defense mechanisms alfabet

defenses may hide any of a variety of thoughts or feelings: anger, fear, sadness, depression, greed, envy, competitiveness, love, passion, admiration, criticalness, dependency, selfishness, grandiosity, helplessness.

acting-out. dealing with emotional stressors by actions rather then reflexions or feelings. when a person acts without thinking or regard for the consequences. you use physical actions instead of dealing with challenges directly by reflecting on and speaking about your feelings. for example, a man has an extramarital affair because he cannot verbalize his feelings of frustration or helplessness within the marriage. for example, a person facing a small problem responds quickly with intense passion when the situation would not have required it.
affiliation. you seek out others for emotional support or physical help.
aggression. identified in assault and destruction. direct aggression targets the source of threat. indirect aggression shades into displacement mechanism.
aim inhibition. note that the first example could include the mechanism of displacement, and the second, rationalization. up to a point, mutual idealization can make for a happy relationship; however, unrealistic expectations of another person based upon this mechanism can lead to serious disappointment. aim inhibition, like the other mechanisms, is neither healthful nor pathological, desirable nor undesirable, in itself. it may be better to have half a loaf than no bread, but an unnecessary aim inhibition may rob one of otherwise attainable satisfactions. placing a limitation upon instinctual demands; accepting partial or modified fulfillment of desires. example: (1) a person is conscious of sexual desire but if finding it frustrating, "decides" that all that is really wanted in the relationship is companionship. (2) a student who originally wanted to be a physician decides to become a physician's assistant.
aggressive humor. some persons, however, use humor to hide aggressive impulses. it might seem that they are always good-natured and happy, but if you listen closely you can hear them ending every sentence with a “ha-ha-ha” sort of giggle. this in effect tells the listener, “i’m really frightened of conflict, so please don’t take seriously anything i say, lest you be offended by it and want to challenge me.”
altruism. dealing with emotional stressors by dedication to meeting the need of others. you do good and kind things for others, rather than worry about your own immediate satisfaction or fears. for example, a person putting away her own problems starts to volunteer.
amnesia. the memory is hidden by repressive mechanisms. motives anxiety or guilt.
anti-activities.
anticipation. you think ahead to events that might occur in the future and consider realistic responses or solutions.
apathetic withdrawal. you simply withdraw from interaction with the world rather than deal with its assaults and challenges.
avoidance. suppression, done in moderation, and in the proper circumstances, can be healthy and protective. but in excess it becomes avoidance, one of the characteristic qualities of post-traumatic stress disorder.
autistic fantasy. when a person becomes preoccupied with day-dreaming, instead of pursuing relationships. you withdraw into excessive daydreaming rather than take effective action.

child-neglect
compensation. faced with feelings of inadequacy or incompetence the subject seeks to excell in some other arena.
compulsive movements. blepharospasms, blinking, gestures, hair picking, mannerisms, nail-biting, rituals and tics
concentration. mechanism selective awareness (opposite to denial)conflict
deflection. also detected when the individual is in group therapy and consists of redirecting attention to another group member.
denial. when a person denies the reality of the situation. you completely reject the thought or feeling. you refuse to acknowledge what is readily apparent to others. when you’re in denial, the truth is your enemy and your accuser. denial is the first form of self-deception. denial of impulses, memories or actions. elizabeth kübler-ross identifies denial as a normal stage in the process of coping with loss in a mental healthy person (through denial to acceptance).
depression.
devaluation. when a person thinks unrealistically more lowly of himself or others. you tell yourself that something desirable but immediately unattainable is somehow defective. for example, the fox in aesop’s fable tells himself that the grapes out of his reach are probably sour. hence the expression “sour grapes.”
disguise. the second form of self-deception. positive motives + to maintain or to enhance self-esteem. negative motives - escape or defend against anxiety.
displacement. when a person redirects his feelings on to someone else. you redirect your feelings to an other safer target. you transfer your feelings about one object to another, less threatening object. for example, the boss yells at husband, the husband at the wife, the wife at the kid, who kicks the dog. a form of indirect aggression for example scapegoating and prejudice against minority groups. sublimation of the impulse diversion is a method of coping.
dissociation. you separate yourself from reality by a breakdown of normal conscious functions of memory or identity. for example, in a car crash you don’t feel like you’re experiencing it yourself, or you don’t feel like you’re experiencing it in your body, or you develop amnesia about the final moments of the crash. may lead to compulsive movements as blepharospasm, blinking, gestures, hair-picking, mannerisms, rituals and tics or to excessive theorizing or intellectualization as a substitute for action.
dissociative amnesia. selective elements of an event are “forgotten”.
empathy. mechanism sensitivity (opposite to projection)
fantasy. escape into a dream world is an immature response but may-be a safe strategy for coping in the form of a role-play.
frustration.
fixation: the cessation of the process of development of the personality at a stage short of complete and uniform mature independence is known as fixation.
help-rejecting complaining. you make a show of asking for help, yet because of hidden feelings of hostility you reject all help or advice that is offered. for example, a woman suffering from bereavement begins to lose weight. a neighbour brings some yogurt, and the woman complains that she only eats goat’s milk yogurt. a physician prescribes medication, and the woman stops taking it because she doesn’t like the way it makes her feel. a psychologist offers psychotherapy and she complains that the office is too far away. and so on.
humor. you notice the amusing or ironic aspects of something. some persons, however, use humor to hide aggressive impulses. it might seem that they are always good-natured and happy, but if you listen closely you can hear them ending every sentence with a “ha-ha-ha” sort of giggle. this in effect tells the listener, “i’m really frightened of conflict, so please don’t take seriously anything i say, lest you be offended by it and want to challenge me”. humor is pathological to the degree that it substitutes for authentic emotional experience.
idealization. when a person thinks unrealistically more highly of himself or others. you attribute exaggerated positive qualities to an other.
identification. as a normal childhood developmental process of taking in of experience symbolically in order to identify with other persons (especially parents), this is often called introjection. but identification can also have a defensive function, as in . the subject seeks to negate a personal weakness by associating with and/or emulating a perceived power figure.
identification with the aggressor. as a defensive function.
incorporation. the assimilation of the object into one's own ego and/or superego. this is one of the earliest mechanisms utilized. The parent becomes almost literally a part of the child. parental values, preferences, and attitudes are acquired.
indirect aggression. shades into the displacement mechanism.
intellectualization. when a person uses excessive abstract thinking to avoid his feelings. you focus on abstract logic or philosophy and minimize feelings about an event, avoiding unacceptable emotions. for example, after an earthquake damages your home, you talk to others primarily about the structural engineering factors of the damage. a type of rationalization, only more intellectualized and close to repression (of feelings).
introjection. as a normal childhood developmental process of taking in of experience symbolically in order to identify with other persons (especially parents)
isolation. when a person is unable to experience the thought and feeling together of an experience. his feelings remain hidden.
isolation of affect. You remain aware of the descriptive details of an event but lose connection with the feelings about the event itself. you “think” the feeling but don’t really feel it.
logical analysis. mechanism means-end symbolization (opposite to rationalisation).
mannerisms.

murder.
neglect.
objectivity. mechanism discrimination (opposite to dissociation).
omnipotence. You feel or act as if you possessed special powers or abilities superior to others. for example, a child left alone in the house every day after school by working parents fantasizes that he is a comic book superhero.
over-compensation. to compensate for inadequacy and incompetence, doe better in some way.
over-identification. the subject fails to differentiate positive and negative aspects of the role-model’s character, even in the most positive role-model in that it substitutes for real personal growth.
over-indulgence.
over-protection.
passive aggression. when a person indirectly expresses aggression toward others. you present a façade of compliance, yet, because of hidden resentment, something always happens - you get sick, the bus is late, your car breaks down, etc. - so that you ultimately obstruct, rather than complete, the task. “wait a minute,” you say. “it’s not my fault that the bus was late.” well, that may be true in some circumstances, but we’re talking here about things - one thing or another - that happen over and over again to frustrate the plans of someone else. It could be very possible that you “knew” unconsciously just how much of a delay it would take to miss that bus, and you “knew” that you could be late. thus, rather than catching the bus before the bus that will get you there on time, so as to guarantee not being late, you ignore the warning signs, “knowing” what will happen. it may sound weird, but as is often said, “life is stranger than fiction”.
playfulness. mechanism time recersal (opposite to regression).post-traumatic stress disorder. suppression in excess or avoidance is one of the characteristics of this disorder.
prejudice. form of displacement of indirect aggression against minority groups.
primitivation. falling back on earlier primitive stages of development.
projection. when a person falsely attributes his own feelings, thoughts, or impulses to others. you falsely attribute to others your own unacceptable feelings or undesirable qualities. for example, a woman complains that a friend is insulting her because he hates women, when actually she harbours a secret hatred for men because she was sexually abused as a child. projection is a form of rationalization, that uses the other as a scapegoat. often used by adults with low self esteem become very critical at others, who have the same problems, they unconsciously perceive.
projective identification. as in projection, you falsely attribute to others your own unacceptable feelings, but here you remain aware of the feelings yet believe they are justifiable reactions to another person. for example, you feel angry that you have been assigned to work on a project, but instead of recognizing your resentment, you start to feel angry with a co-worker, believing that she lacks commitment to the project. this sort of behaviour can lead to what is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. for example, an insecure and jealous person who is intensely afraid of abandonment can so often impute feelings of infidelity into others that they eventually get sick of such suspicion and criticism and end up actually abandoning him or her.
rationalization. when a person gives an incorrect explanation for his behaviour to justify what he did. you come up with various explanations to justify the situation (while denying your feelings). you conceal your true motives by making incorrect, self-serving explanations. for example, a parent beats a child, saying that it is not abuse because “that’s how my father disciplined me”. liking or disliking as an excuse, blaming circumstances and other people, necessity as an excuse.
reaction formation. when a person does the opposite of his own unacceptable thoughts, feelings or actions. you turn the feeling, thought or behaviour into its opposite. your behaviours, thoughts, or feelings are complete opposite of your actual (unconscious) desires. closely related to projection. for example, you dislike your job and yet you tell everyone how wonderful it is. leads to overprotection, overindulgence and anti-activities.
redundancy.
regression. returning to a previous stage of development. two forms retrogression (already experienced earlier) and primitivation (immature behaviour). only slightly removed from withdrawal.
repression. when a person unconsciously hides his uncomfortable feelings, thoughts or experience so they are not remembered. pulling into the unconscious. this is probably the most used defense mechanism and the basis for all others. you lose all conscious memory of an event, total amnesia in contrast to dissociative amnesia in which selective elements of an event are “forgotten.” also, in repression you may retain certain emotional components of the event even though you have no memory of the event. for example, a woman who as a child was sexually abused by her father may feel anxious and uneasy whenever finding herself alone in a room with an older man, even though she cannot remember the childhood abuse itself. (note, however, that this emotional component in itself does not prove that abuse once happened, because the woman’s anxiety could have other, unconscious causes). amnesia repression vs suppression. indirect expression and symbolism. repression is closely related to denial.
resentment. feelings of revenge or vengeance. often unconscious.
resistance: this defense mechanism produces a deep-seated opposition to the bringing of repressed (unconscious) data to awareness. through its operation, the individual seeks to avoid memories or insights which would arouse anxiety.
restitution. the mechanism of relieving the mind of a load of guilt by making up or reparation (paying up with interest).
retrogression. falling back on a stage earlier experienced.
scape-goating. form of displacement of indirect aggression against minority groups.
self-assertion. you act toward others in a way that is emotionally genuine and honest and that is not coercive or manipulative.
self-deception. two chief forms of defense mechanisms: denial and disguise
self-fulfilling prophecy. in excess projective Identification.
self-observation. you reflect upon and consider your emotions and thoughts, so as to act responsibly.
splitting. you see everything as either all good or all bad, sometimes alternating between the two in regard to one person.
somatization. when a person becomes overly preoccupied with his health.
sublimation. originally restricted to the process of redirecting libido energy to other creative efforts. you direct socially harmful impulses into socially acceptable forms of behaviour or you redirect the feeling into a socially productive activity.
substitution. compensation and overcompensation. sublimation.
suicide. aggression against self.
suppression. mechanisme impulse restraint (opposite to repression). when a person consciously tries to hide his uncomfortable feelings, thoughts or experiences. pushing into the unconscious. you are vaguely aware of the thought or feeling, but try to hide it. you avoid thinking about disturbing experiences or feelings. done in moderation, and in the proper circumstances, this can be healthy and protective. but in excess it becomes avoidance, one of the characteristic qualities of post-traumatic stress disorder.
symbolization. turning unwanted thoughts into metaphoric symbols.
tics. a spasm-like contraction of motor muscles.
total amnesia. form of ultimate repression. motives anxiety or guilt.
transference. a displacement of esteem away from appropriate objects, to the analyst, and eventually to the patient’s self.
trivializing. making small what is really something big.
undoing. when a person’s action are meant to symbolically atone for his bad thoughts, feelings or actions. attempting to reverse the effects of a negative act or feeling of guilt, by compensating with a good act. you use symbolic means to negate or make amends for unacceptable thoughts or feelings. for example, you repetitively wash your hands as an unconscious gesture of “washing away” the guilt of feeling angry at someone you depend upon. you try to reverse or undo your feeling by doing the opposite. it may be an apology for the real feeling you find unacceptable within yourself. the aa program: making amands = amands-making. the reverse of undoing = righting wrongs is clearly identifiable as an offense mechanisme: vengeance = wronging wrongs.
vengeance = wronging wrongs
withdrawal. beyond regression lies this most extreme of defence mechanisms. depression sufferers are particular prone to withdrawal, almost a hallmark of the disorder. "burning bridges” right up to suicide.