Defence Mechanisms

Primitive

Higher- Level

Acting Out

Denial

Conversion

Projection

Avoidance

e.g. PTSD

e.g. conversion disorder

Socially impermissible feelings are attributed to other people instead of oneself. For example, a person having an extramarital affair accuses their partner of infidelity

e.g. Conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder

e.g. may be present in someone who continues to shop for expensive designer clothes despite being in serious financial debt.

Regression

e.g. a stressful event may cause an individual to regress to bed-wetting after they have already outgrown this behaviour.

Repression

e.g. when someone has no recollection of a traumatic event, despite being conscious during the event

Schizoid Fantasy

e.g. may be present in Schizoid personality disorder

Splitting

e.g. commonly associated with BPD

Anticipation

The devotion of one’s effort to solving problems before they arise. E.g. when someone prepares for a job interview by practicing the harder questions

Compensation

e.g. a student who receives poor grades on their report card and then devotes more time and effort to extracurricular clubs and activities.

Displacement

e.g. When someone has a stressful day at work and then comes home and lashes out on others

Humour

e.g. When someone is telling a funny story during an eulogy

Intellectualization

e.g. someone diagnosed with a terminal illness does not show emotion after the diagnosis is given but instead starts to research every source they can find about the illness.

Isolation of Affect

e.g. someone who describes the day their house burnt down in a factual way without displaying any emotion.

Rationalization

e.g someone who steals money but feels justified in doing so because they needed the money more than the person from whom they stole.

Reaction Formation

e.g, When someone is overly kind to someone they dislike

Sexualisation

Associating sexual aspects to one’s experience of certain people, places, objects, or ideas. Sexualization can refer to the development of one’s sexual identity in general. Alternatively, sexualization can refer to the development of specific fetishes or sexual references to conventionally non-sexual entities.

Sublimation

e.g. When someone channels their energy and aggression into playing sports

Suppression

e.g. someone who has intrusive thoughts about a traumatic event but pushes these thoughts out of their mind.