Defense MechanismsEugene CalaoaganUERM Medicine 2011

Mature and immature defenses

Immature Defenses

Acting Out

Expressing an unconscious wish or impulse through action to avoid being conscious of the accompanying effect

Example: 1. An addict gives in to their desire for

alcohol or drugs2. A person who dislikes another

person seeks to cause harm to them

Blocking

Temporarily or transiently inhibiting thingking

Tension arises when the impulse, affect or thought was inhibited

Example: a homosexual male embarrassed about being attracted to other men may block his libidinous thoughts instead of coming to terms with his sexual orientation

Hypochondriasis

Exaggerating or overemphasizing an illness for the purpose of evasion or regression

Sometimes referred as health phobia or health anxiety

Fear of minor symptoms indicates serious illness

Constant self examination and self diagnosis

Introjection

Internalizing the qualities of an object Can be identification with the aggressor

or the victim Example: a mother that is physically

abused by her husband maltreats her child

Simple example , a person who picks traits from their friends (if someone says “pasway” all the time, then their friends start saying it too)

Passive-aggressive Behavior

Expressing agression toward others indirectly through passivity, masochism and turning against the self

Manifest as learned helplessness, procrastination or resentment, stubbornness

Resentment

Regression

Attempting to return to an erlier libidinal phase of functioning

Common in stressed children Example: a child becoming incontinent

after years of toilet trained

Schizoid fantasy

Indulging in autistic retreat to resolved conflict and to obtain gratification

Somatization

Converting psychic derivatives into bodily symtoms and tending to react with somatic manifestations

Example: a patient feels dizzy with stomach pain when she thinks of her husband

Mature Defenses

Altruism

Using constructive and instinctually gratifying service to others to undergo vicarious experience

Example: giving alms to the needy

Ascetism

Eliminating pleasurable effects of experience

Anticipation

Realistically anticipating or planning for future inner discomfort

"Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is."  This famous saying by Wayne   Gretzky, “the greatest player of all time” according to The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League

Strategies: 1. ask the right uestion 2.Recognising patterns 3. Prioritizing 4. mindfulness 5. emphaty

Humor

Using comedy to overtly express feelings and thoughts without personal discomfort or immobilization and without an unpleasant effect to others

Surprise is a type of humor

Sublimation

Achieving impulse gratification and the retention of goals but altering socially objectionable aim or object to a socially acceptable one

- termed coined by Freud - example is a writer sublimates his

desire to a boy by writing inspired prose

Suppression

Consciously or semiconsciously postponing attention to a conscious impulse or conflict

- Deliberately trying to stop thinking about certain thoughts

- Repression is different in that it is unconscious and automatic