Defense mechanisms

The key ideas

• Defense mechanisms overview

  Unconscious ego processes that reduce anxiety from conflict among id, superego and reality. Everyone uses them; they become a problem when rigid or overused. Anna Freud systematized them. The worker identifies a defense by what the client is doing with the feeling or reality, not by the stated reason.^[1][2]

• Defense mechanism: denial

  Refusing to accept external reality or a painful fact despite evidence (a person with large debts keeps overspending; a patient disregards a terminal diagnosis). Distinguish from repression, which blocks an internal memory or impulse.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: repression

  Unconscious blocking of threatening memories, thoughts or impulses from awareness, so the person has no recollection (for example of a trauma). Contrast suppression, which is conscious.^[1][2]

• Defense mechanism: suppression

  Conscious, deliberate pushing of unwanted thoughts or impulses out of mind; considered a mature defense.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: projection

  Attributing one's own unacceptable feelings or impulses to someone else (an unfaithful spouse accuses the partner of cheating).^[1]

• Defense mechanism: displacement

  Redirecting emotion from the real source to a safer, less threatening target (anger at the boss taken out on family).^[1]

• Defense mechanism: reaction formation

  Replacing an unacceptable impulse with its exaggerated opposite (excessive kindness to someone disliked, or a person who insults a crush).^[1][2]

• Defense mechanism: regression

  Returning to behavior typical of an earlier developmental level under stress (a toilet-trained child wets the bed after a sibling is born).^[1]

• Defense mechanism: rationalization

  Constructing logical-sounding excuses to justify unacceptable behavior or disappointment so it feels acceptable.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: intellectualization

  Using excessive abstract thinking or facts to avoid the emotions of a situation (researching every detail of a terminal illness without showing feeling).^[1]

• Defense mechanism: isolation of affect

  Separating the emotion from a painful idea or event so it is described factually without feeling.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: sublimation

  Channeling unacceptable impulses or anxiety into socially approved, constructive activity (aggression into sports, loss into advocacy). Regarded as a mature defense.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: identification (introjection)

  Unconsciously taking on the traits or behaviors of another person, often a parent or authority; identification with the aggressor is a variant.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: compensation

  Overachieving in one area to offset a perceived weakness or inadequacy in another.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: acting out

  Expressing unconscious conflict through behavior instead of words or feelings, often impulsive or disruptive; common in conduct and antisocial presentations.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: avoidance

  Staying away from thoughts, feelings, people or places that trigger distress; characteristic of PTSD.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: conversion

  Anxiety or conflict expressed as physical symptoms without medical explanation (sudden paralysis or blindness).^[1]

• Defense mechanism: splitting

  Seeing people or situations as all good or all bad, unable to integrate positive and negative aspects; typical of borderline personality disorder.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: anticipation

  Planning ahead and rehearsing for upcoming stressors to reduce anxiety; a mature defense.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: humor

  Using comedy to express or ease painful feelings without discomfort; a mature defense.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: schizoid fantasy

  Retreating into imagination to avoid uncomfortable situations or relationships.^[1]

• Defense mechanism: sexualization

  Attaching sexual meaning to people, objects or experiences as a way to manage anxiety.^[1]

How the ASWB exam tests it

• Questions give a vignette and ask which defense; the trap is two similar mechanisms (denial vs repression, displacement vs projection).^[1][2]
• Denial refuses to accept the reality of a situation; listen for "it's not happening."^[1]
• Being unable to recall an abuse or an accident is repression; deliberately not thinking about it is suppression.^[1][2]
• A client who says "I decided not to think about it until after the exam" is using suppression.^[1]
• Accusing others of the feeling the client holds is projection. A common wrong answer is displacement.^[1]
• The boss yells, and the client goes home and yells at a spouse: the target changes, the feeling stays the same.^[1]

Try a related question

1. LBSW practice · Assessment and Planning

   A client often expresses overly positive statements about a parent they secretly resent, saying, “I’m lucky to have such a great parent.” How might the social worker BEST address how reaction formation is impacting the therapeutic alliance?

   • A.Validate the client’s positive statements about the parent without further exploration.
   • B.Gently explore the disparity between the client’s statements and underlying feelings.
   • C.Provide psychoeducation on defense mechanisms and confront the client about their avoidance.
   Show answer

   Answer: B. Gently explore the disparity between the client’s statements and underlying feelings.

   Reaction formation involves acting opposite to one’s true feelings. The BEST approach is to carefully examine the client’s underlying emotions while maintaining trust in the therapeutic alliance.

More LBSW practice questions with answers

Related explainers

• Erikson's stages of psychosocial development
• Piaget's stages of cognitive development
• Motivational interviewing and stages of change