Defense Mechanisms – ASWB Study Guide
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Displacement
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directing an impulse, wish or feeling toward a person that is not its real object Ex: kicking a dog when you are mad at boss
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Dissociation
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a process which enables a person to split mental functions in a manner that allows him to express forbidden impulses without taking responsibility Ex: Daydreaming, doodling, being abused and mentally 'going away', multiple personalities (extreme)
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Idealization
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overestimation of an admired aspect or attribute of another Ex: having a crush
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Identification
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universal mechanism whereby a person patterns himself after a significant other, plays major role in personality development Ex: Schoolgirl wanting to dress like other girls but not realizing that's why she wants her mom to buy her those shoes. Similar to incorporation but less intense.
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Identification w/ Aggressor
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mastering anxiety by identifying with a powerful aggressor (abusive parent) to counter act feelings helplessness, i.e. repeating abuse Ex: Stockholm Syndrome
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Incorporation
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Primitive mechanism in which psychic representation of a person is figuratively ingested. Ex: Acquiring parents' values. Very primitive DM.
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Inhibition
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loss of motivation to engage in pleasurable activity because it might stir up conflict over forbidden impulses Ex: Sexual dysfunction
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Introjection
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loved or hated external objects are symbolically absorbed within self, i.e. in severe depression, unconscious unacceptable hatred is turned towards self. -Common in case of absent caregivers. Ex: Child imagines absent parents, incoporates their imagined qualities into himself.
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Isolation of Affect
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unacceptable impulse, idea, act is separated from its original memory source, thereby removing the original emotional charge associated with it. Ex: a person who has been abused is able to talk about it w/out any emotion; other people may wince.
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Projection
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primitive defense, attributing ones disowned attitudes wishes feelings urges to some external object or person Ex: believing your spouse is angry at the kids when it's actually you who is angry at them. OR Woman may be angry at husband for not listening, when it is the wife who is the one that does not listen.
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Rationalization
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third line of defense, not unconscious, giving explanation for irrational behavior. Making something seem consistent with reason. Ex: Woman who really liked guy she was dating is dumped. Says 'oh well, I never really liked him that much.'
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Reaction Formation
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-person adopts affects, ideas, attitudes, behaviors that are opposites of those he harbors consciously or unconsciously -excessive moral zeal masking strong but repressed asocial impulses, or being excessively sweet to mask unconscious anger. Overcompensation for unacceptable impulses. Ex: Homophobia.
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Regression
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-partial or symbolic return to more infantile patterns of reacting or thinking, can be in service to ego Ex: dependency during illness - need to feel secure, revert to feeling like a child when overwhelmed OR teenager reacting to stress by bedwetting.
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Sublimation
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Potentially maladaptive feelings or behaviors are diverted into socially acceptable, adaptive channels Ex: a person who has angry feelings channels them into athletics
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Substitution
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unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion, or object is replaced by one more attainable or acceptable. Ex: A student wanted to become a doctor, became nurse instead.
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Symbolization
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a mental representation that stands for some other thing, dream formation and other symptoms such as conversion, obsessions, compulsions with a link between latent meaning of symptom and symbol. Usually unconscious. Ex: A soldier, when asked why he volunteered, he said, \"To defend the flag.\" He rejects as irrelevant a question about the purpose of the war. OR a man asks for a woman's hand (in marriage).
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Undoing
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-a person uses words or actions to symbolically reverse or negate unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions. -Ex. a person compulsively washing hands to deal with disturbing thoughts
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Acting Out
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Emotional conflict is dealt with through actions rather than feeling Ex: getting in trouble to get attention when feeling neglected OR Self-injury - expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.
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Compensation
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Enables one to make up for real or fancied deficiencies. Ex: a person who stutters becomes a very expressive writer; a short man assumes a cocky, overbearing manner.
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Conversion
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repressed urge is expressed disguised as a disturbance of body function, usually of the sensory, voluntary nervous system (as pain, deafness, blindness, paralysis, convulsions, tics). Ex: Man's arm becomes paralyzed after impulse to strike another.
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Denial
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primitive defense; inability to acknowledge true significance of thoughts, feelings, wishes, behavior, or external reality factors that are consciously tolerable. Ex: a disabled person plans to return to former activities without planning a realistic program of rehabilitation
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Devaluation
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frequently used by persons w/ borderline PD; in which a person attributes exaggerated negative qualities to self or another. Corollary to idealization. Ex: A partner worships his/her lover, only to wake up one day and feel nothing for him/her once their lack of perfection is noted
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Projective Identification
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A form of projection utilized by persons with borderline personality organization. Eliciting in others a feeling one is having. Ex: subconsciously acting irritating to therapist so that therapist gets irritated, emulates people who have hurt patient in past. Can be difficult to clarify who did what to whom first.
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Splitting
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-Being unable to integrate good and bad parts of people. Creates instability in relationships. Very common in Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
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Turning Against Self
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-self-punishment or sadistic behavior, -Ex being depressed when legitimately angry with someone else about something, self-abuse
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Decompensation
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Deterioration of existing defenses.
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Repression
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Key Mechanism. Symptomatic forgetting serving to banish unacceptable deas, fantasies, affects, or impulses from consciousness. Ex: Amnesia, memories of abuse.
