TYPES OF DEFENCE MECHANISM (RESEARCH BASED ON INTERNET)
1. Acting Out When an inner conflict (most often, frustration) translates into aggression. It involves acting with little or no insight or reflection and in order to attract attention and disrupt other people's cosy lives. 2. Denial Perhaps the most primitive and best known defense mechanism. People simply ignore unpleasant facts, they filter out data and content that contravene their self-image, prejudices, and preconceived notions of others and of the world. 3. Devaluation Attributing negative or inferior traits or qualifiers to self or others. This is done in order to punish the person devalued and to mitigate his or her impact on and importance to the devaluer. When the self is devalued, it is a self-defeating and self-destructive act. 4. Displacement When we cannot confront the real sources of our frustration, pain, and envy, we tend to pick a fight with someone weaker or irrelevant and, thus, less menacing. Children often do it because they perceive conflicts with parents and caregivers as life-threatening. Instead, they go out and torment the cat or bully someone at school or lash out at their siblings. 5. Dissociation Our mental existence is continuous. We maintain a seamless flow of memories, consciousness, perception, and representation of both inner and external worlds. When we face horrors and unbearable truths, we sometimes "disengage". We lose track of space, time, and the continuum of our identity. We become "someone else" with minimal awareness of our surroundings, of incoming information, and of circumstances. In extreme cases, some people develop a permanently rent personality and this is known as "Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)". 6. Fantasy Everyone fantasizes now and then. It helps to fend off the dreariness and drabness of everyday life and to plan for an uncertain future. But when fantasy becomes a central feature of grappling with conflict, it is pathological. Seeking gratification - the satisfaction of drives or desires - mainly by fantasizing is an unhealthy defense. Narcissists, for instance, often indulge in grandiose fantasies which are incommensurate with their accomplishments and abilities. Such fantasy life retards personal growth and development because it substitutes for true coping.
7. Idealization Another defense mechanism in the arsenal of the narcissist (and, to lesser degree, the Borderline and Histrionic) is the attribution of positive, glowing, and superior traits to self and (more commonly) to others. Again, what differentiates the healthy from the pathological is the reality test. Imputing positive characteristics to self or others is good, but only if the attributed qualities are real and grounded in a firm grasp of what's true and what's not.
8. Isolation of Affect Cognition (thoughts, concepts, ideas) is never divorced from emotion. Conflict can be avoided by separating the cognitive content (for instance, a disturbing or depressing idea) from its emotional correlate. The subject is fully aware of the facts or of the intellectual dimensions of a problematic situation but feels numb. Casting away threatening and discomfiting feelings is a potent way of coping with conflict in the short-term. It is only when it became habitual that it rendered self-defeating. Attempting to avoid a painful thought or feeling by objectifying and emotionally detaching oneself from the feeling. Example, acting aloof and indifferent toward someone when you really dislike that person 9. Omnipotence When one has a pervading sense and image of oneself as incredibly powerful, superior, irresistible, intelligent, or influential. This is not an adopted affectation but an ingrained, ineradicable inner conviction which borders on magical thinking. It is intended to fend off expected hurt in having to acknowledge one's shortcomings, inadequacies, or limitations. 10. Projection We all have an image of how we "should be". Freud called it the "Ego Ideal". But sometimes we experience emotions and drives or have personal qualities which don't sit well with this idealized construct. Projection is when we attribute to others these unacceptable, discomfiting, and illfitting feelings and traits that we possess. This way we disown these discordant features and secure the right to criticize and chastise others for having or displaying them. When entire collectives (nations, groups, organizations, firms) project, Freud calls it the Narcissism of Small Differences.
11. Projective Identification Projection is unconscious. People are rarely aware that they are projecting onto others their own ego-dystonic and unpleasant characteristics and feelings. But, sometimes, the projected content is retained in the subject's awareness. This creates a conflict. On the one hand, the patient cannot admit that the emotions, traits, reactions, and behaviors that he so condemns in others are really his. On the other hand, he can't help but being self-aware. He fails to erase from his consciousness the painful realization that he is merely projecting. So, instead of denying it, the subject explains unpleasant emotions and unacceptable conduct as reactions to the recipient's behavior. "She made me do it!" is the battle cry of projective identification.
We all have expectations regarding the world and its denizens. Some people expect to be loved and appreciated - others to be feared and abused. The latter behave obnoxiously and thus force their nearest and dearest to hate, fear, and "abuse" them. Thus vindicated, their expectations fulfilled, they calm down. The world is rendered once more familiar by making other people behave the way they expect them to. "I knew you would cheat on me! It was clear I couldn't trust you!". 12. Rationalization To cast one's behavior after the fact in a favorable light. To justify and explain one's conduct or, more often, misconduct by resorting to ":rational, logical, socially-acceptable" explications and excuses. Rationalization is also used to re-establish ego-syntonic (inner peace and selfacceptance). Though not strictly a defense mechanism, cognitive dissonance may be considered a variant of rationalization. It involves speech acts which amount to the devaluation of things and people very much desired but frustratingly out of one's reach and control. In a famous fable, a fox, unable to snag the luscious grapes he covets, says: "these grapes are probably sour anyhow!". This is an example of cognitive dissonance in action. 13. Reaction Formation Adopting a position and mode of conduct that defy personally unacceptable thoughts or impulses by expressing diametrically opposed sentiments and convictions. Example: a latent (closet) homosexual finds his sexual preference deplorable and acutely shameful (egodystonic). He resorts to homophobia. He public berates, taunts, and baits homosexuals. Additionally, he may flaunt his heterosexuality by emphasizing his sexual prowess, or by prowling singles bars for easy pick-ups and conquests. This way he contains and avoids his unwelcome homosexuality.
14. Repression The removal from consciousness of forbidden thoughts and wishes. The removed content does not vanish and it remains as potent as ever, fermenting in one's unconscious. It is liable to create inner conflicts and anxiety and provoke other defense mechanisms to cope with these. 15. Sublimation The conversion and channeling of unacceptable emotions into socially-condoned behavior. Freud described how sexual desires and urges are transformed into creative pursuits or politics. 16. Undoing Trying to rid oneself of gnawing feelings of guilt by compensating the injured party either symbolically or actually. Trying to reverse or "undo" a thought or feeling by performing an action that signifies an opposite feeling than your original thought or feeling. Example, you have feelings of dislike for someone so you buy them a gift 17. Regression Returning to more primitive levels of behavior in defense against anxiety or frustration. 18. Displacement Discharging pent-up feelings, usually of hostility, on objects less dangerous than those that initially aroused the emotion. 19. Splitting Everything in the world is seen as all good or all bad with nothing in between. Example, You think your best friend is absolutely worthless because he forgot a lunch date with you. 20. Altruism Handling your own pain by helping others. Example, after your wife dies, you keep yourself busy by volunteering at your church. 21. Humor Focusing on funny aspects of a painful situation. Example, a person's treatment for cancer makes him lose his hair so he makes jokes about being bald. 22. Suppression The effort to hide and control unacceptable thoughts or feelings someone but say that you really don't like the person at all.
you are attracted to
23. intellectualization Avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects, focusing on the details of a funeral as opposed to the sadness and grief. 24. Introjection (German: Introjektion) is a psychoanalytical term with a variety of meanings. Generally, it is regarded as the process where the subject replicates in itself behaviors, attributes or other fragments of the surrounding world, especially of other subjects. Cognate concepts are identification, incorporation,[1] and internalization. To use a simple example, a person who picks up traits from their friends (e.g., a person who begins frequently exclaiming "Ridiculous!" as a result of hearing a friend of theirs repeatedly doing the same) is introjecting. 25. Self-harm (SH) or deliberate self-harm (DSH) Includes self-injury (SI) and self-poisoning and is defined as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue most often done without suicidal intentions. These terms are used in the more recent literature in an attempt to reach a more neutral terminology. The older literature especially that which predates the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV-TR), almost exclusively refers to self-mutilation. The term self-harm is synonymous with the term self-injury. 26. Isolation (German: Isolierung) Is a defense mechanism in psychoanalytic theory first proposed by Sigmund Freud. While related to repression the concept distinguishes itself in several ways. It is characterized as a mental process involving the creation of a gap between an unpleasant or threatening cognition, and other thoughts and feelings. By minimizing associative connections with other thoughts, the threatening cognition is remembered less often and is less likely to affect self-esteem or the self-concept. Freud illustrated the concept with the example of a person beginning a train of thought and then pausing for a moment before continuing to a different subject. His theory stated that by inserting an interval the person was "letting it be understood symbolically that he will not allow his thoughts about that impression or activity to come into associative contact with other thoughts.” As a defense against harmful thoughts, isolation prevents the self from allowing these cognitions to become recurrent and possibly damaging to the self-concept.
27. Reversal This defense, as well as turning against the self, was considered by Freud to come into play quite early in life. It refers mainly to turning love into hate and hate into love for defensive purposes. Suppose there were a woman and a man. The woman is frightened of her unconscious longing to have sex with a man. He knows she drinks and smokes secretly, which he normally hates. The man likes her and has a good friendship with her. He thinks of her as smart and talented. The man doesn't want to sleep with her, but just wants to keep good company with her. She is constantly angry and scornful of him. In this case, reversal into its opposite is similar to reaction formation. Another easier example is Aesop's sour grape. 28. Turning against the self This was one of the first defense mechanisms discussed by Freud, who considered it to be a very early defensive process. It is actually quite a complex operation, in which the object of a drive, usually aggression, is changed from another person to the self. It is therefore seen frequently in depression and masochism. In these conditions, the ego defends itself against the fear of its aggression; the person's conscience also plays a role in turning the aggression away from the object toward the self. 29. Compensation Alfred Adler observed that much of human life is devoted to compensating for whatever we think are our weaknesses. Sometimes we try to improve on whatever we are weak in, the most famous example being Demosthenes becoming a great speaker. Sometimes people recognize a weakness in one area, but try to excel in another. Some examples of this can be seen in average students becoming outstanding athletes, and students who are physically not very attractive becoming great scholars. These are healthy way to handle the anxiety of feeling inferior or inadequate. There are, however, unhealthy ways to compensate, such as a person feeling unloved becoming promiscuous, substituting quantity for quality.
30. Dissociation Dissociation usually stems from a trauma, intense pain, or a serious identity crisis. It may manifest itself in disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, memory loss, Multiple Personality Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, as well as the more common phenomena of flashbacks, and forgetting something embarrassing. However, in dissociation memories are not just lost in the subconscious (as in repression) but they are splintered and distorted. It is as if under intense stress the ability of the consciousness to include all the thoughts, emotions, and somatic sensations fails, and some aspects become separated and inaccessible. Thus, a person may remember what happened, but forget how it felt. Or, a person may feel depersonalized, like a robot. There is also an "everyday life" level of dissociation involving assumptions about things and people. In this case, people tend to discard some parts of reality that contradict a belief that they hold as true. 31. Fantasy Fantasy (daydreams, literature, television, Internet) is a way to escape real problems. Imagining that one is successful may lead to feelings of success, especially when one's reality is the opposite of success. In some cases, this may be beneficial: fantasy acts as a rehearsal for our future success. Thinking about an upcoming vacation, or a reward for work when it gets too stressful, is a healthy use of fantasy. Many self-help methods are based on fantasy: covert rehearsal, covert sensitization/desensitization, empathy, etc. However, just as fantasy may be part of the solution, it may become part of the problem. Imagining the worst consequences may lead to fear, or reliving a bad situation may lead to anger and depression. Also, imagining solutions to problems instead of actually solving them can have negative consequences. When a person actually starts to live in the world of fantasy they created, instead of facing the real world and real challenges, it has become pathological. 32. Identification
Identification (sometimes also called introjection) involves identifying with someone else, taking on their personality characteristics, in order to solve some emotional difficulty and avoid anxiety. This was originally Freud's solution to Oedipus and Electra complexes: identify with the same sex parent and try to become like him or her. 33. Withdrawal Withdrawal involves the removal of oneself from anything and everything that carries reminders of painful or stressful thoughts and emotions. Since normal social life involves many situations that are connected to the painful event, and friends or colleagues may ask uncomfortable questions, the use of withdrawal means the end of one's social life. Furthermore, even television
or literature may contain images or scenes that elicit painful emotions or stressful thoughts, and so many normal activities come to be avoided. Withdrawal is one the most severe defense mechanisms because it can lead to feelings of alienation and loneliness, which create more anxiety and pain. Combined with fantasy, withdrawal can paralyze one's life. 34. Compartmentalization Compartmentalization is a lesser form of dissociation, wherein parts of oneself are separated from awareness of other parts and behaving as if one had separate sets of values. An example might be an honest person who cheats on their income tax return and keeps their two value systems distinct and un-integrated while remaining unconscious of the cognitive dissonance. 35. Delusional projection Delusions about external reality, usually of a persecutory nature. 36. Conversion The expression of an intrapsychic conflict as a physical symptom; some examples include blindness, deafness, paralysis, or numbness. This phenomenon is sometimes called hysteria. 37. Distortion A gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs. 38. Extreme projection The blatant denial of a moral or psychological deficiency, which is perceived as a deficiency in another individual or group. 39. Wishful thinking Making decisions according to what might be pleasing to imagine instead of by appealing to evidence, rationality, or reality. 40. Idealization Tending to perceive another individual as having more desirable qualities than he or she may actually have. 41. Passive aggression Aggression towards others expressed indirectly or passively, often through procrastination. 42. Projective identification The object of projection invokes in that person precisely the thoughts, feelings or behaviors projected.
43. Hypochondriasis An excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. 44. Respect Willingness to show consideration or appreciation. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of a person or feeling being and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Relationships and contacts that are built without the presence of respect are seldom long term or sustainable. The lack of respect is at the very heart of most conflict in families, communities, and nations. 45. Moderation The process of eliminating or lessening extremes and staying within reasonable limits. It necessitates self-restraint which is imposed by oneself on one's own feelings, desires etc. 46. Patience The level of endurance under difficult circumstances (delay, provocation, criticism, attack etc.) one can take before negativity. Patience is a recognized virtue in many religions. 47. Courage The mental ability and willingness to confront conflicts, fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, despair, obstacles, vicissitudes or intimidation. Physical courage often extends lives, while moral courage preserves the ideals of justice and fairness. 48. Humility A mechanism by which a person, considering their own defects, has a humble self-opinion. Humility is intelligent self-respect which keeps one from thinking too highly or too meanly of oneself. 49. Mindfulness Adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment, an orientation that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance. 50. Acceptance A person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a difficult or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest, or exit. Religions and psychological treatments often suggest the path of acceptance when a situation is both disliked and unchangeable, or when change may be possible only at great cost or risk.
51. Gratitude A feeling of thankfulness or appreciation involving appreciation of a wide range of people and events. Gratitude is likely to bring higher levels of happiness, and lower levels of depression and stress. Throughout history, gratitude has been given a central position in religious and philosophical theories. 52. Tolerance The practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. 53. Mercy Compassionate behavior on the part of those in power. 54. Forgiveness Cessation of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offence, disagreement, or mistake, or ceasing to demand retribution or restitution. 55. Anticipation Realistic planning for future discomfort. 56. Emotional self-regulation The ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable. Emotional self-regulation refers to the processes people use to modify the type, intensity, duration, or expression of various emotions. 57. Emotional self-sufficiency Not being dependent on the validation (approval or disapproval) of others. 58. Autistic Fantasy The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by excessive daydreaming as a substitute for human relationships, more effective action, or problem solving.
59. Avoidance A defense mechanism consisting of refusal to encounter situations, objects, or activities because they represent unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses and/or punishment for those impulses; avoidance, according to the dynamic theory, is a major defense mechanism in phobias.
60. Deflection
Also detected when the individual is in group therapy and consists of redirecting attention to another group member. 61. Fixation The cessation of the process of development of the personality at a stage short of complete and uniform mature independence is known as fixation. [regression]
62. Help-Rejecting Complaining The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by complaining or making repetitious requests for help that disguise covert feelings or hostility or reproach toward others, which are then expressed by rejecting the suggestions, advice, or help that others offer. The complaints or requests may involve physical or psychological symptoms or life problems. 63. Incorporation The assimilation of the object into one's own ego and/or superego. This is one of the earliest mechanisms utilized. The parent becomes almost literally a part of the child. Parental values, preferences, and attitudes are acquired. 64. Resistance This defense mechanism produces a deep-seated opposition to the bringing of repressed (unconscious) data to awareness. Through its operation, the individual seeks to avoid memories or insights which would arouse anxiety. 65. Restitution The mechanism of relieving the mind of a load of guilt by making up or reparation (paying up with interest). [reaction formation] [undoing]
66. Self-Assertion The individual deals with emotional conflict or stressors by expressing his or her feelings and thoughts directly in a way that is not coercive or manipulative. 67. Somatization are represented by physical symptoms involving parts of the body innervated by the sympathetic and parasympathetic system. Example: a highly competitive and aggressive person, whose life situation requires that such behavior be restricted, develops hypertension.
68. Substitution
Through this defense mechanism, the individual secures alternative or substitutive gratification comparable to those that would have been employed had frustration not occurred. 69. Symbolization An object or act represents a complex group of objects and acts, some of which may be conflictual or unacceptable to the ego; objects or acts stand for a repressed desire. Examples: (1) a soldier, when asked why he volunteered, he said, "To defend the flag." He rejects as irrelevant a question about the purpose of the war. (2) a boy asks for a girl's hand (in marriage). 70. Minimizers Some respond to trauma and the resulting inability to meet particular needs through repression or suppression of those parts that embody the awareness of those needs. 71. Maximizers Others respond to trauma and the resulting inability to meet needs by becoming increasingly obsessive and desperate in their zealous attempts to get those needs met. This may occur as the particular exiled part burdened by that unmet need takes control of the system, lashing out in its extreme immature, childish state. 72. Anger Is the use expression of anger (voice tone, cursing, facial expressions, body jesters, aggression, violence) to control the situation. 73. Arguing Is bringing up a controversy to side track the other individual. "My position is that ....don't you agree that I am right?" (While knowing quite well he/she will disagree.) 74. Blaming Is laying the judgment for your problems upon someone else. "I could be a good husband if wasn't for my wife. It is all her fault." 75. Compliance is giving in to the wishes of another to avoid confrontation. "O.K., I will do whatever you want."
76. Defiance
is daring others to prove that you are wrong. "I challenge you to show me in the Bible where it says that smoking marijuana is wrong." 77. Explaining is explaining the problem in minute detail, thinking that that may resolve the problem. "I first began to look at pornography when I was eight years old. Then when I was ten, I found some of my dad's girlie magazines. When I was fifteen, I met this girl that was really into pornography and we looked at it and acted out some. Then when I got a computer ....." 78. Excuses Is the use of logic that may appear to be acceptable to avoid an issue. "I think you can find someone more skilled than I to choose for the project." 79. Judgmentalism Is placing others on a lower spiritual level to cover one's own spiritual inadequacies. "If you would get some counseling yourself, then I think that I could handle the situation." 80. Justifying Is trying balance your wrong with the wrong of others. "I wouldn't have to take so many tranquilizers if my husband wasn't angry all the time." 81. Lying Is a blatant lie to cover one's back. "No, sir. I wasn't speeding. I have never broken a traffic law in my life." 82. Analyzing Is an attempt to explain the cause for your failure, believing that that may resolve the issue. "I have thought long and hard on the problem and believe that it must have been precipitated from my exposure to too much violence on the T.V." 83. Manipulation Is trying to indirectly blame someone else for your difficulty. Then trying to get the other person to straighten up so that you can. "If you will quite bringing home all that fatty food, I will go on a diet." 84. Questioning Is the means of firing questions at the potential intruder to keep him from bringing up threatening issues in your own life. 85. Shouting
Is using a loud voice to try to control the situation. "Don't tell me to shut up!! I will say what I want to say!!!" 86. Silence Is using silence to protect yourself from talking about the problem. This is often the case with men in marriage. When confronted with the issue, the individual may just walk away or stand there and say nothing. 87. Threatening Is using aggression to avoid facing an issue. "Don't ever bring up that topic again or I will make you wish that you hadn't!" 88. Assertiveness Assertiveness is the emphasis of a person’s needs or thoughts in a manner that is respectful, Direct and firm. 89. Workaholism Where you avoid dealing with problems by burying yourself in work. Workaholism could be considered a form of Distraction (see below), but distraction is something you choose to do, and many workaholics don’t perceive their devotion to the office as a choice so much as a duty. 90. Playing the Victim To avoid dealing with the problem or feeling responsible for the situation, the victim finds it easier to make the other person the bad guy and believes that everything happens to them. They have difficulty taking any ownership for problems (i.e. the breakdown in the relationship) and are unable to acknowledge they have choices and can take action. 91. Sexualization Is a way of transforming an experience of pain or terror into pleasurable excitation; the fear of abandonment or abuse, for example, can be sexualized in order to be felt as gratifying experiences. It is not unusual that relatively healthy individuals sexualize certain areas of their lives (dependency, aggression) in order for them to be more bearable. 92. Self-Handicapping Refers to actions or a statement we make that allows us to avoid responsibility for potential failures that could damage our self-esteem. It is much more embarrassing and harmful to our self-esteem to put forth effort and fail than it is to self-handicap and have excuses to why we failed. Example: Stephen hasn’t had to forth much effort in any on his academic endeavors, so when he came across a challenging course, it was much easier for him to self-handicap than it was to try, especially since he had not been doing well in the course to begin with. Stephen was
easily able to explain his bad grade away by blaming it on his ski trip and lack of studying, which are external factors. 93. Sarcasm Is an ironic or satirical remark that seems to be praising someone or something but is really taunting or cutting. Sarcasm can be used to hurt or offend or can be used for comic affect. Example : I work 40 hours a week to be this poor.
