This document summarizes defense mechanisms, which are classified into successful and unsuccessful categories. Successful mechanisms like repression, rationalization, and intellectualization help deal with reality. Unsuccessful mechanisms like suppression, reaction formation, and denial are compensatory when used in moderation but can cause problems when used excessively. Specific defense mechanisms are defined, such as repression being the unconscious forgetting of painful thoughts, and projection being the transferring of unacceptable thoughts onto others.

1. SEMINAR
ON
DEFENSE MECHANISM
U.ROJA
M.SC NURSING 1ST YEAR
SWATANTRA COLLEGE OF NURSING
RAJAHMUNDRY.

2. TYPES
DEFENSE MECHANISM IS CLASSIFIED
INTO 2 MAJOR CATEGORIES.
• SUCCESSFUL MECHANISM
• UNSUCCESSFUL MECHANISM

3. SUCCESSFUL MECHANISM
Commonly used normal defense mechanisms
that help an individual to deal with reality.
1.

4. Repression
• Unconscious involuntary forgetting of painful
thoughts. Impulses, feelings or acts that are
creating conflicts and causing discomfort.

5. Rationalization
• When something that we find difficult to
accept, then we make up a logical reason why
it has happened.
•

6. Intellectualization
• It is a “Fight into reason” where the person
avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing
on facts and logic. or
• It is the distancing from on
emotional or threatening situation by talking
or thinking about it in intellectual terms.

7. Compensation
• Putting forth extra efforts to achieve in an
area to affect real or imagined deficiencies in
another area.
• It means something given to
replace a loss to make up defect.

8. Substitution
• The individual preplaced one goal for another
or involve more acceptable form of activity
than displacing the emotion on another
individual.

9. Sublimation
• Diverting unacceptable drives or urges into a
form that is acceptable to society. The most
important of these are sexual desires others
are aggressive feeling. Agreed and even lying.

10. Identification
• Attaching to oneself certain qualities
associated with others, it operates
Unconsciously and is significant mechanism in
super-ego development.

11. UNSUCCESSFUL MECHANISM
• These are also called as compensatory type
defense in terms of stress, when used in
moderation are adaptive, if used to excess
they frequently create emotional problem.
These patterns of behavior are considered
deviation and are usually looked as symptoms
of problem.

12. Suppression
• Intentional or conscious, voluntary forgetting
of painful or unacceptable thoughts, ideas,
feelings, and situation that are creating
conflict and causing discomfort.

13. Reaction formation
• Preventing unacceptable or desirable thoughts
or behavior from being expressed by opposite
thoughts or types of behavior. Or It is
something possible to conceal a motive from
ourselves by giving strong expression to its
opposite.

14. Displacement
• It is the shifting of actions from a desired
target to a substitute target when there is
some reason why the first target is not
permitted or not available.

15. Denial
• Denial or reality is when we refuse to accept
or believe the existence of something that is
very unpleasant to us. We use denial most
often when faced with death, serious illness or
something painful and threatening. Parents of
fatally ill children will also deny the serious
nature of illness for some times.

16. Isolation
• Separation of thought or impulses from its
associated affect ensuring that action does
occur.

17. Projection
• Transferring the responsibility for
unacceptable ideas impulses wishes or
thoughts to another person. it is an attempts
to deal with our own short coming by seeing
them. In other and denying them in our
selves.

18. Regression
• Returning to earlier developmental level
involve in less mature behavior and
responsibility when stress creates problem at
the present stage.

19. Conversion
• The unconscious expression of mental conflict
by means of physical symptoms that can be
expressed openly and with out anxiety.

20. Fixation
• It refers to the point in the individual
development at which certain aspects of the
emotional development do not advance. It is
inability of the individual to specific phase of
development at which progress ceased or
stopped.

21. Fantasy
• In this we retire to make belief world where
everything is possible, where we are victors.
This is more pronounced during adolescents.

22. Withdrawal
• Whenever an individual suspects that he
likely to be criticized disgraced on account of
some prior unfortunate experiences or failure,
he resorts to withdrawal. It is a protective
device by which the individual prevents future
hurt and damage to his security by withdrawal
from people and avoiding all close
interpersonal relation.

23. Transference
• The image of one person is unconsciously
identified with that of another.