Defence Mechanisms

unconscious refusal to admit an unacceptable idea or behavior

Mr. Davis, who is alcohol-dependent, believes that he can control his drinking if he so desires

Unconscious and involuntary forgetting of painful ideas, events, and conflicts

Ms. Young: a victum of incest, no longer remembers the reason she always hated the uncle who molested her

Conscious exclusion from awareness anxiety-producing feelings, ideas, and situations

Ms. Ames states to the nurse that she is not ready to talk about her recent divorce

Conscious or unconscious attempts to make or prove that one's feeling or behaviors are justifiable

Mr. Jones, diagnosed with schizophrenia, states that he cannot got to work because his co-workers are mean, instead of admitting that his illness interferes with working

the unconscious separation of painful feelings and emotions from an unacceptable idea, situation, or object

Ms. Adams recalls that when she was sexually molested as a child, she felt as if she were outside of her body watching what was happening without feeling anything

Conscious or unconscious attempt to model oneself after a respected person

Ms. Kelly states to the nurse, When I get out of the hospital, I want to be a nurse just like you

Unconsciously incorporating values and attitudes of others as if they were your own

Without reolizing it , Mr. Chad wishes, talks, and acts similarly to his therapist, analysing other patients

consciously covering up for a weakness by overemphasizing or making up desiable trait

Mr.Hahn, who is depressed and unable to share his feelings with other patients writes and becomes known for his expressive poetry

consciously or unconsciously channeling instinctual drives into accptable activities

Mr. Smith a former peretrator of incest who fears relapse, forms a local chapter of sex addicts anonymous

conscious behavior that is the exact opposite

Ms. Wren who unconsciously wishes her mother were dead, continuously tells staff that her mother is wonderful

Consciously doing something to counteract or make up for a transgression or wrongdoing

after accidentally eating another patient's cookies, Ms.Donnelly apologizes to the patient, cleans the refrigerator, and lables everyone's snack with their names

unconsciously discharding pent-up feelings to a less threatening object

a husband comes home after a bad day at work and yells at his wife

unconsciously (or consciously) blaming someone else for one's diffculties or placing one's unethical desires on someone else

an adolescent comes home late from a dance and states that her date would not bring her home on time

unconscious expression of intrapsychic conflict symbolically through physical symptoms

a student awakens with a migraine headache the morning of a final examination and feels too ill to take the test. She does not realize that 2 hours of cramming left her unprepared

unconscious return to an earlier and more comfortable developmental level

a 6-year old child has been wetting the bed at night since the birth of his baby sister