Name: Rosevick Balaba Badoco Year and Course: BSN-3

Task #3: Defense Mechanism and Crisis Intervention

DEFENSE MECHANISMS WORKSHEET:

Defense Mechanism Definition Give your example

Defense mechanism in which a The husband insists that they
person may deny directly having any don’t have a problem
Denial
problems or may minimize the extent although it interferes with
of problems or actual substance use. work and family life.
After a divorce, a man
Defense mechanism in which people convinces himself that his ex-
justify difficult or unacceptable feelings wife wasn’t up to his
Rationalization
with seemingly logical reasons and standards or that the split is a
explanations. blessing in disguise so he
can travel more.
While her mother is gone, a
When one person accepts another's
young girl disciplines her
Introjection expectation or projection and makes it
brother just like her mother
part of t own self-image.
would.
Defense mechanism in which people
A man who feels insecure
express the opposite of their true
Reaction formation about his masculinity might
feelings, sometimes to an
act overly aggressive.
exaggerated extent.
The manager screams at an
Defense mechanism in which a
employee, and the employee
person redirects an emotional reaction
Displacement doesn't scream back but he
from the rightful recipient onto another
yells at his spouse later that
person or object.
night.
Someone who finds
Refers to placing your own negative themselves attracted to
Projection traits or unwanted emotions onto someone who isn’t their
others, usually without reason. partner accuses their partner
of being a flirt.
A defense mechanism where a person
A boy biting his nails because
Regression deals with stress by behaving in an
he’s stressed from school.
immature or age-inappropriate way.
Intellectualization Defense mechanism in which people A physician who’s diagnosed
 with cancer focuses on the
reason about a problem to avoid
pathophysiology of the
uncomfortable or distressing
disease rather than her
emotions.
feelings.
Occurs when a thought, memory, or An adult suffers a nasty
feeling is too painful for an individual, spider bite as a child and
so the person unconsciously pushes develops an intense phobia
Repression
the information out of consciousness of spiders later in life without
and becomes unaware of its any recollection of the
existence. experience as a child.
A defense mechanism that involves
A teenager who has angry
channeling unwanted or unacceptable
Sublimation and violent urges may join his
urges into an admissible or productive
school’s wrestling team.
outlet.
Consciously choosing to block ideas Singing when frustrated
Suppression
or impulses that are undesirable. before taking action.

Try to identify the following scenarios with the appropriate defense mechanism being demonstrated.

DISPLACEMENT 1. After a very stressful day at work, Sarina arrives home and immediately begins
yelling at her two children for not cleaning their rooms.

REACTION FORMATION 2. After Doloris rejected him, Philip told his friends that he didn't think she
was very attractive or interesting and that he really wasn't all that crazy about her.

DENIAL 3. Sixteen-year-old Theodore had started using drugs, and the changes in his behavior made it
pretty obvious, but his parents didn't believe the school principal when she called to talk with them about
the problem.

PROJECTION 4. Frank feels that his younger son, Ralph, is unattractive and not very smart. Frank
accuses his wife of picking on Ralph and favoring their other son.

DENIAL 5. A smoker concludes that the evidence linking cigarette use to health problems is
scientifically worthless.

DISPLACEMENT 6. After a parental scolding, a young girl takes her anger out on her little brother.

REGRESSION 7. An adult has a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.

SUBLIMATION 8. George’s new supervisor is very difficult to work for. Recently George has begun
stopping off at the gym after work.

DISPLACEMENT 9. Even a top baseball player will sometimes strike out on an easy pitch. When this
happens, his next action may be to throw his bat or kick the water cooler with all his might.

TECHNIQUES OF CRISIS INTERVENTION:

1. Catharsis: The process of expressing strong feelings by talking. The patient should be allowed to
bring out his/her feeling and emotions.
2. Clarification: Encouraging the patient to express more clearly the relationships between certain
events.

3. Manipulation: using the patient’s emotions, wishes, or values to benefit the patient in the
therapeutic process.

4. Reinforcement of behavior: Giving the patient a positive response to adaptive behavior.

5. Support of defenses: encouraging the use of healthy, adaptive defenses, and discouraging those
that are unhealthy or maladaptive.

6. Increasing self-esteem: helping the patient to regain feelings of self-worth.

7. Exploration of solution: Examining alternative ways of solving the immediate problems ABC
model of crisis intervention: A: Developing strong rapport; close and harmonious relationship to
understand each other`s feelings, B: Identifying the nature of the crisis and finding an alternate
solution, and C: Developing new coping methods.