not recognized as being one’s own.
PROJECTION
Immature - Attributing one’s own feelings, desires, or thoughts to someone else. This is associated with or may lead to paranoia.
ACTING OUT
Immature - A strong display of emotions or behavior in order to hide the unacceptable underlying feelings or ideas. May be socially inappropriate. The actual emotion being masked (e.g. walking out of group therapy).
DENIAL
Immature - Avoiding an obvious aspect of reality by pretending that it is false or that it does not exist thus blocking the external events from awareness.
DISSOCIATION
Immature - To momentarily lose connection to the world around, feel separated from the outside world, as though one exists in another realm.
REGRESSION
Immature - Reverting to a behavior that is more childlike (or otherwise younger in age). Seen in people (also without mental disability) who are sick or otherwise uncomfortable.
PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
Immature - A passive (indirect) way of expressing aggression. Manifested as setting up an expectation and then not meeting it. However, this feeling often operates at a subconscious level.
ISOLATION (OF AFFECT)
Immature - To separate ideas or feelings from the rest of your thoughts. In distinguishing an emotion or impulse from others in this way, a person attempts to protect the ego from anxieties caused by a specific situation.
SPLITTING
Immature - Splitting occurs when the ego attempts to reconcile multiple aspects or rationales, but resorts to understanding the world in “black and white” terms. A person who experiences splitting may take an “either-or” approach when making evaluations of the world around them, including objects, situations, and people.
AUTISTIC FANTASY/ AUTISTIC WITHDRAWAL
Immature - An autistic retreat into an imaginary life to avoid facing unacceptable feelings or the unpleasant reality.
