Defense Mechanism Examples
1. Repression: involves
unconscious denial of the
existence of something that
causes anxiety; threatening
thoughts, feelings and desires
are kept from becoming
unconscious
2. Denial: involves refusal to
admit the existence of an
external threat or traumatic
event.
3. Asceticism: the renunciation
of needs; involves the use of
some kind of ascetic (monk-
like) lifestyle wherein the
person renounces his interest
in what other people enjoy.
4. Isolation: sometimes called
intellectualization; involves
stripping the emotion from a
difficult memory or threatening
impulse; the emotional
response that normally would
accompany a painful incident is
evaded by the use of rational
explanations. Something that
should be a big deal is treated
as if it were not.
5. Reaction Formation: involves
expressing an id impulse that is
the opposite of the one that is
truly driving the person. Person
acts exactly opposite to the
way he/she feels.
6. Undoing: involves “magical”
gestures or rituals that are
meant to cancel out unpleasant
thoughts or feelings after they
have already occurred.
7. Introjection: sometimes called
identification; involves taking
into your own personality,
characteristics of someone
else, because doing so solves
some emotional difficulty.
Jose actually saw how his best friend
got killed in a car accident but in all
interviews, even by the parents of his
best friend, he claimed honesty with
the response of not remembering the
circumstances surrounding the
accident.
The doctor told Rica that her father’s
cancer has spread to other body parts
yet Rica continues to plan a family
reunion 18 months in advance.
The father of rich young man Daniel
died due to intense distress about
how Daniel is simply wasting to
gambling, women and parties their
hard earned wealth. Since then,
Daniel stopped all gambling, relations
with women and going to parties but
also decided to live in a simple hut
with only the basic things in life and
located in the distant area at the edge
of their town.
The pain over a parent’s sudden death
is reduced by saying, “He wouldn’t
have wanted to live disabled.”
An executive resents his boss for
calling a consultant to make
recommendations for change in his
department but he verbalizes
complete support of the idea and is
exceedingly polite and cooperative.
A husband beats his wife who nags
about his frequent flirting with
women in their neighborhood. The
next day, he brings home flowers and
presents for her wife.
A 7-year-old boy tells his little sister,
“Don’t talk to strangers.” He has
introjected this value from the
instructions of parents and teachers
to avoid social disapproval and
punishment.
8. Identification with the
aggressor: a version of
introjection that focuses on the
adoption, not of general or
positive traits, but of negative
or feared traits. If you are
afraid of someone, you can
partially conquer that fear by
becoming more like him.
9. Projection: involves attributing
a disturbing impulse to
someone else.
10. Altruistic Surrender: a form of
projection that at first glance
looks like its opposite. The
person attempts to fulfill his
own needs vicariously, through
other people.
11. Regression: involves
retreating to an earlier, less
frustrating period of life and
displaying the usually childish
behaviors characteristic of that
more secure time.
12. Rationalization: involves
reinterpreting our behavior to
make it more acceptable and
less threatening to us;
justification of behavior involves
faulty logic.
13. Displacement: involves
shifting id impulses from a
threatening object or from one
that is unavailable to an object
that is available.
14. Turning against the self: a
very special form of
displacement where the person
becomes his/her own substitute
target.
15. Sublimation: involves altering
or displacing id impulses by
diverting instinctual energy into
socially acceptable behaviors.
Danica has a dominant and
authoritarian mother who tends to
easily get angry and punishes her each
time she doesn’t comply to her
mother’s instructions. Danica likes
being the leader in school and tends
to easily get angry too when a
groupmate does not contribute to
their task then eventually stops
befriending this groupmate as a way
to punish hime/her.
Cris has a crush on John. Unable to
openly talk about this, Cris usually
defends herself by saying it is John
who has a crush on her each time she
is teased by their friends.
Jessica rarely got help from her
classmates for difficult assignments
even when she directly asked for help.
She now volunteers to tutor
classmates with difficulty in their
English class where she excels.
An adolescent or an adult throws a
temper tantrum when he/she does
not get his/her own way.
A mother, annoyed by the cries of her
toddler, spanks her toddler hard
enough and says it was all right
because the child couldn’t feel it
through the diapers anyway.
A student gets a low score on an
assignment she believes she has
worked hard on. Upon reaching home,
a sibling is surprised that she keeps on
yelling at her.
Each time Tina does not get the
attention of her mother, she goes to
her room and starts pulling off some
of her hair.
A person with excessive, primitive
sexual drives invests psychic energy
into making nude sculptures.