MENTAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS (ADAPTIVE COPING PROCESSES)

Defense Mechanisms or Coping Mechanism

-are unconscious, intrapsychic adaptive processes to cope with anxiety and resolve emotional
conflict
-are acquired during the development of the personality as an attempt to defend itself,
establish compromises between conflicting impulses and allay inner tensions.

Characteristics of Defense Mechanism

(1) it is automatic
(2) it is not defense mechanism that is pathological but it is the frequency of its use
(3) used by both mentally healthy and mentally ill individuals

Types of Defense Mechanisms

• Compensation- overachievement in one area to offset real or perceived deficiencies in

another area
-covering up for a weakness by overemphasizing
-“making-up”
Example: a homely school girl attempts to impress her peers by making straight A’s

• Conversion- unconscious expression

-turning psychological/emotional conflicts into physical symptoms
Example: a husband suddenly develops impotence after his wife discovers he is having an
affair with his secretary

• Denial- unconscious refusal to face reality

Example: “I am not an addict”

• Displacement- unconsciously transfer of unacceptable feeling, emotion or reaction, to less

threatening object or person
Example: a person who is mad at the boss yells at his or her spouse

• Dissociation- unconscious separation of painful feelings or emotions from an unacceptable

idea, situation or object
Example: Amnesia that prevents recall of yesterday’s auto accident

• Fixation- stuck in a certain stage of development

Example: lack of clear sense of identity as an adult

• Fantasy- conscious distortion of unconscious feeling or wishes

- is likened to make-believe and daydreams. Wishes and desires are imagined as fulfilled

• Identification- a conscious or unconscious attempt to model oneself after a respected

person
Example: nursing student becoming a critical care nurse because this s the specialty of an
instructor she admires
• Introjection- accepting another person’s attitudes, beliefs and values as one’s own
Example: college student follows his parents’ instruction to abstain from casual sex

• Intellectualization- using only logical explanations without feelings or an affective

component to justify unacceptable behavior or feelings
Example: person shows no emotion expression when discussing serious car accident

• Isolation- cutting of or blunting of an unacceptable aspect of a total experience

• Projection- unconscious blaming of unacceptable inclinations or thoughts on an external

object
- blames other for wrong doing; looks for scapegoat
Example: a student was late and blames the alarm clock for failing to alarm

• Rationalization- excusing own behavior to avoid guilt, responsibility, conflict, anxiety or loss
of self respect
-attempts to make or prove that one’s feeling or behavior is justifiable
Example: man says he beats his wife because she doesn’t listen to him

• Reaction Formation- a conscious behavior that is exact opposite of an unconscious feeling

Example: person who despises the boss tells everyone what a great boss he is

• Regression- returning to an earlier level of development in the face of stress

Example: man pouts like a four year old if he is not the center of his girlfriend’s attention

• Repression- unconscious forgetting of painful ideas, events and conflicts

Example: a woman has no memory of the mugging she suffered yesterday

• Resistance- overt or covert antagonism toward remembering or processing anxiety-

producing information
Example: person attends court ordered treatment for alcoholism but refuses to participate

• Suppression- conscious forgetting unacceptable thought but able to recall at will

Example: a woman tells a friend she cannot think about her son’s death right now

• Substitution- replacing the desired gratification with one that is more readily available
Example: woman who would like to have her own children opens a day care center

• Sublimation- channeling instinctual drives into acceptable activities

Example: person goes for a 15 minute walk when attempted to eat junk foods

• Symbolization- less threatening objects is used to represent another

• Undoing- feeling guilty for doing something—showing true feeling but regret after
Example: after spanking her son a mother bakes his favorite cookies