Defense Mechanisms

Front 1

Intellectualization

Back 1

Excessive reasoning to avoid feelings; the thinking is disconnected from feelings, and situations are dealt with at a cognitive level. Example: A woman’s husband recently passed away. She is only focusing on the details of the funeral as opposed to the sadness and the grief.

Front 2

Denial

Back 2

consciously intolerable thoughts and impulses. Example: A client is denying that his physician’s diagnoses of cancer is correct and is seeking a second opinion.

Front 3

Regression

Back 3

Returning to an earlier developmental stage to express an impulse to deal with reality. Example: 2 roommates have gotten into an argument. One of them stomp off into another room and pouts; An 8 year old who wets the bed when hospitalized.

Front 4

Repression

Back 4

An unconscious process in which the client blocks undesirable and unacceptable thoughts from conscious expression. Example: A person’s father has passed away, but this person forgets the father’s funeral; Woman is unable to enjoy sex after having pushed out of awareness a traumatic sexual incident from childhood.

Front 5

Displacement

Back 5

– Feelings toward one person are directed to another who is less threatening, thereby satisfying an impulse with a substitute object; transfer of emotions associated with a particular person, object, or situation to another person, object, or situation that is nonthreatening. Example: A male client becomes belligerent toward the nurse after speaking with his mother on the phone; the person who has a bad day at work and comes home and yells.

Front 6

Somatization

Back 6

The process by which psychological distress is expressed as physical symptoms. It is an unconscious process. In somatization, the mental experiences or states are “converted” to bodily symptoms. Example: A tension headache: tension is converted to a headache.

Front 7

Rationalization

Back 7

An attempt to make unacceptable feelings and behaviors acceptable by justifying the behavior. Example: A person is stating that she was fired because she didn’t kiss up to the boss, when the real reason was her poor performance.

Front 8

Suppression

Back 8

The conscious, deliberate forgetting of unacceptable or painful thoughts ideas, and feelings. Example: A woman feels a breast lump before vacation, but waits to see the doctor until after she returns from vacation.

Front 9

Introjection

Back 9

– A type of identification in which the individual incorporates the traits or values of another into self. Example: After his wife’s death, husband has transient complaints of chest pains and difficulty breathing; the same symptoms his wife had before she died.

Front 10

Projection

Back 10

Transferring one’s internal feelings, thoughts, and unacceptable ideas and traits to someone else; the unconscious attributing of one’s own intolerable wishes, emotional feelings, or motivation to another. Example: A student who does poorly blames the teacher for not presenting the material correctly.

Front 11

Sublimation

Back 11

Replacement of an unacceptable need, attitude, or emotion with one more socially acceptable; the unconscious process of substituting constructive and socially acceptable activities for strong impulses that are not acceptable in their original forms. Example: A person is having strong sexual impulses that they do not want to act upon. This person instead focuses on rigorous exercise.

Front 12

Compensation

Back 12

Making up for deficits in one area by excelling in another area in order to raise or maintain self esteem. Example: A boy who is small in stature places his emphasis on academics rather than attempting to do sports.

Front 13

Acting out

Back 13

Performing an extreme behavior in order to express thoughts or feelings the person feels incapable of otherwise expressing. Example: Self-injury may be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.

Front 14

Conversion

Back 14

The unconscious transfer of anxiety to a physical symptom that has no organic cause; the expression of emotional conflicts through physical symptoms. Example: Student is unable to take a final exam because of a terrible headache.

Front 15

Dissociation

Back 15

technique of putting threatening thoughts or feelings out of conscious awareness before they are able to trigger overwhelming and intolerable anxiety (splits threatening event from awareness; the blocking off of an anxiety-provoking event or period of time from the conscious mind. Example: A victim retells her situation while smiling and laughing about it.

Front 16

Fixation

Back 16

Never advancing to the next level of emotional development and organization; the persistence in later life of interests and behavior patterns appropriate to an earlier age.

Front 17

Identification

Back 17

Unconsciously taking on the thoughts, mannerisms, or behaviors of a person or group, in order to decrease anxiety. Example: A 5 year old girl dresses in her mother’s shoes and meets daddy at the door.

Front 18

Insulation

Back 18

Withdrawing into passivity and becoming inaccessible in order to avoid further threatening situations.

Front 19

Isolation

Back 19

Response in which a person blocks feelings associated with an unpleasant experience. Example: A medical student dissects a cadaver without being disturbed by death.

Front 20

Reaction formation

Back 20

Developing conscious attitudes and behaviors and acting out behaviors opposite to what one really feels. Example: Person is excessively polite to someone they dislike.

Front 21

Symbolization

Back 21

the conscious use of an idea or object to represent another actual event or objects; many times the meaning is not clear because the symbol may be representative of something unconscious. Example: A soldier, when asked why he volunteered, says, “to defend the flag.” He rejects as irrelevant a question about the purpose of the war.

Front 22

Undoing

Back 22

Engaging in behavior that is considered to be opposite of a previous unacceptable behavior, thought, or feeling. Example: A man has just insulted his significant other unintentionally. He now spends the next hour praising her beauty, charm, and intellect