Key defense mechanisms

1. Key defense mechanisms
Immature
• Acting out: Expressing unacceptable feelings through actions
• Denial: Behaving as if an aspect of reality does not exist
• Displacement: Transferring feelings to less threatening
object/person
• Intellectualization: Focusing on nonemotional aspects to avoid
distressing feelings
• Passive aggression: Avoiding conflict by expressing hostility covertly
• Projection: Attributing one’s own feelings to others
• Rationalization: Justifying behavior to avoid difficult truths
• Reaction formation: Transforming unacceptable feelings/impulses
into the opposite
• Regression: Reverting to earlier developmental stage
• Splitting: Experiencing a person/situation as either all positive or all
negative
Mature
• Sublimation: Channeling impulses into socially acceptable
behaviors
• Suppression: Putting unwanted feelings aside to cope with reality