Defense Mechanisms PDF

Defense Mechanisms Prepared by:………………… Updated by: Assist prof.: Nesrine Adel 10/21/2024 1 Pre-post test 1- Mr. A. was neglected by his father but experiences resentful feelings towards his therapist later in life. This beh...

Defense Mechanisms Prepared by:………………… Updated by: Assist prof.: Nesrine Adel 10/21/2024 1 Pre-post test 1- Mr. A. was neglected by his father but experiences resentful feelings towards his therapist later in life. This behavior might be associated with which defense mechanism? a. Sublimation b.Displacement c.Splitting d.Dissociation 2- The defense mechanism of 'regression' involves what behavior? a. Acting as you would have at a younger age. b. Acting as you did before an event, pretending that nothing has happened. c. Behaving as a historical figure might have. d. Laugh at oneself 3- A 6-year-old child, moves with his parents to a new neighborhood., he again wets the bed for several nights. a. Repression b.Projection c.Regression d.Displacement Put T for true statement and F for false statement: 1. All defense mechanisms are unhealthy and leads to mental disorders ( ) 2. Intellectualization used when dealing with stress through searching a scientific approaches (. ) 10/21/2024 2 Objectives At the end of this lecture the student will be able to: - Identify ego defense mechanisms. - Discuss functions of defense mechanisms. - List the different types of defense mechanism with relate examples  Introduction When people experience difficulties, they have different ways of handling their pain. These different ways of dealing with pain are called defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms originally conceived by Sigmund Freud, much of the development of defense mechanisms was done by his daughter, Anne Freud. Defense mechanisms can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the circumstances, and how much the person uses them 10/21/2024 4  Definition of defense mechanism: A mental maneuver that one consciously or unconsciously chooses to use to distort or falsify the truth of one’s experience in order to protect oneself from feeling painful emotions like shame, guilt, or anxiety. 10/21/2024 5  Functions of defense mechanisms ❖ Resolve a mental conflict ❖ Reduce stress or fears ❖ Protect one’s self esteem ❖ Protect one’s sense of security 10/21/2024 6  Suppression Voluntary putting an unacceptable thoughts or feelings out of one’s mind with the ability to real the thought or feelings at will. A deliberate intentional exclusion from the conscious mind is referred to as voluntary forgetting. Example: I’m taking a vacation my problem will still be here when I get back ‫سأقضي إجازتي ستظل مشكلتي هنا عندما أعود‬ 10/21/2024 7  Repression The person is unable to recall painful or unpleasant thoughts or feelings because they are automatically and involuntary pushed into one’s unconsciousness. Example: Examples could be a simple reprimand or as serious as a rape. 10/21/2024 8 10/21/2024 9 Rationalization ✓ Rationalization is used unconsciously to justify ideas, actions, or feelings with good, acceptable reasons or explanation ✓ Generally it used to maintain self-respect, prevent guilt feelings, obtain social approval or acceptance ✓ Examples: Student states he didn’t make the golf team because he was sick. ✓ I could have won the race ‫ سباق‬but the track was wet. 10/21/2024 10 Compensation The act of making up for a real or imagined inability or deficiency with a specific behavior to maintain self-respect or self-esteem. The person overcomes an inability by becoming proficient in another area. -This may occur in conscious or unconscious level Example: a youth with residual muscle damage from poliomyelitis becomes an athlete 10/21/2024 11  Reaction formation Overcompensation. The person exaggerates or overdevelops certain actions by displaying exactly the opposite behavior, attitude, or feeling from what he or she normally would show in a given situation. Example: A man who dislike his mother in law may act very politely toward her 10/21/2024 12 10/21/2024 13 Displacement A mechanism that serve to transfer feelings such as frustration, hostility, or anxiety from one idea, person, or object to another. Example: slamming a door instead of hitting a person, yelling at your spouse after an argument with your boss 10/21/2024 14  Undoing / Restitution Negation of a previous consciously intolerable action or experiences to reduce or alleviate feelings of guilt Example: A mother who punish her son for broking a glass, decide to let him stay up an hour later to watch television 10/21/2024 15  Projection - The person reject unwanted characteristics of self and assign them to others. - The person may blame the others for faults, feelings, or shortcoming that are unacceptable to them. - The person attributes one’s own perceived negative attributes into someone else. - Example: when losing an argument, you state "You're just Stupid" 10/21/2024 16  Sublimation: Redirecting bad or unacceptable behavior/emotions into positive behavior. We sublimate the desire to fight into the ritualistic activities of formal competition. Example: sublimating your aggressive impulses toward a career as a boxer; becoming a surgeon because of your desire to cut; lifting weights to release 'pent up' energy"‫رفع األثقال إلطالق الطاقة "المكبوتة‬ 10/21/2024 17 10/21/2024 18  Regression: Using childlike ways for expressing emotions. Returning to a previous stage of development Example: sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad news; throwing a temper tantrum when you don't get your way 10/21/2024 19 10/21/2024 20  Splitting Both harmful and helpful impulses are split off and un-integrated, frequently projected into someone else, the individual ‫يعزل‬ segregates the experience into all good and all bad category, with no room for ambiguity and ambivalence. The inability to see gray areas. A person who uses splitting sees things as all good or all bad. This often is seen in borderline personality disorder 10/21/2024 21  Example A woman enters a new relationship and believes her partner to be “perfect.” When the partner does something wrong, the same woman immediately believes the partner to be horrible. She is unable to see that sometimes good people make mistakes. 10/21/2024 22  Acting out Direct expression of an unconscious wishes or impulses in action, without conscious awareness of the emotion that drives that expressive behavior 10/21/2024 23  Fantasy: Tendency to retreat into fantasy in order to resolve inner and outer conflict. Is a sort of imagination which can provide an escape from frustration by giving us imaginary satisfaction. Fantasy is a mechanism of wishful thinking & important for creative thinking 10/21/2024 24  Passive aggressive behavior Aggression towards others expressed indirectly or passively, often through procrastination.. Indirectly “getting back” at someone. Often, this is seen in humorous sarcasm that has an element of cruelty and in procrastination and tardiness. Example: An administration assistant gets back at her boss for yelling at her by being late to work each day for a week 10/21/2024 25  Altruism Constructive serve of to others that brings pleasure and personal satisfaction. Through helping others, one feels better about oneself A member of a self-help group improves her self esteem by helping other members deal with their problems. 10/21/2024 26 Intellectualization Focusing on facts, figures, statistics, and scientific, rational data rather than experiencing unpleasant emotions or feelings. Example: A patient diagnosed with terminal cancer answers the question, “How are you feeling?” by describing what she has had to eat, the amount of weight she has lost, and how many injections of medication she has had 10/21/2024 27  Conversion: The expression of an intrapsychic conflict as a physical symptoms Transfer the energy of a desire you can’t express into a physical complaint or symptom (headache, stomach aches). “I think I have flu… I can’t take my test today.” 10/21/2024 28  Denial : Failure to accept reality. Unconsciously refusing to accept what has happened that is too difficult to bear “This is not happening. It can’t happen to me.” Example: A father witnesses his child being killed in a car accident, but repeatedly says, “That wasn’t my son. No, no, it couldn’t have been my son. He was at soccer practice.” ‫ممارسة كرة‬ ‫القدم‬ 10/21/2024 29  Symbolization An object or act represents a complex group of objects and acts, some of which may be conflicting. Example: a boy asks for a girl's hand (in marriage). 10/21/2024 30 Pre-post test 1- Mr. A. was neglected by his father but experiences resentful feelings towards his therapist later in life. This behavior might be associated with which defense mechanism? a. Sublimation b.Displacement c.Splitting d.Dissociation 2- The defense mechanism of 'regression' involves what behavior? a. Acting as you would have at a younger age. b. Acting as you did before an event, pretending that nothing has happened. c. Behaving as a historical figure might have. d. Laugh at oneself 3- A 6-year-old child, moves with his parents to a new neighborhood., he again wets the bed for several nights. a. Repression b.Projection c.Regression d.Displacement Put T for true statement and F for false statement: 1. All defense mechanisms are unhealthy and leads to mental disorders ( ) 2. Intellectualization used when dealing with stress through searching a scientific approaches (. ) 10/21/2024 31  Thank You 10/21/2024 32