WS Defense Mechanisms 2020 PDF

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Defense Mechanisms 1. Altruism Dealing with stress and anxiety by helping out others. - After her much loved son takes a job across the country, a mother volunteers at a local orphanage. 2. Sublimation Dealing with unacceptable feelings or impulses by unconsciously substituting a mature and socially acceptable activity. - A woman who is angry with her boss writes a short story about a heroic woman. - A man is enraged after catching his girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend. He then goes to the shooting range and shoots hundreds of bullets. 3. Suppression Consciously blocking unpleasant thoughts and feelings. - After receiving a text from his girlfriend stating that she wants to breakup, a man silences his phone and continues studying for his final exam tomorrow. 4. Repression Unconsciously blocking unpleasant thoughts and feelings. - An adolescent who was molested a few years ago is unable to recall any details of the event. 5. Regression Demonstrating coping behavior from an earlier developmental level. - A school-age child begins wetting the bed and sucking his thumb after learning that his parents are separating. - An adult male, overwhelmed with stress at work, stays in bed all day in the fetal position. 6. Displacement

Shifting feelings related to an object, person, or situation to another less threatening object, person, or situation. - After being fired at work, a man goes home and yells at his wife for not picking up his dry cleaning. - After getting an F on a test, a boy comes home and kicks his dog. 7. Reaction formation Covering up a stressful feeling by adopting the opposite stance. - Though John strongly dislikes Fred, John greets Fred very warmly and compliments Fred’s haircut. - A man who is gay constantly boasts about sleeping with different women every weekend. 8. Undoing Performing an act to make up for prior behavior. - After physically abusing his wife during an argument, a man brings her home flowers and a necklace. - After yelling at her friends for arriving late to her birthday party, a woman treats all her friends out to dinner. 9. Rationalization Justifying an unreasonable feeling or action by creating an acceptable explanations that satisfies the individual. - A woman states she had to drive home drunk last night because no one had fed the dog. - After being the only one to fail the class, a student states the teacher was unfair and the class was pointless. Dissociation Creating a temporary compartmentalization or lack of connection between the person’s identity, memory, or how they perceive the environment. (Dissociation=Disconnect. Yes, it is basically the same as suppression/repression; you will not be given a question that asks you to differentiate between the two.)

- A parent blocks out the distracting noise of her children in order to focus while driving in traffic. - A woman forgets who she is following a sexual assault. 10. Denial Escaping unpleasant thoughts or feelings by ignoring their existence. - After hearing his son died during a scheduled surgery, a father goes home and tells his family that his son will be home in a few days. - A women whose husband died 3 years ago talks about him in the present tense. 11. Compensation Emphasizing strengths to make up for weaknesses. - A person who is shy, works at computer skills to avoid socialization. 12. Identification Conscious or unconscious assumption of the characteristics of another individual or group. - A girl who has a chronic illness pretends to be a nurse for her dolls. 13. Intellectualization Separation of emotions and logical facts when analyzing or coping with a situation or event. (This is basically the same as suppression. You will not be given a question that asks you to differentiate between the two.) - A law enforcement officer blocks out the emotional aspect of a crime so he can objectively focus on the investigation. 14. Conversion Responding to stress through the unconscious development of physical manifestations not caused by physical illness. - After being verbally abused by his parents for days, a child goes deaf, with no physiological cause.

- After several, intense weeks at work, a man starts having migraines with no sign of physiological distress. 15. Splitting The inability to integrate the positive and negative qualities of others into a cohesive image. Seeing someone as either “all good” or “all bad.” - A patient tells a nurse that she has been so nice and caring towards him. The next day, the nurse isn’t able to bring the patient his meds on time, and the patient states she is the worst nurse in the entire hospital. 16. Projection Attributing unacceptable thoughts, feelings or insecurities onto others. - An unfaithful husband accuses his wife of cheating on him. - A father who feels guilty about always being late to work, yells at his kids every morning to wake up and get to school on time....