Defense Mechanisms Flashcards

1
Q

attributing your own wishes, thoughts, or feelings onto someone else

A

Projection

eg, a man who regularly steals money from his roommate, who constantly suspects his roommate is stealing from him

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2
Q

not accepting reality that is too painful

A

Denial

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3
Q

external objects are divided into all good or all bad

A

Splitting

eg, a woman tells her doctor, “You and the nurses are the only people who understand me; all the other doctors are mean and impatient”

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4
Q

temporary block in thinking

A

Blocking

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5
Q

performing behaviors from an earlier stage of development in order to avoid tension associated with current event/stage, most immature

A

Regression

eg, woman brings her childhood teddy bear to the hospital when she has to spend the night

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6
Q

psychic derivatives are converted into bodily symptoms

A

Somatization

eg, “Just thinking about the exam, I get butterflies in my stomach.”

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7
Q

features of the external world are taken and made part of the self

A

Introjection

eg, the resident physician dresses like the attending

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8
Q

an emotion or drive is shifted to another that resembles the original in some aspect

A

Displacement

eg, a student who is angry at his mother talks back to his teacher the next day

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9
Q

an idea or feeling is withheld from consciousness; “unconscious forgetting”

A

Repression

eg, “I do not remember having had a dog.”

NB: repression is unconscious; suppression is conscious

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10
Q

excessive use of intellectual processes to avoid affective expression or experience

A

Intellectualization

eg, “It is interesting to not the specific skin lesions which seem to arise as a consequence of my end-stage disease.”

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11
Q

separation of an idea from the affect that accompanies it; unconsciously limiting the experience of feelings or emotions associated with a stressful life event in order to avoid anxiety

A

Isolation of affect

eg, a woman describes the revent death of her beloved husband without emotion

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12
Q

rational explanations are used to justify unacceptable attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors

A

Rationalization

eg, “My boss fired me because she’s short tempered and impulsive, not because I haven’t done a good job.”

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13
Q

an unacceptable impulse is transformed into its opposite; results in the formation of character traits

A

Reaction Formation

eg, a man who is in love with his married coworker insults her

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14
Q

acting out the reverse of an unacceptable behavior; consists of an act

A

Undoing

eg, a man who has had a brief fantasy of killing his wife by sabotaging her car takes the car in for a complete checkup

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15
Q

behavioral or emotional outburst; often done in order to avoid the anxiety of suppressing that impulse

A

Acting Out

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16
Q

expressing (usually) uncomfortable or unpleasant feelings without causing discomfort to self or others

A

Humor

17
Q

satisfying socially unacceptable impulses in an acceptable manner

A

Sublimation

eg, person with unconscious urges to physically control others becomes a prison guard

18
Q

purposely ignoring an unacceptable impulse or emotion in order to diminish discomfort and accomplish a task; “conscious forgetting”; the only conscious defense mechanism

A

Suppression

eg, a nurse who feels nauseated by an infected wound puts aside feelings of disgust to clean wound and provide necessary care

NB: repression is unconscious; suppression is conscious

19
Q

splitting off of the brain from conscious awareness

blocking off of disturbing thoughts from consciousness in an attempt to avoid negative or upsetting feelings

A

Dissociation

eg, a man who gets fired at work blocks out what happened to him and comes home to tell his wife that he had a great day at work