A i.e. Repression Defence mechanism Definition Normal example Pathological example Repression - It is (unconscious or conscious) exclusion, expulsion - Forgetting; eg painful - Psychogenic or withholding of an unaccepted anxiety, pain or aspects of memory of amnesia distress provoking sturnuli (idea, impulse, emotion, or memories) from conscious awarenessQ. distressing events such as sexual abuse in - Repression when excessive gives rise - Primary repression is curbing of ideas before they childhood may be kept to neurotic have attained consciousness. Secondary repression out of awareness for sufferingQ, & is excludes from conscious awareness. The repressed many years. treated by analytic is not really forgotten & symbolic behaviour may be present. - It differs from suppression in extent of effecting conscious inhibition of painful impulses to the point of almost losing & not just postponing cherished goals. - Slips of tongue psychotherapy by finding more mature solutions to intrapsychic struggle. So conscious perception of discomfo, feelings & instincts is blocked in repression. Failure of repression results in anxiety. Suppression - Consciously or semiconsciously postponement of Voluantry decision of not (voluantry) focusing of attention on an impulse or conflict, which has reached conscious awareness. thinking about an argument while going for an exam. - Issues may be deliberately cutoff, but they are not avoided. So discomfo is acknowledge but minimized. Denial - Involuantry exclusion of unpleasant or painful - Grief - Psychoses reality from conscious awarenessQ by negating sensory data. Patient behaves as if unaware of - Children (3-6 years) - On knowing about - Terminal illness eg, after MI, on 2^d day something that lie may reasonably be expected to know. - Although repression defends against affects, denial terminal stage of cancer, patient may continue to patient is doing pushups & states abolishes external reality. live normally as if unaware. that there is nothing wrong with him. Projection - It is unconscious attribution (projection) of one's own Universal phenomenon Persecutory delusions altitudes (thoughts, feelings or urges) to another person because of intolerance or painful affect aroused by those; thereby rendering one's own thoughts or feelings more acceptable. So it is perceiving & reacting to unacceptable inner impulses & their derivatives as though they were outside the self. more common in children. and hallucinations. - A person who dislikes a colleague may attribute a reciprocal feeling of dislike to him; it is then easier to justify his own feelings of dislike for the colleague. Rationalization - Unconscious provision (offering) of false but logical (rational) & acceptable explanation in an attempt to justify attitudes, beliefs or behaviour that may otherwise be unacceptableQ. Underlying motives are instinctually determined Universal phenomenon. To explain behaviours resulting from other defence mechanisms. - Example, a husband leaving his wife at home (because he does not enjoy her company) falsely reassures himself that she is shy & would not enjoy going out. Distoion - Unconscious gross re-shaping of external reality to suit - Hallucinations & satisfy inner needs. - Wishful filling delusions & sustained feelings of delusional superiority (grandiosity) or excitement - Unrealistic megalomanic beliefs Passive * aggressive behaviour - Expressing anger or aggression towards other indirectly through passivity, (passive resistance), masochism, turning against self, and negativistic attitudes towards who place demands. These - ? demands are resented & opposed indirectly, through procrastination (delaying), stubbornness, intentional inefficiencyQ, failure and illness that affect others more than onself. Regression - Adopting of behaviour (psychological functioning) appropriate to an earlier stage of development to avoid - Essential for sleep, relaxation, orgasm in - Neurosis (mild)(2 - Psychosis (more the tension & conflict evoked at the present level of sexual intercourse, & pervasive regression) development. creative process - Dream - Mature adult indulging in childish playful activities. - Severe prolonged physical illness (1/t regression of dependence on others) Displacement - It is unconscious shifting (transfer) of emotions from Deflection of anger on a - PhobiaQ (especially one idea, object, person or situation with which it is properly associated, to another (less threatening) that resembles the original in some aspect or quality, and is less highly cathected or evokes less distress. For example, after recent death of his wife, a man blaming doctor for failure to give adequate care, and thus avoiding blaming himself for putting his work before her needs in last months of her life. substitute target in children) - OCDQ Inhibition Consciously (Kaplan) / Involuantry (Ahuja) limiting - Social shyness - OCDQ or renouncing (loss of) motivation to engage in some goal directed ego activity to prevent (evade) anxiety arising out of conflicts with unacceptable impulses - Writing or work blocks - PhobiaQ (eg. super ego) Undoing Unconsciously motivated acts which magically - Checking locks or gas - Compulsive acts in (symbolically) counteract unacceptable thoughts, behaviours, acts or impulses knobs to ensure safety - Automatically saying 'I am sorry' on bumping into some one. OCDQ - Compulsive rituals Reaction Unconscious transformation of unacceptable impulse Children > 3 years - Obscessive formation into exactly opposite. So adoptation of behaviour opposite to the behaviour that would reflect true feelings & intentions. compulsive personality trait - OCDQ Sublimation Unconscious channelization of unacceptable impulses into socially valuable & personally satisfying patterns - Channelization of sexual or aggressive impulses into creative activities ex aistic paintings - Turning the need to dominate others into organization of good works for charity Identification Unconscious adoption of characteristics or activities of another person into his or her ego system often to reduce the pain of separation or loss. Example a window may undeake same voluantry work that her husband used to do. - Pathological grief - Conversion disorder