Psychological defense mechanisms and their effects on behavior and relationship relationships Flashcards
Acting out
Emotional conflict is dealt with through actions rather than feelings, example, instead of talking about feelings, neglected, a person will get into trouble to get attention.
Compensation
Enables one to make up for real or fancied deficiencies, a person who stutters becomes a very expressive writer, a short man assumes a cocky, overbearing manner.
Conversion
Repressed urge is expressed disguise as a disturbance of body function, usually of the sensory, voluntary nervous system, as pain, deafness, blindness, paralysis, convulsions, tics.
Decompensation
Deterioration of existing defenses
Denial
Permit of defense, inability to acknowledge true significance of thoughts, feelings, wishes, behavior, or external reality factors are consciously intolerable
Devaluation
A defense mechanism frequently used by persons with borderline personality organization, which a person contributes exaggerate negative qualities to self or another. It is a split of primitive idealization.
Dissociation
A process that enables a person to split mental functions in a manner that allows him or her to express forbidden or unconscious impulses without taking responsibility for the action, either because here she is unable to remember the disowned behavior, or because it is not experience as his or her own, pathology expressed as fugue states, amnesia, or dissociative neurosis, or normally expressed as daydreaming
Displacement
Directing an impulse wish or feeling toward a person in her situation, that is not it’s real object thus permitting expression in a less threatening situation, example a man angry at his boss kicks his dog.
Idealization
Overestimation of an admired aspect or a tribute of another
Identification
Universal mechanism whereby a person patterns, himself or herself after a significant other. Place is a major role in personality development, especially super ego development.
Identification with the aggressor
Master anxiety by identifying with the powerful aggressor such as an abusing parent to counteract feelings of helplessness, and to feel powerful oneself, usually involves behaving like the aggressor example abusing others after one has been used oneself
Incorporation
Primitive mechanism in which a psychic representation of a person is or parts of a person are figuratively ingested
Inhibition
Loss of motivation to engage and usually pleasurable activity of way because it might stir up conflict over forbidden impulses, example writing learning or work blocks or social shyness
Introjection
Loved or hated external objects are symbolically, absorbed within self converse or production in severe depression unconsciousness unacceptable hatred is turned towards
Intellectualization
Where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic, emotional aspects are completely ignored as being irrelevant example Jargon is often used as a device of intellectualization they’re using complex terminology. The focus is placed on the words rather than the emotions.
Isolation of effect
Unacceptable impulse idea act is separated from its original memory source, thereby removing the original emotional charge associated with that
Projection
Primitive defense attributing one’s own attitudes which his feelings and urges to some external object or person
Projective identification
A form of projection utilized by persons with borderline personality disorder, unconsciously perceiving others behavior as a reflection of one’s own identity
Rationalization
Third line of defense, not unconscious, giving believable explanation for irrational behavior, motivated by unacceptable unconscious buses, were by defenses used to cope with such wishes
Reaction formation
Person adopts affects ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are opposites of those here she harbors, consciously or unconsciously example excessive moral zeal masking strong, but repressed a social impulses are being successfully, sweet to mask, unconscious, anger
Regression
Partial or symbolic return to more infantile patterns or reacting or thinking can be in service to ego as dependency during illness
Repression
Key mechanisms, express clinically by amnesia or somatic, forgetting serving to banish unacceptable ideas, fantasies, affects, or impulses from consciousness
Splitting
Defense mechanism associated with borderline personality disorder in which a person perceives itself and others as all good or all bad service to protect the good objects a person cannot integrate the good and bad in people
Sublimation
Potentially maladaptive feelings or behavior, behaviors are diverting into socially acceptable, adaptive channels, example of person who has angry feelings, channels them into athletics
Substitution
Unattainable or unacceptable goal emotional object is replaced by one or more attainable or acceptable
Symbolization
A mental representation stands for some other thing class of things or attribute this mechanism underline dream formation, and some other systems such as a conversation reactions obsessions compulsions with a link between the latent meaning of the system, and the symbol usually unconscious
Turning against self
Defense to defeat, hostile aggression, or other unacceptable impulses from another TO SELF
Undoing
A person uses words or actions to symbolically, reverse or negate unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions a person comp compulsively washing hands to deal with obsessive thoughts
