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Defense Mechanisms
Defense Mechanism...
Repression
Most common defense mechanism. The involuntary pushing of unpleasant feelings out of conscious thought.
DefinitionExample
A person experiences physical symptoms of illness and wonders if he/she has an illness; refuses to go to a doctor for fear of hearing an undesirable diagnosis.
Defense Mechanism...
SuppressionDefinition
Conscious, intentional pushing of unpleasant feelings out of conscious thought.
Example
Not telling spouse about diagnosis of illness.
Defense Mechanism...
ProjectionDefinition
A person unconsciously attributes his/her unacceptable feelings to others.
Example
An aide dislikes a particular patient. This is unacceptable to her so she says that the patient does not like her.
Defense Mechanism...
DenialDefinition
Unconscious lack of acknowledgment of something that is obvious to others.
Example
A patient diagnosed with late stage cancer tells friends and family that she's having a hard time getting over the flu this season.
Defense Mechanism...
RegressionDefinition
Reverting to childish or childlike behaviors to recapture a time when there weren't so many responsibilities.
Example
A patient makes childish demands and becomes dependent upon the nurse for care that she could do for herself.
Defense Mechanism...
RationalizationDefinition
Making excuses to explain a situation or behavior, instead of taking responsibility for it.
Example
A student drops out of school because the teachers are boring.
Defense Mechanism...
CompensationDefinition
Excelling in one area to make up for feelings of failure in another.
Example
A student devotes an extraordinary amount of time to playing a sport to avoid doing homework for a class he is failing.
Can you think of a time when you have used one or
more of these defense mechanisms?