week 1 Flashcards
defense mechanism: acting out
actions/behaviours r/t emotional conflicts that are dealt with thru actions (rather than reflections/feelings)
ex: a child becoming more restless & disruptive in class after loss of parent
defense mechanism: denial
refusing to accept/acknowledge some painful aspect of reality or subjective experience that would be obvious to others
*“psychotic denial” is used when there’s ++impairment in reality.
ex: your bff moves away, but you keep telling other people you’re not sad at all
defense mechanism: displacement
transferring a feeling about (or a response to) something onto another (usually less threatening) substitute thing
ex: a child is mad at their mom for leaving for the day, but says that they’re really mad at the babysitter for feeding her food they don’t like
*lied about cause of anger
defense mechanism: dissociation
feeling disconnected from a stressful or traumatic event — or feeling that the event isn’t really happening.
*a way to block out mental trauma & protect mind from experiencing ++stress.
ex: an adult relates severe sexual abuse but does it without feeling; they claim that the experience was as if they were outside their body, watching the abuse happen.
defense mechanism: idealization
when one associates ++positive qualities to self or others.
*you put someone up on a pedestal; you look up to them & believe they can do nothing wrong
ex: you fall in love & fail to see the negative in the other person
defense mechanism: projection
falsely project one’s own unwanted feelings, impulses, or thoughts onto another person
*appear as a threat
ex: an individual is threatened by own angry feelings, then accuses another person of having those thoughts
ex: bully teases a child for crying but is quick to cry
ex: child is angry at parent, but accuses the parent of being angry
defense mechanism: rationalization
hiding the true intentions for one’s own thoughts, actions, or feelings thru self-reassurance, but make wrong explanations.
ex: a girl breaks up with her bf, but the bf explains to his friends that her leaving was best because she was socially beneath him & wouldn’t be liked by his family anyway
defense mechanism: reaction formation
a person unconsciously replaces unwanted or anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings, or actions with its opposite (often expressed) in an exaggerated/showy way.
*usually occurs in conjunction w/ repression
ex: a boy bullies a girl because, on a subconscious level, he’s attracted to her!
ex: wife finds out about husband’s affair & tells her friends that she thinks affairs are basically appropriate (she truly doesn’t feel, on a conscious level, any hurt/anger)
defense mechanism: repression
subconsciously (unintentionally) blocking disturbing wishes, thoughts, or experiences from conscious awareness (the feeling may stay unconscious, detached from its associated ideas).
ex: a child, who faced abuse by a parent, later has no memory of the events but has trouble forming relationships.
ex: a woman who experienced painful labor, continues to have kids (& each time the level of pain is surprising).
ex: a woman doesn’t remember getting raped in her basement, but gets anxious when entering her house.
defense mechanism: splitting
failing to realize both positive & negative attributes into a whole understanding of a person or situation, resulting in all-or-none thinking; people will be seen as “perfect” or “evil” OR things “always” or “never” go according to plan
*usually associated w/ borderline personality disorder
ex: after a bad breakup, the ex-partner refuses to acknowledge that their ex had any good qualities
defense mechanism: suppression
intentionally (consciously) blocking out thoughts about disturbing issues, wishes, feelings, or experiences
ex: a woman who was abused by her husband REFUSES to think about the traumatic experience
defense mechanism: undoing
saying words or doing actions/behaviours that cancel out or remove unhealthy, destructive, or threatening thoughts/actions by doing the opposite; trying to make up for what you feel are inappropriate thoughts/actions
ex: a man has sexual fantasies about his wife’s sister…so he took his wife away for a romantic weekend/vacation LOL
defense mechanism: transference
the client’s emotional reaction to the therapist; a client’s subconscious feeling toward nurse/therapist that were once held towards a significant other in their life.
*this occurs w/in psychotherapy in which memories of old feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that someone displaces are subconsciously projected onto the current person they’re interacting with.
ex: you observe characteristics of your father towards your new boss & attribute fatherly feelings; can be good or bad feelings.
defense mechanism: counter-transference
the therapist’s emotional reaction to the client; the health care worker’s [usually] unconscious personal response to the pt.
*occurs when a health care worker lets their own feelings determine the way they interact with or react to their client in therapy (biased)
ex: therapists could be overly protective of a pt. (who reminds them of their own child)
ex: therapists could become angry at a pt. who has an alcohol addiction (because they personally had a parent who was an alcoholic)
what is resilience?
a mental health trait that helps ppl recognize stressors & negative emotions, deal w/ them, & learn from the experience
*occurs when ppl are able to withstand, toughen, & recover quickly from personal struggles.
what does “comorbid condition” mean?
when a pt. has more than 1 disease or mental disorder occurring at the same time (chronic or long-term conditions)
what is milieu therapy?
safe structured & group treatment method for those w/ mental health issues
*involves using everyday activities & a conditioned environment to help psychiatric pts. w/ interaction in community settings; flexible treatment intervention that may work together w/ other treatment methods.
what are “defense mechanisms”?
automatic reaction to cope & prevent conscious awareness of threatening feelings or of denying/distorting reality to rid of anxiety.
