presentation on defense mechanism with examples

1. Ms. DEEPALIGUPTA
FACULTY
JAMIAHAMDARD

2. Sigmund Freud and his daughter, Anna Freud, outlined
most of the defense mechanisms we recognize today.
Defense mechanisms are automatic coping styles that
protect people from anxiety and maintain self-image by
blocking feelings, conflicts, and memories.
Although they operate all the time, defense
mechanisms are not always apparent to the individual
using them

4.  Mechanisms that mediate the individual’s
reaction to emotional conflicts and to
external stressors.
 Some defense mechanisms (e.g., projection,
splitting, acting out) are almost invariably
maladaptive. Others (e.g., suppression,
denial) may be either maladaptive or
adaptive, depending on their severity, their
inflexibility, and the context in which they
occur.
APA

5.  Defense mechanisms (or coping styles) are
automatic psychological processes that
protect the individual against anxiety and
from the awareness of internal or external
dangers or stressors.
 Individuals are often unaware of these
processes as they operate. Defense
mechanisms mediate the individual’s
reaction to emotional conflicts and to
internal and external stressors.
APA

6.  Defense mechanisms may result in healthy or
unhealthy consequences depending on the
circumstances and frequency with which the
mechanism is used.
 In psychoanalytic theory, defense
mechanisms are psychological strategies
brought into play by the unconscious mind to
manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order
to defend against feelings of anxiety and
unacceptable impulses and to maintain one's
self-schema.

7.  Self security protection
 Anxiety ( or fear ) Reduction
 Mental conflict Resolution
 Esteem ( self) protection

8.  These defense mechanisms are classified
according to its results
 Positive defense mechanism
 Negative defense mechanism

9. 1.Compensation
2. Substitution
3. Sublimation
4. Rationalization
5. Repression
6. Undoing
7. Identification
8. Transference
9. Intellectualization
10. Introjection

10. 1. Suppression
2. Displacement
3. Projection
4. Regression
5. Fixation
6. Fantasy
7. Reaction formation
8. Conversion
9. Dissociation
10. Denial

11.  Compensation is a pattern by which tension
or anxiety relieved by an individual make up
for personal weakness.
 EXAMPLE:- A student who fails in his studies
may compensate by becoming the college
champion in athletics.
 A girl, who cannot compete with her more
beautiful sisters, may compensate by
studying hard and come 1st in her class.

12.  It is a mechanism by which tension or anxiety
reduced by replacing the unachievable goal
with achievable goal.
EXAMPLE: A student who has not been able to
get admission to the MBBS course may try to
substitute it with a course of physiotherapy or
nursing.
A person aspire to become a national level
cricket player and not selected. He may
substitue this goal by being a coach at college
level.

13.  It is a mechanism that causes channelization of
socially unacceptable desires into acceptable
form. In this mechanism primitive impulses are
transferred or directed to a socially useful goal.
 EXAMPLE:- A teenage boy with strong
competitive and aggressive feelings becomes a
football player.
 A young man who has lost his lover may turn to
write poetry about love.
 A person who has aggressive feeling and cannot
express in society can become a soldier or boxer.

14.  It is a defence mechanism in which an individual
justifies his failures and socially unacceptable
feelings and behaviors by making excuses or
formulate logical reasons
 EXAMPLE: A husband does not enjoy the
company of wife outside the the home and
usually leave his wife at home. He gives logic
that his wife is social shy.
 A girl fails to get admission for the nursing
course may point out a number of difficulties of
nursing profession.
 A person without a vehicle says that he does not
want to risk his life by driving.

15.  Repression is a process of unconscious
forgetfulness of our unpleasant experiences.
Repression is the involuntary blocking of
unpleasant feelings and experiences from
one’s awareness.
 For example, in the oedipus complex,
aggressive thoughts about the same sex
parents are repressed and pushed down into
the unconscious.

16.  Undoing is the act symbolically cancelling or
reversing out a previous act which is
unacceptable.
 EXAMPLE: A daughter shout at her father as
there is no petrol in the car and is getting
late for office, brings a favorite film for her
father to watch. This is an example of
undoing her behavior of shouting and then
bringing a film

17.  Through this process, an individual attempts
to increase self worth by acquiring certain
attributes and characteristics of an another
individual one admires. It plays a large part
in the development of personality. In this
individual feels personal satisfaction in the
success and achievement of other group or
person.
 EXAMPLE:- The young son of a famous civil
rights worker adopts his father’s attitudes
and behavior with the intent of pursuing
similar aspirations.

18.  In transference, the image of one person is
unconsciously identified with that of another.
 EXAMPLE:- A patient who is fond of his
daughter finds the nurse of the same age and
height as his daughter. So he transfer his
positive emotions to the nurse as his
daughter. It is also possible that if he dislikes
his daughter he transfers his negative
emotions to the nurse by being rude,
abusive, or aggressive without any cause.

19.  Intellectualization is an attempt to avoid
expressing actual emotions associated with a
stressful situation by using the intellectual
processes of logic, reasoning and analysis.
 EXAMPLE:- a young professor receives a
letter from his fiancée breaking off their
engagement. He shows no emotion when
discussing this with his best friend. Instead
he analyzes his fiancée's behavior and tries
to reason why the relationship failed

20.  In introjection the values and characteristics of
significant persons are incorporated in one’s
personality.
 Introjections involve attitudes, behaviors, emotions,
and perceptions that are usually obtained from
influential or authoritative people in one’s life.
They are neither digested nor analyzed; they are
simply adopted as a part of one’s personality as
concepts that one considers should be believed or
behaviors that one thinks ought to be followed.
Introjections do not involve an individual’s personal
integrity or morality.
 EXAMPLE:- A women who likes to live in a simple way
interjects in her the sophisticated way, of living likes
her husband.

21.  A young married couple presents for counseling
due to ongoing disagreements about roles within
their marriage. The wife explains that she
“never signed up to be his mom” and resents
being expected to do all of the cooking and
cleaning. The husband states, “I’m not asking
for anything different than what my parents
had. As the head of the house, I expect to be
respected like my mother respected my father.”
What defense mechanism is the husband using?
 Introjection
 Intellectualization
 Identification
 Reaction Formation

22.  Suppression is the voluntary blocking of
unpleasant feelings and experiences from
one’s awareness to avoid discomfort and
anxiety.
 EXAMPLE:- Student consciously decides not
to think about her insult in examinations hall
so that he can study effectively. A patient
may refuse to consider his difficulties by
saying that he does not want to talk about it.

23.  In this defense mechanism an unconsciously
emotional feeling is transferred to person or
object who are less dangerous than those
who initially aroused the emotion. An
individual who is using displacement is
unaware of this at that time, but later he
can realize it.
 EXAMPLE:- A person who is angry with his
boss but cannot show it for fear of losing the
job may fight with his wife on return from
the office.

24. Jeanette was abused as a child. She doesn't
remember the abuse but now struggles to trust
others and form relationships.
 Displacement
 Repression
 Affiliation
 Avoidance

25. Bill's friends confront him about his excess
drinking, but he thinks he doesn't have a
problem. Bill is experiencing:
 Compensation
 Denial
 Rationalization
 Displacement

26.  A man who cheats on his wife accuses her of
being unfaithful. This is an example of:
 Sublimation
 Repression
 Rationalization
 Projection

27. Mary has an argument with her boss and yells
at her kids when she gets home. Which defense
mechanism is Mary displaying?
 Denial
 Rationalization
 Displacement
 Reaction formation

28.  Projection is one of the original defense
mechanisms described by Anna Freud. It
involves taking our own unacceptable
feelings or behaviors and ascribing them to
someone else. These feelings are
unacceptable and make us uncomfortable, so
we reduce anxiety by projecting these
feelings onto another person.

29.  Placing blame for own difficulties upon
others. Here, others are seen as responsible
for own mistakes. One’s own unacceptable
feelings and thoughts are expressed as they
are due to others.
EXAMPLE:- A surgeon who did mistake in
operation may insist that it happened because
theatre nurse and ward boy did their task
badly. A businessperson who values punctuality
is late for a meeting and states , “sorry I’m
late. My assistant forgot to remind me of the
time.

30.  Regression means an immature way of
responding to a stress or go backwards. In this
the adult revert back to an earlier
developmental level in order to deal with reality.
An individual does less mature form of behavior
when faced with difficulties, where he finds less
conflict hence less anxiety. Adults too may
regress to the oral stage of development and
suck their thumb when life gets stressful.
EXAMPLE:- Nurse makes an error in giving
medication and starts crying. A person who is
depressed may withdraw to his or her room, curl
up in a fetal position on the bed.

31.  Fixation refers to the point in the individual’s
development at which certain aspects of the
emotional development do not advance.
 EXAMPLE:- Thumb sucking continuously till adult
age. An unmarried, middle aged man still
depends on his mother to provide his basic needs
 FANTACY:- Fantacy is used to gratify frustrated
desires by imaginary achievements and wishful
thinking. The tendency of day dreaming is most
common during adolescence..
EXAMPLE:- A young boy who could not help his
ailing father due to shortage of money, day dreams
that he has got lot of money from lottery ticket
and his father, mother and family members has
best of the facilities for everything.

32.  In this defense mechanism the unacceptable
real feelings are repressed and acceptable
opposite feelings are expressed. It is defined
as unconscious transformation of
unacceptable impulse into exactly opposite
attitudes, impulse, feelings or behaviors.
EXAMPLE:- Women who actually dislike her
mother in law hide her feelings by being
always nice to her.

33.  In this pattern of defense mechanism strong
emotional conflicts which are not expressed
are converted into physical symptoms. It has
two benefit for person-
 It resolves the conflict
 It brings him a great deal of attention and
sympathy.
EXAMPLE:- A student nurse, who is very anxious
about her examination, may develop a
headache.

34.  Any individual refuses to face the reality. It
protect the individual from shock of reality.
Person unconsciously use this mechanism and
this reaction is for sometime.
 Denial is quite harmless if practiced in
moderation but can lead to serious
difficulties in health and life style if
practiced in excess.
EXAMPLE:- When some very near and dear one
die in the family. Some people say no, he is
still alive.

35. After being diagnosed with cancer, Greg learns
everything he can about his illness. His
response is an example of:
 Intellectualization
 Regression
 Sublimation
 Rationalization

36. What is an example of regression?
a. feelings of an ex-boyfriend
b. denying something ever took place
c. returning to an earlier age to cope with
situation
d. telling the truth
e. holding your anger in

37. Forcing thoughts to remain unconscious in
order to avoid the anxiety that would result if
they were conscious is the definition of which
Freudian defense mechanism?
a. denial
b. isolation
c. regression
d. repression
e. projection

38.  Anna husband dies, and she continues to set
a place for him at the dinner table. This is an
example of
 a. repression
b. denial
c. problem-focused coping
d. adaptation
e. projection

39.  According to Freud, which stage of
development pertains to the fact that
anything involving the mouth is a sexual
activity?
 a. anal
b. oral
c. latency
d. phallic
e. genital

40. 1 c
2 b
3 b
4 d
5 c
6 a
7 c
8 d
9 b
10 b