Defense Mechiniams

Front 1

Repression:

Back 1

Involuntary automatic banishment of unacceptable ideas, impulses or feelings
• Does not register on conscious level
• Most common and most well known

Repression +Displacement= Phobic response

Front 2

Regression:

Back 2

Unconscious return to earlier emotional adjustment where gratification is assured (thumb sucking during stress)
• Often goes with fixation
• Can be complete-partial-symbolic
• Normal in sleep and play

Often occurs after birth of sibling or promotion in school or work

Front 3

Fixation:

Back 3

Arrest of maturation and immature level
• Can be trauma related

Cannot move beyond trauma

Front 4

Suppression:

Back 4

Voluntary, intention regulation of unacceptable ideas
• Normal high functioning

I can't deal with this right now

Front 5

Identification

Back 5

Unconscious wishful adoption or internalization of another

Front 6

Transference:

Back 6

Client identifies you as past important figure

Front 7

Counter transference:

Back 7

You identify client as past important figure

Front 8

Projection:

Back 8

Attributing to another person your feelings
• Coming home angry and accusing your partner of being angry at you
• Hating something and assuming others hate it too

Front 9

Rationalization:

Back 9

Claim of acceptable worthwhile motives to thoughts, feelings, behavior preserving, self respect and avoiding accountability
• Abusive parents "toughing up" their child

Discounting deadlines

Front 10

Intellectualizations:

Back 10

Overuse of intellect to avoid experiencing/expressing feelings

Front 11

Compensation:

Back 11

conscious or unconscious attempt to overcome real or imagined inferiority

Front 12

Reaction Formation:

Back 12

direct or overt behavior in opposite directions of feelings
• 2 step defense: 1. Unacceptable desires/feelings repressed 2. Conscious feeling is the antithesis

Hate critical uncaring mother, repress feelings, react to mother as though best friend in the world

Front 13

Denial:

Back 13

unconscious disavowal of a thought , feeling, wish, need or reality- one of the most primitive
I am not the problem, you are

Front 14

Substitution:

Back 14

unconscious replacement of a highly valued but unattainable emotional goal with one that is attainable

Front 15

Restitution:

Back 15

Symbolically paying off an emotional debt

Front 16

Displacement:

Back 16

Redirection of an emotion to a more acceptable substitute
Yelling at a child when angry at boss

Front 17

Undoing:

Back 17

Magic belief in which some past unacceptable behavior is symbolically acted out and reversed
• Good behavior when parents split up

Front 18

Disassociation:

Back 18

Unconscious detachment of certain behaviors form normal consciousness- compartmentalized = multiple personality disorder

Front 19

Splitting:

Back 19

the splitting of good/bad in self and others when ambivalence cannot be tolerated:
• Love/hate, not both

=borderline personality disorder

Front 20

Defenses

Back 20

• Each person is functioning at the highest level possible.
• Defenses have a function
• They exist at the service of the ego to preserve the sense of wellness and functioning
• They are both a part of normal and abnormal functioning

Front 21

Two Types of Defense Mechanisms

Back 21

-Successful:Eliminates the need for instant gratification; provides substitute, socially acceptable gratification

-Unsuccessful: Fail to meet the needs or are socially unacceptable