Major Mechanisms

Front 1

Repression

Back 1

Key mechanism; expressed clinically by amnesia symptomatic forgetting serving to banish unacceptable ideas, fantasies, affects or impulses from consciousness

Front 2

Compensation

Back 2

Enables one to make up for real or fancied deficiencies.

Front 3

Conversion

Back 3

Represed urges expressed and disguised as a disturbance of body function usually of the sensory,voluntary nervous system: pain, deafness, blindness, etc.

Front 4

Denial

Back 4

Primitive defense; inability to acknowledge true significance of thoughts, feelings, wishes, behaviors or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.

Front 5

Displacement

Back 5

Directing an impulse wish or feeling toward a person or situation that is not its real object, thus permitting expression in a less treating situation.

Front 6

Dissociation

Back 6

A process which enables a person to split mental functions in a manner that allows him to express forbidden or unconscious impulses without taking responsibility for the action either because cant remember bad behavior or is not experienced as his own, like day dreaming

Front 7

Idealization

Back 7

Overestimation of an admired aspect or attribute of another. May be conscious or unconscious

Front 8

Identification

Back 8

Universal mechanism whereby a person patterns himself after a significant other. Plays major role in development, especially super ego development

Front 9

Identification with aggressor

Back 9

Mastering anxiety by identifying with a powerful aggressor to counteract feelings of helplessness and to feel powerful oneself.

Front 10

Incorporarion

Back 10

primitive mechanism in which psychic representation of a person (or parts of a person) is/are figuratively ingested.

Front 11

Inhabition

Back 11

loss of motivation to engage in (usually pleasurable) activity avoided because it might stir up conflict over forbidden impules.

Front 12

Introjection

Back 12

loved or hated external objects are symbolically absorbed within self (converse of projection) in severe depressionunconcious unacceptable hatred is turned toward self.

Front 13

Isolation of Affect

Back 13

unacceptable impulse,idea act is seperated from the original emotional charge associated with it.

Front 14

Projection

Back 14

primitive defense; attributing one's disowned attitudes, wishes feelings , urges to some external object.

Front 15

Rationalzation

Back 15

third line of defense; not unconcious. Giving beleivable explanation for irrational behavior;motivated by unacceptable unconcious of by defenses used to compe with such wishes.

Front 16

Reaction formation

Back 16

person adopts affects, ideas attitude behaviors that are opposites of those he harbors conciouslyor uncniously; i.e. being excessively sweet to mask unconcious anger.

Front 17

regression

Back 17

partial or symbolic return to infantile patternns of reacting or thinking. Can be in service to the ego i.e. dependence during illness

Front 18

Sublimation

Back 18

potionally maladaptive feelings and behaviors are diverted into socially acceptable, adaptive channels ex. anger into athletics.

Front 19

Substitution

Back 19

unattaunable or unacceptable goal, emotion or object is replaced by one more attainable or acceptable.

Front 20

Symbolization

Back 20

a mental representation stands for some other thing, class of things or attributes. This mwchanism undelies dream formation and other symptoms such as conversion reactions, obbsessions, compulsions) with a link between the latent meaning of the symptom and the symbol. Usually unconcious.

Front 21

Undoing

Back 21

a person uses words or actions to symbolically reverse or negate unacceptable thoughts, feelings or actions. ex. compulsively washing hands to deal with obsessive thoughts.

Front 22

Turning against self

Back 22

defense to deflect hostile aggression or other unacceptable impulses from another to self.

Front 23

Splitting

Back 23

defensive mechnism associated with boarderline personality organization in which a person perceives self and others as all good or all bad. It is a process which introjects of opposites quality are kept apart resulting in ego weakness that can not neutralize aggression This process leads to a selective lack of impulse control. Splitting serves to protect the good objects. A person cannot intergrate the good and bad in people.

Front 24

Projective Identification

Back 24

a form of projection utilized by persons with boarderline personality organizations. FOR EXAM:UNCONCIOUSLY PERCEIVING OTHER'S BEHAVIORS AS A REFLECTION OF OPNES OWN IDENTITY.

Front 25

Devaluation

Back 25

Defense mechanism frequently used by persons with boarderline personality in which a person attributes exaggerated negative qualities to self or another. It is the split of primitive idealization.

Front 26

Acting Out

Back 26

emotional conflict is delt with through actions rather than feelings

Front 27

Decompensation

Back 27

deterioration of existing defenses.