Defense

Mechanism
s
• Repression: the active unconscious
process of keeping out or ejecting
from the consciousness ideas or
impulses that are unacceptable to
the person
• Denial: refusal to perceive or face
reality as it actually exists
• Acting out: the use of actions
versus reflection or true experiencing
of feelings to deal with stress or
conflict
• Rationalization: use of a contrived,
socially acceptable and logical
explanation to justify unpleasant
• Projection: attributing one’s own
unacceptable motives or characteristics to
another person or group
• Displacement: the discharge of pent-up
feelings onto something or someone else
in the environment that is less threatening
than the original source of the feelings
• Reaction formation: prevention of
awareness or expression of unacceptable
desires by adoption of opposite behaviors
in an exaggerated way
• Intellectualization: the overuse of
abstract thinking or generalizations to
control or minimize painful feelings
• Undoing: atonement for or attempt to
dissipate unacceptable acts or wishes
• Compensation: counterbalance for
deficiencies in one area by excelling in
another area
• Identification: incorporation of the
image of an emulated person, then
acting, thinking, and feeling like that
person
• Introjection: treating something outside
the self as if it actually exists inside the
self
• Regression: returning to an earlier level
of adaptation
• Sublimation: modification of an
instinctual but socially unacceptable
impulse into a constructive acceptable
behavior
• Suppression: the conscious inhibition of
an impulse, idea, or affect; the person has
full awareness of the behavior
• Humor: emphasis on ironic or amusing
components of a crisis, conflict, or stressor
• Splitting: compartmentalization of
opposite-affect states and failure to to
integrate positive and negative aspects of
self or others, resulting in polarized
images of self and others as all good or all
bad
• Self-Observation: reflection on one’s
own behavior, thoughts, or feelings,
followed by appropriate response
• Self-assertion: expression of thoughts
and feelings in direct ways that are not
manipulative or intimidating
• Altruism: devotion of self to serving
others as a way to mange conflict and
• Affiliation: turning to others for support
and help when stressed or conflicted,
without attempting to make others
responsible for taking care of the person
• Anticipation: anticipating consequences
of events yet to come thinking of options,
solutions, and alternatives
• Help-Rejecting Complainer: repeated
requests for help, suggestions, or advice
that is then rejected
• Passive Aggression: expression of
aggression toward others in indirect or
nonassertive ways; covert hostility and
resentment masked by over-compliance
• Omnipotence: feeling or acting
superior to others or as if one has
special abilities or powers
• Isolation of Affect: separation of
feelings from thoughts and ideas that
are originally associated with them
• Fantasy: gratification of frustrated
desires, achievements, and
relationships by substituting them
with daydreams and imagery